Beach Trip 2011

We celebrated Michael's birthday at the beach this year.
He had the whole day's meals planned out before we arrived. My mom surprised him with smoked salmon for breakfast.

For lunch we went to his favorite restaurant on the beach where he enjoyed calamari, crab cake and Greek salad and a hot fudge brownie sundae.

I ordered a cake from a nearby bakery. My gourmet children didn't care for the store bought cake. They all just licked off the frosting.

Elizabeth helped me pick out this boogie board for Michael. They both had a blast on it but I wasn't able to get any pictures.

Before we left for our trip Michael's big present arrived. The Calico Critters Mansion. I love his expression here. He has been wanting this for more than a year. Now he is using his birthday money to furnish it.

It's hard to imagine an hour before this picture was taken we were at the airport. My van has been in the shop for a month so we had to take this rental to the beach. It was not going to fit the five of us and all of our gear so I flew down with the three children and James drove. It was Elizabeth and Andrew's first flight. They were all excited. After the slightly torturous security line we took a tram to the terminal. After the one minute ride Elizabeth exclaims, "We're at the beach!!" Everyone in the car burst out laughing. I told her it would be really fast if we flew - she took it literally.

Andrew's first day at the beach and he was thrilled. Hard to imagine last year he was barely sitting in the sand.

My parents joined us again this year.


Every time I brought the camera Elizabeth was ready to pose.

Andrew's way of letting us know he was getting tired.

Michael built a variety of sand structures. This castle with a moat was a favorite. He also made The Great Wall of China and our house.

Elizabeth with a mermaid tail

Andrew screaming with joy

Our friends came down for the day and Mr. Hansell and the boys taught Elizabeth about sand fleas. They look like primitive crabs. Elizabeth spent a lot of time digging and collecting them in buckets.

The boys digging a hole.

Nicole and my godson Colin also visited.

Andrew was kind enough to wake us up early to watch the sunrise everyday.

Our house had a pool and we took full advantage.
It is so much easier to get the kids in from the beach if they know they're going to the pool to play.

Michael had fun getting buried.

But after awhile he was ready to get OUT.

Watching the dolphins

Who needs a babysitter when you have a hole?

We all had a wonderful vacation. Michael was ready to come home. He told me that the beach house was ordinary and he didn't like how it was decorated. Elizabeth, on the other hand, did not want to leave. She said she didn't want to go to school only go to the beach. A preschool dropout? Andrew was sad to leave my parents. He kept saying, No Nani go, Where Papa go? It's interesting that the children have such different opinions already.