Sun and sand

I think the easiest way to tell about our vacation is with pictures...enjoy your journey!

This is when the DVD player still worked. It went on this horrible skipping hiatus....which you can imagine only caused a few whines from the backseats and a few mumbles and grumbles from the front seats.

There was a lot of time spent in the sand. Delaney adjusted to the ocean water fast, so her and Matt went out farther and farther in the water and jumped the waves....screams of excitement could be heard on shore!! Carson didn't adjust so fast, so we spent lots of time sitting and letting the waves come up over our legs. In my opinion, that was just as much fun, except that we wound up with LOTS of seaweed in our bathing suits...in places seaweed just shouldn't be!!! :-)

There was some alligator spotting ~ okay, they were supposed to be there. They were the main attraction at a restaurant we ate lunch at one day. There was also some after dark crab hunting...after we had hopped the kids up on some sugary ice cream to keep them awake and happy!

There was also plenty of opportunity for cousin bonding time. They shared donuts, giggles, morning cartoons, and ice cream. The hardest part was sharing Grammy and Grampy!

There was time for playing and making new friends. Delaney is quite the social butterfly around other children. She won't talk to an adult she doesn't know even if we say it is okay, but I don't know that I mind that right now. She made new friends everywhere we went. She tried to rule the roost a few

times...notice the look on the

father's face....I think he's thankful he has a boy!! Carson wasn't as much into making friends, but he was a DARE DEVIL on the play equipment. He might not have liked the water much, but he saved all his tricks for dry land!! He only left with 2 minor wounds :-)

We watched the lifeguard run people off of the beach b/c of the CRAZY waves that the hurricane was causing. Amazing to me how the actual storm was SO far away and the waves we saw were enormous (compared to what we'd seen earlier in the week). They were bad enough that for one day we weren't allowed on the sand at all and then we weren't allowed in the water for the next two...bummer!

Luckily, when the ocean wasn't available, the pool was, so we continued our crazy antics there! Delaney was a true fish in that water, demanding that she be able to do things alone. She quickly learned her boundaries, only to test them frequently. Carson was more of a "hang on someone" or "sit at the edge" kind of guy....I like that about him :-) He did love to be a lazy guy and lay in the green float he's holding on to...he just needed a drink and someone fanning him....HA!!

And then, one day, we woke up and it was all over. We went to say goodbye to the ocean and were filled with mixed emotions. While I was excited about the idea of sleeping in my own bed, I was not excited about the car ride ahead. Carson was mad, pretty much just to be mad...he has yet to lose that attitude since we left Florida, maybe we should go back and see if the "old" Carson comes home with us this time!! Delaney was an emotional wreck...you'd think she was 13!! She just couldn't imagine not seeing the ocean for a year and what would happen and would it all be the same and would she remember it and on and on and on and on...she wore me out in the first 45 minutes in the car! While we were excited to get home and see Lion and Twix (the cats) we were sad to join the people here living reality, because, well, reality bites!!!