Take Us Away, Tuesday!

Third Verse, Same as the First (and Second)

I had someone ask me "what did you do in Florida?"

Carrie: "We spent three days at the beach"

Friend: "What did you do there?"

Carrie: "We played in the water, played in the sand, rested, relaxed, found sea shells, built sand castles, swam."

Friend: "that's it?"

"Yes, that's it.  All day, every day for three days.  It was AWESOME!"

Each day that we walked to the beach, as we rounded the corner I was awe struck.  Each and every time.

The beach is so expansive, check out our party wagon that appears so tiny down there on the left.

By day three, Kellan had given up on beach combing and opted for beach bumming.

After about 20 minutes on the beach he walked up to me and said "I want to snuggle you".  This is usually code for "I'm really tired and would like to take a nap.  However, admitting that I would like to take a nap is not very two-year-old-ish, so I'll just ask for a snuggle."  Those are the words that were going through his head but came out as a request to snuggle his Mommy.  Mommy never denies a snuggle as there will be one day where they will no longer come around, so snuggles are currently accepted with arms wide open.

There is nothing better than a sleeping baby (or no longer baby) snuggling on  your lap.

Meanwhile, Oliver was digging to China.

While Kallan napped, Oliver and Daddy beached a whale.

After much debate, it was decided that it was ok for Kellan to sit on the whale.  

The first attempt resulted in Oliver screaming as if he was loosing a limb because Kellan was mounting the whale like a horse at the rodeo.  Once Oliver finally gave in, he discovered that Kellan just wanted to perch on the whale like it was a park bench and munch on strawberries.

Kellan rather enjoyed being perched on the tail of the whale and opted to bring his sand shaper dinosaur friend along for a chat.

After some time, they both saddled up the whale for a ride into the deep blue yonder.

Now that the boys have discovered their love of the beach, Kellan's eyes were well protected from the sand/sun with goggles and Oliver was happy as a clam; Daddy kicked back with some Rocky Mountain Cold Refreshment.

Remember Day one where Kellan was unsure of the water.

Day three brought about a new side to Kellan who exclaimed "I love the beach!"

If you're going to throw sand, throwing it back into the ocean is an optimal option.

Sometimes, beach time is in no need of words; just fun, sun and good times had by all!

There is nothing like chasing the waves and running from them all in the same moment.

Day three and this is as good as it gets.  Actually sitting on the couch takes too much effort, so leaning against the edge will have to do.

Dinner time came around and nothing sounded better than round two of the Siesta Key Oyster Bar.

For round two, Keith opted for the Happy Hour special of Crawfish.  He LOVED it!

Did you that cooked crawfish can talk to little boys?

Apparently So!.

Kellan is curious.

Oliver is questioning.

Kellan is also tired.

Three days on the beach with little to no naps makes a two year old ready for bed before the sun goes down.  In times like these, he knows that you just take a moment to yourself to regroup because you the party isn't over until the sun does go down.

After dinner we carried on the tradition of getting ice cream except this time, we tried a new place that we discovered that had Italian Gelato.

Call us cheap, but after we ordered we discovered that it was $5 per scoop so we reduced our order to one scoop and let the boys share.  It's more sweet that way anyway, right?

After dinner and after gelato we strolled on down to the pier for our final beach sunset.

We hunted for crabs but struck out.

We watched for the sunset but again struck out with a cloudy horizon.

We went to Siesta Key for a beach getaway and had three amazing days.  That in itself was a Grand Slam!

This was as good as it got on our final night.

This is as good as it gets any night.

The four of us together in paradise.

If only there had been someone to take a family photo, but alas, Daddy was behind the camera.

Siesta Key, We Love You!

Can't wait to see you again soon.