On the Beach

We spent last week on the Gulf of Mexico, in Seacrest, FL. And when I say "we", I mean Terry, Sophie and me. Michael and Emily stayed home with Terry's mother, Donna, which was the wisest decision I have made in a long time. I cannot thank my mother in law enough; the trip was so enjoyable, and we were able to do so much more having just Sophie with us. I cannot imagine what it would have been like lugging two 19 mth olds and all their stuff up and down to the beach. Not to mention the 8 hour car ride........

Sophie and Terry dug lots of holes, and built lots of sand castles. All the beach time was a bonus as well, Sophie ASKED to take a nap on most days, something she hasn't done in 2 years. That was our time to either nap, or take turns being on the beach ALONE, a concept I thoroughly enjoyed.

Ever the social butterfly, Sophie made fast friends with the little boys in the "combo" next to ours, Josh and Bentley, whom she nicknamed Stanley. We met up with them on our visit to GulfWorld, on the one rainy day we had all week. Their parents were really nice as well, and we had fun hanging out together. They joined us for fireworks and sparklers on the beach in the evenings. Their last day they went deep sea fishing, and caught so much Red Snapper, they gave us some. I cooked it that night, and it was the best seafood we had all week.

One reason we love this location, is that we have a small lawn in the back, which overlooks this:

We brought the slip and slide and it was a hit one afternoon when we had all had our fill of the sand.

Sophie enjoyed the fountains in nearby Seagrove Village.

She never used her goggles in the ocean, but they did come in handy one night when lighting sparklers.

View of the sunset from our little patch of lawn. Marilyn's condo, Mistral, is the building on the far right, with the window along the top.

Me and Sophie watching our last sunset on the beach. We left early the next morning, we knew Nana was ready for us to come on home!

More beach artwork

Again, many thanks to Nana for taking such good care of Michael and Emily. They seemed to have grown and changed so much in the time we were gone, that part always amazes me.