To The Beach

This post is long.  I have lots of good photos to share.  We went on a trip to the beach last week.  Oh, it was SO wonderful.  I'd head back today if I could.  Vacations and new babies go by all too quickly.

Before heading out, we stopped our packing to hit up a local parade (lots and lots of candy, folks).

 Okay, NOW on to vacation.  We left on Sunday and drove to a hotel in Vegas.  We stopped in St. George to give the kids a chance to run around a bit.

 Before hitting the pavement on Monday morning, we spent a good couple hours at the hotel pool.  As long as my girls have their lifejackets, they are happy little fish. 

 Splash!

 Ellie loved having Dad throw her in the water, but she refused to take off her lifejacket (that girl can swim, I tell you, she's just afraid to!).  I bribed her with a 'prize' and she was all over that.

 Behold, the beach!!  We met up with Nick's brother's family who joined us for the week. 

 I liked the silhouette in that one.  Check out my crazy hair.  It LOVES the ocean breeze.

 Tuesday morning we took an early morning walk in the sand:

 And then we went to Sea World.  Here we are at the Shamu show:

 Don't worry, I wasn't actually nursing under there (ha!  Made you say 'underwear'!  Sorry, that's big at our house right now...), Lainey was taking a little snooze in the shade.  And the friendly guy behind us was pretty pleased to be in our photo.

 All the kids got to ride the 'Elmo ride' with Daddy.  Best part of their day.

 Wednesday, Beach Day!

 Miss Lainey loved playing in the sand.  The grit in her mouth didn't bother her one bit.

 After cleaning up, we headed to the harbor to enjoy some fish 'n chips.  While we waited for the food, we practiced our funny faces with the help of Dad's phone:

 Oh Mom, that one's kind of scary.  Maren is the queen of the funny face.

 Thursday morning we stocked up on fresh fruit and veg at the local Farmer's Market (Nick also got some lobster and fish for fish tacos we enjoyed that evening - so yummy!).  Nick took the girls to the beach that afternoon and I took a much needed nap with the babies.

 Friday's "to-do": more beach!

 Nick catching a wave on the boogie board.

 We sure loved having cousins around!

 A little more sand for Lainey.

 Dad torturing Everett.  He was frightened of the waves, and pretty much the water in general.  Look at his face, though.  It must not have been too bad.

 The first day we were there, Ellie loved taking the boogie board out far enough that she could sit on the board and the waves would lift her up and carry her to shore.  She must have had a pretty rough go sometime because after that she refused to do it again.  She loved running away from the waves though.

 I kept finding sand in this girl's ears for days afterwards.  No surprise there.

 I tried a little boogie boarding myself, and quite enjoyed myself.

Saturday morning before packing up and heading for home.  We all went to bed exhausted (notice Everett didn't even make it into jams?) every night from playing so hard and slept like rocks. 

Oh, we had a good time.  And ocean, we'll be back.  We can't stay away for long.