Beach Week 2010

We went to the Beach the week of Labor Day and had a fantastic (and MUCH needed) family vacation.  It was sunny the entire week - not a drop of rain, which was pretty impressive for a full week in FL during hurricane season.  Still pretty hot during the day, which meant that we didn't get much beach time during the day...Matthew was not liking it, even in his tent...so we spent a lot of time in the pool (thank goodness there was one in our backyard!).  And we watched the sunset from the beach most evenings so Nate still got his sand time.  It was very relaxing - and when we weren't relaxing we were having fun!  Some highlights:

• Julie's family and Grandpa Dale joined us for Labor Day - we cooked out and played in the pool with the kids and went to Seaside for dinner and beach play.  It was a great day.

• We went to the Gulfarium in Ft Walton - something I had not done since my 5th Grade field trip.  Even though the facilities hadn't changed much since I was there last, it was still a fun place to take the kids - actually, I think Michael and I were more impressed than Nate - he chose to spend most of our time there chasing pigeons (see pics below)...not sure why those birds were more impressive than flipping dolphins and sea lions doing handstands??

• While we were in that area, we met up with Julie & fam and Grandpa Dale again at Juana's - somewhere else I had not been in many years.  We had a great dinner together watching a beautiful sunset while the kids played in the sand. 

• One day, my sweet sister offered to watch Matthew while we took Nate out on a boat ride to see dolphins.  Being out on the water with the wind in his hair just made Nate sleepy, so he took a little snooze...but pretty soon after getting out in to the gulf, the action picked up and we spotted dolphin.  We were bound and determined to get in the water and at least try to touch one...after a few attempts to get them to interact, Michael finally found a friendly one who would let him rub his belly.  And then, it was finally my turn and I found a dolphin who wanted to play a little too much!  He came up to me and put my arm in his mouth and didn't want to let go!  He was having fun but I have to admit I got a little nervous when he wouldn't leave me alone!  But it was an amazing experience to play with them in the wild - we had a great time.  Before we headed back in we stopped at a sandbar and found a bounty of sand dollars (you can see how gorgeous the water was - not a speck of seaweed).  Another great day!

I got a little too much "boat" in this pic but I had to act fast!  You can see Michael through the ladder with the dolphin on his back getting his belly rubbed.

It was a great beach week - it actually made me miss home!  But I guess you appreciate it so much more when you aren't there everyday.

I put more pics in the Beach Week Album on the right...enjoy!