March 12

Another sunny day in Florida!

We started our morning playing with toys on the lanai. Maggie chose these balls for Eli, and she knew exactly what he would like!

Meanwhile, Lily was busy coloring in her pajamas. The coloring pages Maggie chose were a big hit with the girls!

We intended to space out our beach visits, but the weather forecast had other ideas. When we saw that today was the last warm, sunny day of our visit, we knew that it had to be our big beach day. At first, we planned to just stay for the morning. But by the time we got settled at the beach and saw how much fun the kids were having, we knew we had to make an attempt to stay all day, naps or not.

Putting sun shirts on all of the kids was a great idea. 

This kid loves the ocean!

Daisy liked that the sand felt squishy.

Before we got to the beach, Caleb told me he absolutely wouldn't go into the ocean, because he knew what kind of stuff was in there. Happily, he changed his mind once we arrived. 

Lily was so funny with her shovel and pail - pink and purple, which are her two favorite colors.

She scooped dry sand from near our blanket and carried it out to the wet sand, over and over and over.

Caleb rode the waves on Maggie's floating seat.

Busy kiddos!

Caleb calls sand like this "muck".

See? Happy, happy, happy. I did not succeed in keeping sun hats and sun glasses on any of the children, but at least the shirts stayed on!

What? You want video?

I mean, really. How cute is this?

It was a bit cool, so occasionally the little ones would join me on our blanket for snuggles.

Since we weren't planning on staying all day, we didn't pack a lunch. Big mistake. Lily and I had to trek to the beach pavilion and pay nearly $50 for lunch. Yikes! We also scoped out an umbrella rental place, and after lunch Chris arranged to have one set up at our spot.

Eli fought nap time mightily. After I spent 20 minutes rocking, shushing, nursing, and snuggling, I finally wrapped him up and stood near the ocean. Do you see how tired that poor baby is?

Meanwhile, Caleb got out his new snorkel. This kid was so brave, and picked up snorkeling so easily! He found minnows under the water, and tried to catch them in a bucket.

Cute baby.

Fifteen minutes later... 

Almost there!

And done. Cell phone selfie of my beach victory. Eli finally succumbed to the crashing of the waves and the swaying of Mom's warm body.

I was even able to rest in the shade!

I know. Too many pictures of sweet sleeping Eli, but it's adorable and I know these moments are fleeting. Soon I won't be able to wrap him anymore, and soon he will no longer nap. I will shamelessly share millions of pictures of these last wrap naps.

The kids buried Chris in the sand, and he buried them.

And then Maggie joined us!

We left the beach thoroughly sunburnt, but happy. It was a beautiful day.