When the children were babies and played on the beach

 52.  Dig a few holes. 

 53.  Dig a few waves. 

 54.  Play board games with cousins. 

 55.  Take a beach nap. 

 56.  Parasail!!! Ollie did this with his grandpa :)

 57.  On the rainy beach day, visit the National Naval Aviation Museum. 

 58.  Commune with the gulls. 

 59.  Find a few sand dollars.  These were still alive, by the way!

60.  Watch an incredible firework show on the beach with a fullish orange moon.   

Be astounded. 

61.  Love the beach with family and good friends.  Love it. 

Underneath the bridge where the water flowed through

Goggles on.

Goggles off.

Whoaaaa Dude!

Eli napped on the beach. Sweet-Sleepy eyes.

Jelly fish galore. There were piles and piles of these snotty-stinging creatures.

The great jellyfish hunter/ ghost, sand crab hunter

This is the last round of beach pictures. Lu-lu took tons, and I took a few myself, so I've got a plenty, hence the 3 days of posts about it.

Surfs up dude

La Playa

We've just returned home from a near perfect vacation to South Carolina. Normally, we vacation at the Gulf Coast, specifically Destin. But we decided to try something new and at the last minute settled on Surfside Beach because it was the only available condo we could find. It turned out wonderfully. Mom went with us so Evan and I got to spend some time together one-on-one. We did all the usual beach stuff: buried O-Ray up to his neck in the sand, ate boiled shrimp, boogie boarded, played paddle ball while drinking cervezas before noon, and came home with suntans and sand in every crevasse of everything we own. Eli had a great time as well. We slathered him in sunscreen and no less than 5 minutes after hitting the beach he would roll his face in the sand. Usually his nose ran, too due to the salty air. So though no one really wanted to touch him until he had his bath, he hung in! By far the best beach purchase ever for us fair skinned white folks was the easy-up shown above. It really made all the difference between sun burn and sun tan!

And a picture of the queen at her happiest