Beach Day 1

I had a pretty rough day yesterday - I never quite found my listening ears and refused to nap or even really rest for that matter. Thankfully we were able to check in to our house early (check in is supposed to be 4, but we got in before that) and daddy and I tried to take a rest while mom went to the grocery store. We ate dinner at home and then went to the beach for a quick walk before bedtime. Mom and dad let me dip my feet in the water, but we didn't have bathing suits on, so we couldn't go in too far. Here, daddy and I were waiting for the water to come tickle our toes :) The water came up and got me all wet - my dress got wet and even daddy's shorts got wet. But that's ok!

All of the other places we've stayed here had beach chairs that we could use, but this condo doesn't. There are plenty of pool noodles and boogie boards, but no chairs. I actually treated mom to a bit of a sleep in this morning and didn't wake up till 7:40! She woke up before me and contemplated getting up and having a cup of coffee on the deck watching the ocean, but in the end decided that sleeping a bit more was the way to go :) I ate breakfast after I got up and mom and I went to go buy some chairs. We found some good ones for mom and dad, and mom bought me a new sand toy (like I need any more - we don't even have a bag big enough for the ones I already have!) We stopped at the grocery store on the way home to get a chair for me - mom had seen a lady bug chair for kids that she thought I would enjoy, so we got that.

We came home and gathered up our stuff to head to the beach. Thankfully, mom and dad got a beach cart this year - it's too hard to carry chairs, towels, toys, snacks, etc. when only one of them is going down with me. It made the trip down to the beach a little easier. We set up our chairs and I played in the sand for a while. I made sandcastles, sifted the sand, and made some pretend chocolate pudding for mom in one of my buckets. When mom and dad got too hot, they took me in the water. It's really shallow, then gets a little too deep for me to stand, then gets shallow again, so mom held me until we got out to the sand bar. I had so much fun and wasn't afraid at all - I jumped over the waves as they came in and even got knocked down by a few. I told mom that my lips tasted salty and she told me it was because the ocean had salt water in it.

We came in for lunch (and for a potty break) and then went down to the pool. It's a pretty nice pool and there's even a kiddie pool that I can splash around in all by myself. I had a blast with my swim ring for a while, then I told daddy I wanted to swim by myself. Check it out! Dad hadn't seen my last round of swim lessons (without a parent in the water with me), so he was really pleasantly surprised!

I took a little break from the pool and played in the kiddie pool while mom and dad got some reading in (don't worry - they were right there beside me). Then mom and I got back in the big pool and splashed around for a bit before coming back up to the house so she could change into running clothes. We met dad down on the beach and mom went for a quick run, but didn't go too far - her foot was really hurting her and the tide was too high, so she had to run on a slope, which wasn't good. We played for a bit and dad and I made a HUGE sandcastle that eventually got knocked over by the water.

We came home, showered, and took daddy's dive stuff over to the dive shop. Apparently, the past two days have been absolutely perfect dive conditions here, so dad's hoping that trend continues tomorrow and Tuesday when he's diving. Mom and I sat and watched a slideshow of some really awesome photos from some recent dives - lots of shark sightings and pretty neon fish - kind of like Nemo!

Mom and I went out to the docks while dad got his stuff for the dives ready - nitrox tanks, BC, regulator, fins, mask, etc. There's an awesome statue of Neptune there, so I sang a few songs for him. We got to watch a bunch of big boats drive by and I waved hi to all of them. After dad got his stuff settled on the boat, we drove to dinner. A few years ago, mom and dad found an awesome restaurant at the recommendation of the dive shop. It's in an old house and they never would have found it if it hadn't been recommended, but the food is AWESOME! We had fried oysters (mom and dad told me they were oyster nuggets and I *loved* them!) for an appetizer. Dad had shrimp and grits, mom had mahi mahi (I picked it for her since she couldn't decide what she wanted), and I had fried shrimp. This is the first year that we've come to the beach that I could have shell fish (mom wouldn't let me have it until I turned 3) *and* dairy, so that makes it MUCH easier to eat in restaurants! The food was amazing as always and we ended up bringing half of it home (plus a piece of key lime pie which mom doesn't want to share with me, hmmpf).

We came home and got ready for bed - I was pretty exhausted after not having a nap today, but all in all, I had a fabulous day. I found my listening ears and that made the day go SO much better.

Mom and I are on our own until the afternoon both tomorrow and Tuesday while daddy dives, but I think we'll have fun at the beach and pool anyway :) I know I'm going to miss my friends and teachers, but a week of this is going to be really, really nice!!!