After the wedding we headed to the beach as a family with Grandma and Grandpa Bunch. We went to Venice, Fl, which is more of a retirement community. They have three beaches right next to each other there. One has ancient shark teeth that you can search for. One is more known for shells, although all three of them had plenty, and one is a white sand beach with a jetty from which you can sit and watch dolphins and manatees.
The first afternoon we spent collecting sea shells, since we arrived later in the day. The kids had a blast with that and loved finding different colored ones or ones that looked like ice cream cones! Gavin enjoyed it as well, including take a big sea shell and using it as a digger and trying to eat one of the little ones that was in a baggie. He quickly learned those weren't treats!
The next couple days we spent the morning at the beaches (one in rain, but that wouldn't stop us) looking for sea shells, digging in the sand, building sand castles, and swimming in the ocean. Grandpa and Conner did a lot of filling up buckets for Baby Gavin to dump the water on the sand, which was his favorite activity. The kids loved all of it. They were so happy at the beach, I think we could have spent all day there!
We spent one early evening at the beach and walked out on the jetty to see the dolphins. There were probably no less than 100 sightings of dolphins jumping out of the water (it was probably only 4-5 dolphins, but they surfaced a lot). Brian, Grandma Deb, and I couldn't get enough, but the kids got a little bored. At one point I said, "Conner, let's just sit here for 5 minutes and watch this beautiful dolphins and then we can go." About a minute later, "Mom, is five minutes up yet?" Guess we'll have to go back when the kids are a little older to get appreciation for that.
Jason and Erika came over for an afternoon, but unfortunately it was raining. We went to a movie, though, to entertain everyone. Erika did a great job entertain the kids with her iphone. She is going to be such a great Aunt and addition to the family.
It was a great time at the beach. The kids had a blast, and it was pretty relaxing for all of us. A great end to a nice vacation.
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| Hmmm...this looks like a good snack in this bag. |
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| Let's see how this sea shell tastes. |
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| It is much more fun to play with them instead of eating them. |
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| Trying to get a pic of all three kids. |
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| Collecting lots of sea shells. |
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| Very proud of her collection! |
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| Our little crab trying to steal Lexi's shoes |
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| Gavin loves going down slides and loved that they had soft sand at the bottom. |
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| Trying to figure out what this white stuff was instead of the brown sand from the beach the day before. |
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| Hanging with Grandma on the beach. |
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| Rare family photo where everyone looked at the camera! |
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| Follow the leader |
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| Holding hands... |
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| As usual, Gavin was on his own. |
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| Conner tried to get him in the pic, but Gavin wasn't happy about being choked in the process. |
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| Posing with a star fish someone had made in the sand. |
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| Watching the dolphins jump. |
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| Dolphin jumping in the background. |
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| Finally Conner got his way and got to leave the Jetty and head back to the playground. |
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| Jason and Erika joined us for an afternoon and posed with the turtles they had all over downtown. |
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| Throwing ball with Grandpa. |
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| Digging with the shovel |
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| Couldn't get enough of this sand! |
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| Loving swimming in the ocean, but not tasting the salt water! |
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| Lexi insisted on swimming on her own all over. |
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| We had such a great time swimming in the ocean on the Gulf side with the calmer waters. |
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| Lunch with Grandma at this shack that had the nicest guy and best food. True hole in the wall! |
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| Hanging with dad. |
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| Bringing yet another bucket of water to Gavin. |
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| Their sand castle they built together. |
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| Being a great big brother! |
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| Dumping the water |
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| It is all gone! Can I have some more? |
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| Snuggying with Grandma and Grandpa. |
