the beach...again

we got lucky enough to go back to the beach again this summer.  i'd say that chase has had his fill of sand, water and seafood, but i could have stayed for a few more weeks.  if i come up missing, you'll know where to find me!

the boys got down and got sandy as soon as they could!

come to find out, william was really good at catching those "creatures" that make holes in the sand as soon as the wave goes out.  i have no idea what they are called, but within minutes he had a handful of them.  he called them his creatures, and he put them in a cup and brought them back up to our room.  it took us until the last day we were there to figure out what that horrible, fishy smell was.  yes...that would two cupfuls of dead creatures on the counter by the wet bar.  next year...the creatures stay at the beach!!

this next picture made me laugh.  i'm sure that when my kids think about me, this is the picture they see in their heads!

after many castles, turtles, alligators, holes, and anything else you could possibly build in the sand, the little people figured out how to have fun in the water!

william got in on some boogie board action,

and he was loving it...

until he wiped out!!  and then he refused to do it again!

wes and daddy watched the wipeout...

and then wes just decided to let mama help him out!

reed just looked at me like i was crazy when i asked him if he wanted to do it!

william and wes spent lots of time on this float that we found...

and even reed liked riding in the boat!

we did go to the pool a little while we were there, but it was torture to get in the thing because it was so stinkin' cold!!!  i don't know how it could be so cold in the middle of july, but it was!

they weren't cold for long, however, because the "bubble bathtub" that was the size of the town that i grew up in made for a fun way to get clean and warm up!

the lazy river was slightly better in the temperature department!

we spent our nights filling up on seafood at some of our favorite spots, and we tried out some new ones as well!  the places with music and/or playgrounds are always a hit!

we also liked hanging out on our balcony watching birds, kites and eating ice cream! just like at home...clothes were optional.

and playing a few games of trouble always brings out the competitiveness in us all!

and you know we had to ride some go-carts while we were there!  poor reed was just shy of the 3 foot height limit.  next year, he's in for sure!!

after one last look at the beach (in our pjs), we packed up and headed home.

as we drove out, i pointed out to chase that i thought there was a tornado over in the direction we were headed.  it was a skinny tornado, but it was spinning just like a tornado.  my over-analyzing 5 year old is hollering at us to turn on the radio and listen for warnings about the tornado.  we pulled over at the nearest gas station, and a "local" told me that no...it was a water spout.  hmmmm....learn something new every day!!  after grabbing my phone and looking up what in the world a water spout was, we sat there and watched it slowly disappear back into the sky.  after william determined that it was safe, we got back on the road for the long drive home.  we only had one fight, one near meltdown in subway at lunch, one actual meltdown, and one request to vomit.  that's not too shabby for us!  with that in mind, i'm going to see if i can talk chase into another beach trip this fall! :)