a beach vacation has been on our list of things to do basically since we got back from our last beach vacation (august of 2009), but a move to the farm, a new baby boy and some other life happenings have made going back seem next to impossible. this year we were determined to make it happen-and when my mom and becky and the boys said they would join us we were SO happy!
our first stop was at my nana and papa's house. ben got to go on a tractor ride before the long trip to memphis.
ben liked the beach-but the mix of sand and suncreen is difficult on little hands and eyes-so he would spend between 15-30 minutes playing before someone would carry him back to the pool (his true love).
i did a small bit of research about taking kids to the beach and thought the idea of a wagon was perfect. our wagon, however does not have the wheels it takes to get through deep sand. we had some great heavy work opportunities for the boys before we decided that a bucket of sand toys was really the only thing we needed to carry down to the water.
the kids loved playing in the surf when it wasn't infested with floating jelly fish. we had beautiful weather the whole time-and they entertained themselves with sandcastles, baseball, throwing sand at the jellies, and cartwheels when the water was too dangerous.
an afternoon game of twister-we discovered that the best times to go down to the water were morning and evening. the afternoons were spent in the pool or playing games to avoid the heat of the sun and the bigger crowds.
becky was kind enough to be our photographer-i can't thank her enough for always being willing to take our picture.
our only outing from the condo was a trip to the pier. i was expecting a carnival type atmosphere-but it was instead a serious fishing pier. the kids had fun watching people try and reel in big fish and a sting ray...happy 4th of july!
i have more odds and ends pics that i haven't edited yet-so consider this part one of the vacation pics :)
