1st Trip To The Beach

It is very hard to believe that I am from Florida. Well, for the most part. I was born in New Jersey but at 4 years old we moved to Florida. Lived in Pompano Beach (near Ft. Lauderdale) for 10 years then moved north to northern Florida for 4 years before moving to where my parents are now. After Kirk and I married we lived in Orlando for a year before moving to VA.

So, after all that I'm a "Florida" girl except I'm not.

I hate the beach. I really do. It's the sand/water mixture that drives me nuts. Probably that and the fact that I don't tan :)

Even though I hate the beach I'm still surprised that we haven't taken the girls to the beach before now. We changed that today by taking them to their first real beach white sand, waves and all.

They loved it.

If you've read the blog enough you're probably thinking "Rachel too?!" and okay, she liked it for a while then hated it but if you asked her she'd tell you she had fun :)

Getting ready to go out in the water:





Kaitlyn and Caleb need no coaxing to head in...



I didn't get a close-up of Kaitlyn because she spent all her time snorkeling out in the ocean. She really enjoyed it.



Caleb spent his time swimming and searching for shells. We now have a huge collection of shells so we can bring a bit of Florida with us when we leave.



Proof Rachel enjoyed it a little bit :)



But it didn't take long before she was totally done with the water and just wanted to hang out with Grandma under the umbrella:



Fortunately I have proof that she DID go in the water :)



As did everyone else...



Julianna loved both the sand and the shore:









Playing with Grandma in the waves.



Alyssa also really enjoyed going out in the water. She had no fear as she headed out into the ocean.





Being silly on the beach blanket :)



Our view of the beach. It's a private island that requires a boat ride to get to so it wasn't very crowded which was nice.





Grandpa and his three little "sweeties".



So, I still hate the beach. I don't like the sticky feeling when you leave and all the sand and water mixing but we had a good day and I'm glad we took the girls. I'm also glad I'm clean and in air conditioning :)