Beach pics (finally!)

Well, we had a great trip, but I've been in get-ready-for-school mode since we got back! Sorry for the delay; it's probably not so exciting to hear about at this point, but just for posterity's sake, here goes...

We were on the beach three days and one evening, and had a great time boogie-boarding, snorkeling, and playing in the sand. We went with our friends from church, Seth and Kara, and Jay's cousin Matt, his wife, Kim (also Kim Mauck!), and their little girl Katelyn, who is six months younger than Claire. Outside of our immediate families, these are some of Claire's (and our) favorite people to hang out with, so Claire had lots of playmates. We drove the 15ish hours (with the all the stops we ended up making!) in our two loaded-down SUVs.

We all shared a three-bedroom house that was in a private neighborhood near a public beach, so we walked a few blocks every morning to the beach. After three or so hours at the beach, we would walk back, eat lunch, shower, and then have a nice rest time, where the girls took naps, and some of us did, too. The guys went and played golf one afternoon, while the girls went shopping.

Claire and Daddy play in the sand.

Daddy buried Claire in the sand between our beach chairs.

Our first night at the beach, we were in our clothes b/c we were about to eat dinner, and Claire got soaked by a wave that caught us by surprise. We had to strip her down and let it dry for the rest of the time!

Kim entertains the girls during our SECOND dinner at Dewey Destin Harborside!
Daddy and Claire lounging. Our last day, we drove to another public beach that paid snorkeling trips boat to, so we could snorkel. There was a super-calm inlet (pictured above), where all the snorkelers were, one empty one, and one super-wavy one, so we got a little bit of both. Jay, Kim and I had what felt like a near-death experience when we got caught in a current in what I dubbed Jellyfish Cove (the empty one--probably for good reason)! It's all fun and games snorkeling until you realize you're out of breath, caught in a current, surrounded by fish, and right next to a rocky jetty!! We had to climb up on the rocky jetty and pick our way along there until we got to water where we could touch. BUT by then, I had cut my toe on a rock, and was bleeding!! Matt, the fishery biologist, assured me that a shark would NOT come into that little cove and get me, so I hopped back in and walked back to shore on shaky legs. Good times...

Claire and Katelyn had a great time one night at a fun park we went to that had a little kiddie ride area and a putt-putt course. We had a hard-core couples tournament--Jay would probably not like it if I told how Team JK did.