A day at the beach....well, several....

For his graduation present, my husband decided that we all needed a break and go to the beach. The good thing about living in good ol' Tennessee  is that, being surrounded by the most states in the nation, adventure is never too far away. The Smoky Mts are about 2 hrs away (and so is Dollywood and Gatlinburg). You can drive 4 hrs to Cincinnati or 8hrs to the Carolina's.  We decided  to drive the 6hrs to the FL coast (thru Alabama) to Pensacola Beach. I love this beach...it's a family beach and the waves are NOT like California's...they're so mild, they're great for little ones. You would think that being on the Gulf of Mexico the water would be dirty (like Galveston)...but not here. I'm not sure why, but the water is so clear you can see your toes, and the water is not deep at all...you could walk a mile out and see fishes and dolphins and STILL touch the sand at the bottom.

4am pic

Alabama border

thug face

30 mi from destination

almost there....crossing over the bridge

 

We left early Monday morning thinking baby would sleep...yeah right. Little goober was up since 4 am, gave up at 8am and took an hour nap...but that was it. he was up the rest of the way. Good thing it was only 6 hours. We arrived around 11am and they let us check in early. We immediately changed, actually Spencer was already wearing his bathing suit...he couldn't wait. The rest of us changed, and off we went to the beach. We had a front side (ocean view) room...that's the only way to go. Dom loved it! We had been there before right before he walked...he was about 9 months, and he loved it then. I figured he would not remember, but it was like riding a bike. He ran thru the hot sand to the beach and tackled the waves. I wanted to get video of it, but the battery was exhausted...but good thing too. Because he just ran into the waves and when they hit him, he fell flat on his face...I seriously thought my heart had skipped like 3 beats...I ran after him and picked him up...he didn't cough of anything. I guess he held his breath....Now, all this happened within like 2 seconds, but in my mind..it was a lifetime. I decided to stay close to him since then....ha-ha.

heading out to the beach

hot sand

cold water....but not as cold as California's

he spent the first day scooping sand and putting it
back into the ocean....

trying to build a sandcastle

wandering off by himself.....such a boy

taking a break from scooping sand....that's our hotel
in the background. I think it's funny how Dom is so
much more tanner than Spencer already...

They are such water babies...once beach time was up,
they both went to the pool. Mama stayed in the room
and napped.

Teaching him how to swim

Teaching him how to hold his breath....he's such a
good teacher, Dom actually learned how to
hold his breath.

2nd day of scooping sand...this is actually a bay,
the waves were almost non existent. Great for babies



He found a net and was trying to catch fish. He didn't
like this bay, so we went back to the actual beach
later on that day.

3rd day: European style. Daddy was so mad he took his
pants off. It takes a very secure man to walk around in a
speedo. I think he looks awesome...and look at that tan!

Burying daddy in the sand.

playing in the pool



baby loved bonding with daddy. it was long overdue.



mommy/baby pic last day at the beach.

getting ready to come back home

one last pic before heading out.

We all had a blast. Baby got super tan first day out....he's got my skin haha. Daddy just got burned...he's such a white man. Dom did so good on the way back. During the trip he learned a few words- truck, bike, van, red, black, white, blue....he loved watching the cars drive by. He also loved playing with the elevator buttons...so he learned "up" "down" "dice" "apple" "one" "two" "three" and "four"...he's a chatterbox nowadays.
It was so nice to get away and do something together....it's been a while. It's nice to not come back to test or attachments due the following week.  Now, that Daddy and Dom have bonded again and Dom trusts Spencer again, maybe we'll venture out and go see Chattanooga...or Dollywood...or something like that...Gosh, how much I had missed summer!