Vacation Day 1

the beautiful beach view from our 2nd floor balcony
one of the two pools that we could swim in

Rachel loved swimming with papa

sweet little water bug

Uh! I don't want to be in the pool!

I'm so excited!

I really LOVE the sand!!

It feels so good!

I love the beach and the ocean!

Whoohoo!!

gorgeous sunset

having fun playing

Footprints in the sand...

We left last Saturday morning and had a very uneventful drive down! However, it seemed to be the LONGEST drive ever to the beach! The kids did pretty well until the last part, and frankly, Nick and I weren't doing so well either. We were all very tired of being in the car and couldn't wait to just get there and walk around. We had to stop about 4 times between lunch and potty breaks, and that always breaks the momentum...but what are you going to do?!?

Once we finally arrived, it was great checking out the condo...a huge 4 bedroom with kitchen, sitting area and 3 bathrooms. This is definitely one of the nicest condos I've ever stayed in. We ordered pizza from Joey's Pizza, which is one of our favorite pizza joints in PCB. After that, we decided to check out the beach. We just couldn't stay away any longer! Even though everyone was tired and neither Bradley or Rachel had slept ONE minute the entire way down, we all headed to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful and since it was about 8:00, the sand was very cool. Bradley LOVED it and just crawled around in it. I'm sure it was like a huge sandbox to him. Rachel loved it all...the pool, the sand, the very tip of the ocean, where the waves have already broken and it's just a little splash of water.

After enjoying the beach for an hour or so, we came inside, got baths and got ready for bed. The first night, Bradley slept on a twin mattress on the floor in our room. He loved it with all the pillows around him and his blankets. He slept great. Rachel slept with Gege and Papa.

We're BAACCKKK!!

We got home from the beach yesterday evening and were SO glad to be home! We had a wonderful time and did so many things that we were all exhausted at the end of the day! Everything went very smoothly...even the sleeping arrangements, much to our surprise. As usual, Nick and Rachel are a lovely shade of dark brown and I'm a pinky-brown. Bradley's still the lightest golden white and most of that was obtained from the glow of the tv. He wanted to stay inside most of the time and watch movies instead of going to the beach or pool. He did like the pool and beach, but only before the sand got too hot and the sun got too high. He mostly pushed around his various little dump trucks in the sand. He was really good, though, and really prefers marching to the beat of his own drum. We tried to let him do that as much as possible. It was much easier with Gege and Papa, who never mind following Bradley around while he does what he wants to do. (Thanks Gege and Papa!)

I'm going to try to split the vacation into several posts so there isn't just one LONG one.

Also, thankfully, we had no car troubles at all! But, when I looked out in the garage this morning, our right rear tire was FLAT as a pancake! I'm so glad we made it home and it went flat in the garage! Nick took the tire to be patched this morning and we're good as new now! Who knows where we picked up the screw that was in it...all the Interstate driving? or small road construction? could have been anywhere!