The condo was perfect for our family and we had a great time. It was so fun to have the pool right outside of the back gate. The view from the upstairs deck off the master bedroom is lovely, but that is the only view of the Gulf from the condo. The condo complex is built in such a way that there aren't large view windows in the units. I was guessing it was to make them a little more hurricane-proof.
There were sand toys, umbrellas, and a cooler to take to the beach on the back patio. We ended up buying some fishing rods to take our kids fishing and left them at the condo, so hopefully other families can use them. The condo is really close to plenty of restaurants, and there's an HEB grocery store and a CVS pharmacy not far away.
The beach was a little further away from the condo than I thought it would be, and we had to cross a busy road to get to the path, but it's not too far to walk. We only walked there once, though, because you can drive your vehicle onto Whitecap Beach, and it's only a couple of minutes away, so that's what we did the rest of the time. We were driving a minivan, and there were lots of small cars on the beach, too, because the sand is hard and you won't get stuck if you drive in the right areas. We didn't use the beach umbrellas after we figured out how to park and use the back lift gate on the minivan as a shade.
You need a four-wheel drive vehicle to go past the 5 mile marker on the beach at Padre Island National Shoreline, but we were able to drive our rental van to that point on the beach there, too. Next time we'll rent an SUV so we can drive all 60 miles.
The beaches go on forever and are beautiful and uncrowded. There aren't large areas of dry sand for beach volleyball (at least we didn't see any), but we had fun looking for sea glass, playing frisbee and kite flying when we weren't swimming or sunbathing. The beach on Padre Island was a little cleaner than Whitecap, but even that one was pretty clean. Such a lovely place to hang out with your kids!