Category Archives: Beach

August 1, 2011 · 6:11 pm

Let’s Ride the Waves

August 1: Monday

We have found that the most pleasant time to be at the beach is in the evening.  The sun is setting and not overly hot, there is a wonderful breeze, it’s not to crowded, and the children get to run and play before bed.  Tonight we took out all of the boogie boards, they are a big hit this year for all of the children.  The waves have been the perfect size for our little guys and the current hasn’t been to strong either…  :O)

Brandie, Laurence, and Ryla stopped by for a quick visit.  How cute are they on their 4 seater bike!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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August 1, 2011 · 5:20 pm

AMI Vacation 2011 – First Weekend

July 30-31: Saturday and Sunday

YAY!!!  It’s vacation time!  With much anticipation we have been waiting for this vacation for what feels like months!  We reserved the house back in May, and we have been dreaming of our two weeks of fun in the sun all summer.  This year Kelly and I decided to set our eyes on Anna Maria Island.  We love it here and come quite often for the day, she’s never been here, and it is close enough for the husbands to drive back and forth as needed for work.  The house we found is Anna’s Cottage – 309 Spring Ave; it is on the north end one block off of the main street Pine Ave and is three blocks to the beach.  The house is a three bedroom with a pool and is adorably shabby.  Check in time was 3pm, so Saturday morning we packed up and headed out.

Here is Andy’s truck: 6 scooters, 5 bikes, 3 tricycles, 3 fishing poles, 2 wagons, beach toys, chairs, and tackle boxes, 1 bike baby seat, and 1 easy shade.  We loaded up the van, Kelly’s SUV, Brian’s Camry and off we went.

The beach house was everything we expected and so much more….  We are all in love with 309 Spring Ave.

I had to include this picture, because when we arrived at the house, a FedEx from work was already there waiting for me.  I just found it so funny that work beat me to my vacation….  :O)  If you are wondering what it is, I have been having computer issues and needed a new battery for my laptop.  After we had unloaded all of our stuff, we sat down to enjoy a nice cold beverage…  :O)

It was a little late and still a little warm, so we let the boys swim in the pool out back.

We went for a walk down to the beach so Matty could see the water….  All little Matty has been asking for, for the last two weeks, is to see the beach.

Kelly’s cousin Brook is still in town visiting and she agreed to watch the boys so Andy and I could go out to dinner.  While posing for a picture, I guess the boys are so used to the family photo they just snuck in like it was normal and smiled.  :O)  Love them.

The next morning, we decided to take the boys fishing before it got to hot.  We went over to the Anna Maria Pier.  At the end of the pier they have a bait shop, but much to our dismay they were out of bait.  How does that happen?  Especially, on a weekend.  We let the boys cast a few times and then we packed it up because we knew that they weren’t going to catch anything.

After naps we picked up our golf cart and went to Scoops for some ice cream.

Aunt Brandie and Uncle Laurence arrived today so we had to go over and see baby Ryla.  Their rental house is 3 beach blocks from ours.  She just loves Matty bear.

For dinner we all went to the Waterfront Restaurant.  7 children and 7 adults.  Afterwards, we went over to the beach to feed the seagulls and watch the sunset.

My favorite house on the island.  :O)

Sand Angels…

At 8:30 we drove back to Brandie’s house to drop them off, we hopped back on the golf cart, and it wouldn’t start.  So funny…  so we left it there and walked back home to put the boys to bed.  You can see how tired & wet they are… :O)  I love being on vacation.

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September 20, 2010 · 1:13 am

Canaveral National Seashore, New Symrna Beach

So it is Thursday morning, and I get a text from Andy that says…”I know what we are doing on Saturday, it’s a surprise, date day…but you have to be ready bright and early…and I’ll take care of everything!”  I was so excited!  We love having our weekends planned and not wasted.  We love taking the boys to new places and doing new things.

Andy decided that he wanted to take the boys to see the ocean, Matty’s first trip to the ocean.  There are so many beaches that we haven’t been too, so he decided on New Symrna Beach.  He packed the car for us, got us up nice and early, stopped for donuts on the way out, and we were off.  The drive didn’t take us long at all, and actually when we got there it was sprinkling a little bit (a typical summer shower that passes in 15 minutes) so we decided to just go for a drive.  And low and behold…what did we find???  Canaveral National Seashore.  Now if you know us, then you know that we LOVE National Parks.

Canaveral National Seashore is located on a barrier island off the east coast of Florida and NASA holds the title to the land, but not all of it is used for the operation of Kennedy Space Center. 

Here’s a little information that I found on the National Parks website.  The earliest evidence of man at Canaveral is found in the numerous mounds and middens within its boundaries.  More than 14,000 years ago, small nomadic bands of Indians entered Florida.  As time passed, regional cultures evolved in response to local environmental conditions. By the time the Europeans came various distinct Indian groups were distributed throughout Florida and southeast Georgia. Living in the vicinity of Turtle Mound were the Timucuan people, the first known inhabitants.  In their 2,000 years of occupation along the coast, the Timucuans did little to alter the natural landscape.  Their few remaining burial mounds and shell middens (Castle Windy) are like an unwritten book about the people who lived here.  By protecting it, we are assuring that future generations will learn of the Timucuan people. The large shell mounds hold undisclosed information to their way of life. From 800 to 1400 A.D., generation after generation left evidence behind to tell of their lifestyle at Turtle Mound.

The NPS has provided a nice boardwalk so visitors can walk up the 50 foot high mound to see the gorgeous views of the Atlantic Ocean and Mosquito Lagoon.  What surprised us the most…were the Banana Spriders…  EEKKK!!!!  They were everywhere!!!

For lunch we stopped at a hole in the wall place off of the side of the road called J Bs Fish Camp and Restaurant.  The weather was so gorgeous today that we sat outside and enjoyed some of the best peel-n-eat shrimp we have ever had.  Andy also ordered some blackened gator bites and we bought a container of the shrimp spice to take home…. Yum Yum! 

All in all we had a wonderful day.  After lunch we headed back to the beach for a little while longer.  The boys went for a walk and then we packed up for the drive home.  We were home by dinner, the boys swam in the pool, and we were grateful for the beautiful day.

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August 16, 2010 · 8:30 pm

Seabreeze Kite Flying

Most of time when you head down to the beach at night it is really windy, so knowing this Kelly went out and bought a bunch of kites for our vacation.  We went out two different nights to fly kites, the first night the breeze was slight and there were a lot of gnats so we went in early and then the second night it was perfect.  Davy, Colin, and Connor each had their own kite and then Emma and Matty shared one.  The kids just had a ball running up and down the beach watching the kites soar into the sky.  Davy kept saying that he wanted his to go higher and higher and Matty kept asking to hold and try.  We only had to untangle the lines a few times.  The weather was nice and we also got to watch a beautiful sunset.  Life is good.

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August 16, 2010 · 5:26 pm

Fun on the Beach

There’s nothing better than being on vacation and watching your children just have a wonderful time.  Playing on the beach means running, swimming, laughing, treasure hunting, digging, building, chasing Seagulls, growing and so much more.  We love going to the beach!… so here are a few of the pictures that we took during the week.

Here Davy and Connor are walking from the condo over to the boardwalk that leads out onto the beach…

There are over 100 sea turtle nests on the island and there are 4 rare green sea turtle nests.  We were hoping that we would have enough energy to get up around midnight and take the older boys out to see if we could see any eggs hatching…but we were to tired after long fun days of playing…next summer!

Davy, Colin, and Connor loved riding their Boogie Boards!  They rode them for hours.  The only problem that we had was after riding the waves onto shore they were to far down the beach and we would have to call them back…

I couldn’t help but take a picture of this perfect beach dog.  Every morning that we were out we saw it lazily walk the beach with its owners.  For a dog, it can’t get much better than this…

Davy and Connor were making sand angels…

The kids loved having the wagons on the beach.  Davy and Connor were always wanting to help us pull the wagons, but in the loose sand with the babies in them they were kind of heavy, so this way they all got to climb in and out and take turns dragging it around…

After each trip to the beach we found it to be easiest if once we got to the condo they stripped down, were hosed off, and then headed inside “mostly” sand free…

Ahhh, how could watching six kids at the beach not be fun!!!!…..

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July 17, 2010 · 11:41 pm

AMI – Anna Maria Island

Last night right before we went to sleep Andy and I decided that today we would get up early and drive down to Anna Maria Island for our beach outing.  Usually, we will go to St. Pete beach or over to Honeymoon Island…but today we were longing for the feeling of vacation, which is what we have when we travel the extra 15-20 minutes. 

Today the weather was perfect.  For July it was surprisingly just warm versus the unbearable hot that you would expect it to be.  We set up the easy shade and just let the boys run.  For lunch we walked down to the Sandbar on the northwestern tip of the island, the blackened grouper was delicious.  After lunch we walked back, moved the easy shade into the water, and just watched the boys play for hours.  We were all relaxed and ended up staying hours longer than normal and got home right around dinner time. 

We are all sun-kissed and happy.

 

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July 9, 2010 · 12:16 am

Dunedin Causeway

While mom and dad are away…the little monkey’s play! 

Courtney (Matty’s nanny and my friend) agreed to watch both of our boys this summer until August when they both will go to school; and boy does she have her hands full.  She is always coming up with fun new things to do with them and new places to take them.  This week, she took them to the Clearwater Aquarium, the Dunedin Causeway, and the airport to see the planes.  At the Aquarium Davy got to learn all about a dolphin who was injured, lost his tail, and the rescuers built it a mechanical tail so that it can swim…  He even got to touch the mechanical tail.  At the beach the boys played in the sand, water, and had a picnic.  At the airport, there is a new observation deck so she took them to watch the planes take-off and land.  Lucky boys they are….

On the way home from the beach...

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June 6, 2010 · 12:19 am

Camping at Fort Desoto

We have had many attempts trying to find the perfect weekend to go camping, so you can only imagine how happy we were when this weekend worked out so perfectly.  Sarah has been in town visiting with the boys and we thought that it would be so much fun to go camping on the beach, have them come meet us for a cookout, and to take the boys out in the canoe.

Now if you live in Florida you are probably thinking, “Are they crazy?”  Yes, it was hot; but we had so much fun.  Andy went out early Friday morning for the first come first serve walk-up lots, and he picked the best one.  It was western facing so we would see the sunset and the trees were thick on both sides of us, making it a little more private than others.  We headed out bright and early Saturday, excited to get our weekend started.

 

It had been a while since we used the tent, but once we remembered how it was put together…piece of cake.  We played down at the beach, had lunch at the campsite, and remembered how much we enjoyed camping; very relaxing and fun family time without the world of electronics.  Andy and Davy took the canoe out and had two dolphins swimming about 6 feet away from them, they were so excited.  David, Jenni, Sarah, and the boys came on over early in the afternoon just as the sun was hitting the western sky making it extremely hot.  In the shade we weren’t to bad, but down by the water…it was hot.  They stayed for a couple of hours and left right before dinner.  We cooked chicken bundles on the grill [chicken, corn, potatoes, onions, and parmesan, sage, and black pepper butter] and for dessert we hopped in the car to cool off a little and get the boys milkshakes.

 

The sunset was gorgeous, for fun we lit sparklers, and then it was time for bed.  This camping trip was very memorable for all of us, I will never forget sleeping in the tent together, and next time I won’t pass on bringing the fan.

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April 14, 2007 · 12:54 pm

>Gulf Fever

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The family headed out on Friday afternoon, after a hard week’s work to get some R&R at Grandma and Grandpa’s condo in Bradenton, FL. This home away from home has been a blessing to Kathy and I as a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of everday life and find some time to enjoy each others company and clear our heads. There is so much to do in the area, including boating, St. Armands circle, Golf, and shopping and drinking (we like the Waterfront Restaurant the best), but are favorite activity is to take our rambunctious toddler to one of the many beaches in the area.

This trip we choose Coquina beach, mainly for its proximity and simple walk from the car to the water. This was Davy’s first trip to the waterfront as a big-boy walking, and we were very impressed by the way he made his way to the sand. Once he got there we dug some more holes, filled them with water and let Davy splash and toss sand every which way…After a while, Davy and dad strolled down to the shore and sat in the sand while the waves came a shore. A couple of more powerful waves knocked him over, but he quickly got up and went back at it.

It was not until I got home that I realized that we had been at Coquina Beach and that there is a reason that they call it this. As the waves rushed past Davy and I and then rolled back to sea, they deposit millions of little egg shell like pebbles called coquinas in the back pocket of my swim trunks and davy’s diaper. As we stripped down to shower, we redeposited these stones on the floor in the bathroom!!!!! What a mess…but well worth it.

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March 18, 2007 · 11:02 pm

>Davy’s first time in the sand

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It couldn’t have been a more beautiful March day. Sarah and the boys were leaving that weekend and since I was going to be gone, Davy and I decided to drive down and spend the day with them. Sarah wanted to go to the beach. Now, Andy and I made a lot of trips to the beach last year, however, Davy really wasn’t that mobile so I previously wasn’t to worried about the sand. Was he going to like the sand? Historically, Davy does not like to have his hands dirty. He violently waves them around in air and screams until you wipe them clean….I could only imagine his expressions about sand. Now, would he rub his eyes, get it in his mouth, up his nose…I really had no idea what to expect. Much to my surprise, he loved it. Of course he would! What was I thinking? Or worried about? All little kids love the beach. At first he was hesitant, but Liam and Charlie were squealing with delight and he just relaxed and got dirty. The boys played for at least two hours: Digging holes, running back and forth to the gulf for water and blowing bubbles. We walked down to the water’s edge and let the surf roll over our feet. Davy’s feet were sucked under and he had a hard time with his balance. This in combination with the cold temperature of the water was enough for him. I do remember last year him liking the pool better. So all in all, the trip to the beach was a huge success. Now I have to run out and buy lots of beach toys….

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