I looked forward to our beach trip for sooo long this year. I was ready for a much needed week of hanging out on the beach. I couldn't wait to see what the boys' reaction would be this year since last year, they were just too young to really enjoy it all.
It was AWESOME this year! We got there Saturday and immediately unpacked everything and put on swimsuits! The whole family headed down to the water to make sure we didn't miss out on one day of fun. Parker was excited about the water and walked right on in - Whit on the other hand ran as far away from the ocean (or "lotion" as Whit called it all week) as he could get. In Whit's picture, he is more than likely saying "swimming pool?"
The next day (and most of the other days) we spent our morning outside on the beach and in the swimming pool. I really thought the boys may turn into fish by the end of the week. They just couldn't get enough of the pool. We played in the sand for a while, and then went to the pools to cool off (and rinse off). This is about as close as Whit got to playing in the ocean.
We all were in close quarters as this was a 4 bedroom condo with 13 people sleeping in it. In the mornings, of course the boys woke at the crack of dawn - which meant that it was wake up time for anyone that may be a light sleeper in the house. So one morning, we decided to let everyone sleep a little and we took the boys to to sand to find seashells. I used to think this was the coolest thing to do with my Mimi when I was little! I was so happy that Whit enjoyed it just as much as I did as a kid. We walked along and he kept picking up shells and putting them in his bucket. We have a nice little collection here at home now - most of them are ugly or broken, but its ok, because Whit thought they were special for some reason or another. Parker didn't care a thing about picking up shells - he would rather have been in the pool or making Daddy chase him up and down the beach.
One of Parker's favorite things about the beach was learning to "Jump A Wave!!!" Which he liked to scream as loud as he could. I have never seen such a huge smile on his face as he had when he was jumping waves with his Aunt Paige and cousin Madi.
One night, we decided to take a walk down to the OD pavilion area. We went mainly to go have some ice cream but of course, they had rides and a carnival of sorts set up. We would have been fine except Parker of course noticed a small train ride. He wouldn't even eat his ice cream because he had his eyes so glued to the train ride. We knew we would have a HUGE fit if we tried to leave without a ride on the makeshift Thomas ride. Chip and I ended up having to ride it with them - we have learned that maybe our children just like to see trains - neither were too thrilled about the ride. Whit rode like a deer in the headlights the whole time. And Parker refused to sit in his seat so he climbed into my lap and held on for dear life.
One thing that was nice about the place that we stayed was that there happened to be HUGE tide pools in front of our hotel. Once the boys discovered how much fun they were, we couldn't get them out. Parker would float his little boats all over the pools, and Whit really enjoyed running and then just throwing himself into the water. This was great because it gave us all a chance to sit in our chairs (and not have to chase them all over the beach!).
And of course as every year, we have to have the group grandchildren shots. This is the time when we make all of the kids do their hair and put on real clothes (other than bathing suits) and pose for a few pictures. You would think that we were making them doing something horrible by all of the whines, cries, and mean looks we get just trying to get them to pose. But somehow the pictures always turn out perfect! Here are a few of the favorite poses - the sitting in the sand pose, the lifeguard stand pose, and the holding hands shot. And this year, I was happy to get a picture of just the boys sitting together (granted they were sitting high on the lifeguard stand and were probably scared to death to try to get down).
