FFFF - Our Week at the Beach

This is going to look like an astronomically long post, but that's because there are lots of pictures. I'll try to keep the narration short but sweet.

* * * * *

Last week my husband and I went the coast for our family vacation. We went with some neighbors of ours. Since being together we've only taken vacations with each other or with family, so we weren't sure what to expect. We are happy to report that it was awesome. They are really cool people, and I hope we get to vacation with them again next year.

To cut to the chase, here's our trip.

The ride down was pretty easy. Livers was quiet and did a lot of this:


She was packed in like a sardine. We'll need to upgrade our ride if we expect to take more than one kid to the beach.

The first full day we went to the beach. Livers did a lot of this:

And this:

And lots of this:

And when she didn't get her way, she did this:

And when she didn't want to share with her friend (or she saw a dog she wanted to pet), they did this:


We were behind her making sure she didn't drown, eat sand, or steal other beach goer's things.

Later that night I went fishing. It was dark, so I have no pictures. I did catch a fish, which was cool.

The next day we went to a splash park. It was a nice break from the over-90 heat. Livers liked it a lot. We both really liked going down the slide.


There would be more pictures, but I wasn't behind the lens. I'm the camera-Nazi of the family.

Later that evening we went to the beach. It was beautiful.

Livers did more of this:


And she looked out at the ocean:

And she ran down the beach with her "best friend":

The next day J and I rode on jet skis for the first time. It was VERY fun. I was more the daredevil than J, as I got the ski up to close to 50 mph, even though there were waves. I wish there were pictures, but oh well.

The next day J, Livers, and I took a "family" day and went into the city by ourselves. We took Livers to a children's musem. It was a lot of fun for her. She spent a WHOLE lot of time doing this:


And this:


She would've done more of this:


And this:

But J was getting really hungry, so we walked downtown for lunch. (P.S., I swear I didn't put the rainbow there. I found it this way.)

Here are some of our downtown pictures:


And their massive newish bridge. Big bridges scare me. A lot. Good thing you can barely see down to the water...


The next day was J's 30th birthday. Livers got up at 7 AGAIN (she was an unfortunate early bird the ENTIRE trip), so I decided to suit her up and go for a walk on the beach.


Livers at first thought she wanted to take a quick dip in the ocean.


But then decided she wanted to walk to the dunes to see what she could find.

I thought pictures of our footprints were very arty, so I took some:


Livers then saw a dog, but when she realized her owner had glasses she wanted those instead.


This is one of the few pictures of me from the trip. I prefer to be the shooter not the subject.


All the girls later went to the aquarium for the day. Livers wouldn't sit still. I have pictures, but you've seen fish before so I won't post them. While at the aquarium, J went with A to the "Social Club", a local bar. He had fun. For dinner that night we ate at a hole in the wall fish house without air conditioning, and it was hot as hell. Here are a couple of pictures. It was storming, and I tried to get lightning but couldn't.

Livers got sick of the place.


Finally it was our last day at the beach. We did much of the same, like:

And this:

J played Frisbee with a broken one.

Livers looked at things:

And chased things:

And got into things:


For our last dinner we ate at a local Mexican restaurant. It was yummy and one of the most interestingly decorated places ever. However, I have already posted a bazillion pictures in this post, so I'll refrain from more.

The next day we got up at 6, thanks to Livers, and started getting ready. We were on the road by 9:30. It felt very anti-climatic, but I was very happy to be returning to my own house and to get the chance to sleep in my own bed.

The end. :)

P.S., If you want to view the life and times of any other Friday Foto Finish Fiesta participants, head on over to Candid Carrie's...pronto!