Blessed Beyond Measure: Winter Getaway Day 2: Beachin' It

So, after all of the stress of the week before: loosing my license, Avery getting a terrible virus, and a long day of travel down to Florida, we had finally made it! This vacation was almost entirely spent playing on the beach, relaxing, eating and playing in the pool. Thus, the associated blog posts will be photo heavy with a few small stories thrown in from time to time. Although every day was basically the same as the day before, there were still several wonderful memories made along the way with my favorite people on this planet!

You'd think after a long day of traveling with no naps, the kids would be exhausted and sleep in, but instead they were up at the crack of dawn...literally! Avery woke up in the middle of the night sleeping near me in his pack-n-play and freaked out because he didn't recognize his surroundings. He spent the rest of the night in bed with us. (The picture above although mostly un-visable is my view of two of my three boys sleeping in my bed). Then by about 6:30 Eastern time (way too early our time), the sun was up and the boys were ready to explore.

First we headed to the beach, with two shovels in hand...

Avery's first time walking in the ocean on his own.

There were small conch shells all over the beach that still had alive animals in them, so we tossed several of them back into the water.

Asher quickly got more and more brave about heading into the ocean.

Avery happily played in the sand...and taste tested a fair amount of it as well.

Asher in the sand with our hotel in the background.

Video: Dolphins

We watched some dolphins swimming by

After an hour or so of playing on the beach, Grammy walked over to join us.

Video: Jumping Waves with Grammy

Video: Jumping Waves with Daddy

I love these selfies with my littlest guy, but since he was still getting over a nasty virus, I did have to try to edit the snot that was hanging out of his nose out of the pictures. :p

As late morning approached, Avery started to get fussy and obviously tired as he rested his head in the sand.

With Avery obviously ready for a nap, he and I headed back to the hotel to take a late morning nap while the others continued to enjoy the beach and the sunshine. By lunchtime, Avery was up and ready to play some more and Asher was ready for some food and a nap of his own. With their nap schedules off, Grammy volunteered to take Avery for a walk so that Eric and I could enjoy a lunch date together on the beach.

Eric and I enjoying our lunch date while protecting our food from the seagulls and discussing important life plans that we have no time to discuss at home.

Avery on his walk with Grammy.

When we were done with our lunch and Avery and Grammy were back from their walk, Gramps decided it was time to hit the pool so Avery got to go for his first swim of the year. Not long afterwards, Asher woke up from his nap so he and Eric were quick to follow.

Asher joins Avery and Gramps with his trusty steed

Avery attempt surfing.

After watching Asher jump into the pool a few times and then Asher with Eric, Eric decided Avery should join the fun too, so all three of them jumped into the pool together. The looks on all three of my guys' faces were priceless! :)

We were really impressed with Asher during this vacation. He got more and more brave in both the ocean water and the pool. By the end of this first day he was willing to go underwater on his own and look underwater with goggles on. A day our two later, he was looking underwater all on his own with no goggles.

Me and my boys resting at the pool after a lot of fun in the water.

Finally, evening had come and it was time to go back to the beach to say "nigh nigh" to the sun.

When the sun had gone to bed, we finished out our day with a yummy dinner at Smiley's Snack Shack, a little ice cream for the boys with Gramps and some playtime at the restaurant outside. Then we were off to bed to rest up for another day.