Our Trip to the Beach 2013

I'm finally getting around to getting this posted...just a month later!

Once again this year, we made the trek to the gulf coast of Florida to enjoy a week of sun and sand. Fortunately, we managed to get that sun the first half of the week, but the last half was a bit cloudy/rainy. Thanks to the heated pool at the house we rent, we still managed to enjoy those days in the pool though!

The boys, and Daisy, loved the beach again this year...

Digging those tiny toes into the sand

Searching for just the right sea shells

The dog, who is normally afraid of water, loves to chase waves!

Beach stud!

Being buried in the sand is fun!

Along with the sun and sand, we enjoyed some great meals while we were there. Upon arriving late Saturday afternoon, we freshened up and headed to dinner at Sunset Coastal Grill. I'm in love with their lobster bisque, served only on Saturdays, so I was happy to get a bowl. A delicious lobster ravioli for my entrée completed my meal! :) The view of the ocean is great from their front room, and something the boys enjoyed.

Our little ice eater

On Sunday evening, we headed to Triple Tails Oyster Bar. A local dive, they have some of the best food in town! I enjoyed a crab cake sandwich and their peanut butter pie, which was out of this world! Sadly, the boys agreed, so we had to share! ;)

Something more interesting outside?

On Monday night, we stayed at the house and grilled out. Cheeseburgers on the charcoal grill (something we don't get at home), chips, and root beer, of course, for Ethan! The boys loved eating out on the front patio at the house, watching the ocean waves roll in. Ice cream sandwiches for dessert was a fun, rare treat. :)

Yum!

On Tuesday evening, we headed to Joe Mama's Wood Fired Pizza. We've been there every time we visit the beach, as they make some amazing pizzas! We were able to get by with 2 pizzas this time (the "due" and the "quatro"), but with those boys' voracious appetites, I have a feeling that won't be the same story in the future!

Pizza as a styling agent? Hmm...

On Wednesday night, we drove out to Apalachicola to check out Papa Joe's Oyster Bar. We enjoyed some oysters topped with butter and cheese. Yum! Their crab-stuffed shrimp was also some of the best seafood I have had! After dinner, we continued to the east, over the bay, to check out St. George Island. The boys had a blast playing on a playground there that evening!

Yay for slides!

On Thursday evening, we enjoyed some delicious Mexican food at Pepper's Mexican Grill & Cantina. I normally order fajitas, but branched out this time and tried a chimichanga. I'm so glad that I did, because it was incredible! Josh even said it was the best one he had ever had, so I was happy with my choice! :)

On our last night of vacation, we headed to Gracie O'Malley Pub and Eatery. I chose one of their specials, a seafood alfredo pasta. It was excellent, but way more food than I could eat!

It was a wonderful, relaxing week of good food and fun! It was also educational, as I learned a few things that week:

• If you put your kids in a car at 4:30 am, they will, a) not stay asleep, b) eventually go back to sleep, but not for more than an hour, and c) won't nap for more than 45 minutes for the rest of the day. Sigh.

  

  Fortunately, still in good spirits!

• After 3 hours of sleep the night before leaving, 8 hours of sleep the following night feels like an eternity! 3 hours, however, is not nearly enough.
• There are certain advantages to traveling with boys. They don't require proper restroom facilities, which comes in handy if you're in the middle of nowhere! ;)
• If you show two little boys a pool, they will try to get all the way in, even if they have their clothes on.
• Our mattress is worth every penny we paid for it. If it'd fit in the van, I'd pack it!
• If you're pregnant and it's cloudy, even if your two ghostly pale sons don't get any sun, you will get fried. Very, very fried. You'll then spend the rest of the week covered in SPF 60+ head to toe!
• A tiny bug exists in Florida that doesn't like to bite me...but loves to bite Josh! That's a change from the norm!
• No matter how hard you try to prevent it, little boys will eat sand.

In addition to the beach, the boys LOVED the pool. As long as they had their Puddle Jumpers on, they were happy to swim around and enjoy the water, much more independently than last year.

Enjoying some pool time

Laid back...

Yes, I was there, too. ;)

Ethan especially loved when Daddy threw him up in the air to splash back down into the water - something he would not have enjoyed last year. I was having fun playing with the settings on our camera, so I snapped all of these pics really quickly to make this fun animated .gif file. :)

Ethan enjoying the water

Noah really loved playing with Daddy, too, but wasn't a fan of going under the water yet, like Ethan. He was content to let his feet splash in though. ;) These animated files are so much more fun than just shooting a video! Haha!

Noah enjoying the water

When the weather wasn't ideal, we found other ways to entertain ourselves...

Dominoes!

Morning cuddles :)

Two days in a row?? The ocean air must have had some strange effect on them! ;)

Naps on the porch...

...or the couch ;)

And bedtime stories!

We had a great week with Daisy and the boys, and it was hard to come back to our normal routine.

Goodbye beach! :(

We will miss the view!