Florida

We had a wonderful week on the beach in Navarre, Florida.  The weather was perfect, the townhouse was nice, the water was calm, and it only rained one day.  And let me just say that this is the best time of year to go to the beach.  It isn't miserably hot but it hasn't gotten so cold that the water is unbearable.  Also, the crowds...gone!  If you can go in the early fall, do it! 

So happy to be there!

First time on the beach for this sweet girl!

Just a few highlights from the trip...(This is going to be a long post!)

1.  Our kids are super travelers even though J talks the whole time.  He even talks himself to sleep!

Stopping at Vicksburg, Mississippi

2.  J loved the water and the sand and spent equal time playing in both places.  His only complaint was the salt.  He wants God to make an ocean with no salt. 

3.  K loved everything too!  She even liked the salt.  She sat on a sheet in the sand playing with toys, sat in the surf picking up sand, and wanted in the water to swim.  Her favorite things were the birds.  She would yell at them and get mad when they wouldn't get close to us.

4.  I got stung by a jellyfish after about 5 minutes in the water on the first day.  I had just gone down in the water to snorkel and swam right under the silly thing.  We actually saw a lot of jellyfish and we think they were dead but we don't actually know.  They are the oddest creatures.  And, no I didn't get so scared that I didn't get back in the water.  A quick rinse in the cold outside shower and it quit hurting after a little while. 

5.  We spent all but one day on the beach.  The water was so calm.  A few days it looks more like a lake than an ocean.  Blake and Dad snorkeled some and Blake found some pretty shells.  J would look at them the "hoop" it back in the ocean.  We saw dolphins several days feeding on the schools of fish swimming around.  We saw a sea turtle several times.  We also saw groups of rays swimming very close to the shore.  The last day we were there we found hundreds of tiny hermit crabs.  J caught a bunch and kept them in his bucket for most of the day then we let them go.  It was funny watching them crawl around in the sand.

6.  We went for walks on the beach most nights and caught crabs.  The first couple of nights we just caught a few sand crabs.  They are so fast and J had a blast chasing them along the beach.  He actually got pretty good at catching them.  The last two nights we showed him how to look for big crabs in the water.  I would find them and he and Blake would catch them.  The last night we caught 7 crabs and J caught 5 by himself.  He was pretty proud!

7.  We had one rainy day so the boys went to the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola.  I will share more about that later.  Mom, Gram, K, and I went to Destin the Silver Sands Outlet.  It was fun but tiring.  Shopping for things you need is a chore when you're on vacation!

What a fun week!  But I am glad to be home and almost caught up on laundry.