On the morning of day five of our annual family beach vacation, everyone except Nola and Nopsi decided to take a walk over to the Gulf side after breakfast. A red flag was flying throughout our first four days, which made us all glad we were staying on the bay side. But by Wednesday the surf had calmed down a bit.
We walked along the shoreline searching for shells, but there weren’t too many to be found. We stood in the shallow surf, took some pics, and then headed back to our house for the rest of the morning.
And apparently we were busy the rest of the morning because I don’t have any pics until the kids rinsed off in the crazy hose. They loved their lunch this day: Kenny made them octopus hot dogs.
They all had a snack once they got up from nap and then we went back out. We spent almost the whole afternoon in the water down at the end of the dock and then went straight upstairs to bathe the kiddos in the crazy hose before dinner.
On day six, Rory had a watermelon breakfast on the kitchen counter, Kenny rocked his Viking helmet shirt and straw hat, Riley wrote his name with chalk on the concrete downstairs, and I took a selfie with my baby.
The cousins had another great day playing together. And this was the day that I captured the difference in their dock jumping this year. I’m not sure how it started, but Riley mostly only wanted to jump from the dock if Rory pushed him. Wonk potatoes.
Kate also wanted to join in the pushing but she didn’t want the favor returned; she was too scared to jump off the dock by herself. But when she honed in on Rory’s job, he got quite upset. It was all really comical. But everyone was friends again by popsicle time.
Friday was our last full day at the beach house. We lounged inside a bit after breakfast, took a picture of the kids in their “Pint Size” t-shirts from QP and James, and then headed downstairs. We even turned the bubble machine on, much to Rory’s delight.
I tried to take another picture of all three of them but Rory wasn’t having it. However, I love that he’s halfway down the dock while the older two are cooperating. Cracks me up.
Kate and her daddy played paddleball while Riley got all sandy and then raced trucks with his brother. Then Nopsi gave paddleball a go when Kate tired of the game, while Erin relaxed in the shade with her book.
And the boys took a dip with Kenny and did some last dock jumping (with Rory pushing Riley in of course) before we all went in for lunch.
We went back out in the afternoon after naps. The kids had popsicles and played while the adults worked to rinse off and pack up all of the beach toys and outside equipment we had brought with us. It was almost time to go home.
That evening, once everyone had gotten cleaned up, eaten dinner, and packed a bit, we relaxed in front of the tv with movies. First it was Planes, and then we put on Big Hero 6, which no one save my little family had ever seen. It was too late for the kids to finish it that night, but the adults watched the rest after they had gone to bed. Positive reviews all around!
We left the next morning to drive back home. Pensacola 2015 wrap-up coming up next!
