The Beach '14: More Fun At The Beach

More fun at the beach including sand castles, refreshing waves and little (and not little) fish nipping at our toes.  

The Beach '14: Oh Pool Boys...

They mean business, cleaning out the pool and ridding it of dead frogs.

The Beach '14: Morning Visitors

And sometimes you didn't even need to leave the front porch to feed the ducks!

The Beach '14: Lots and Lots of Ducks!

This place is crawling, hopping, waddling, swimming, with wildlife! There is a duck pond in the middle of the neighborhood. And there were a lot of ducks! The boys liked going to feed them after dinner.

The Beach '14: Hermit Crabs!

In addition to frogs, the beach also had an abundance of hermit crabs. Oh, you have never seen such excited boys when they had their very own hermit crabs! We didn't keep them for long but we acquired several more throughout the week. 

The Beach '14: Sun, Sand and Surf!

Ahhh, white sand beaches and beautiful clear water! And for the Gulf in July, the water was cold!! The marine buoy says the water temperature was between 80 and 85, but I swear it felt more like 70-75! Lake Erie had to have felt warmer. But it was a very refreshing water temperature, not like the bath water in the pool or you usually expect in July in the Gulf. 

The boys had fun playing in the waves and digging holes in the sand. Nick's only mission was to dig holes. 

Wave Ninja 

The Beach '14: Pool Selfies!

Ahhh, reasons why Sarah and I should not have access to an underwater camera...

Swimming with sunglasses. Important to protect your eyes, even under water.

It took us a few tries to figure out how not to blow bubbles as we went under

Sarah's got skillz - she can smile with teeth underwater!

We can open our eyes if we wear goggles! These are the boys kid sized goggles, thus why they took totally ridiculous on our giant heads

Woohoo! I figured out how to smile under water with teeth! Still didn't master the no breathing out underwater, though.

The Beach '14: Fun In The Pool

The house we stayed in had a very nice pool in the backyard. It was perfect. The boys loved swimming in it. And cleaning frogs out of it. Nick preferred the pool over the ocean a lot. 

The Beach '14: The Frogs - Lots and Lots of Frogs

One thing that was not lacking on vacation - frogs! There were thousands of these tiny frogs everywhere! Once the sun went down, the frogs came out. The pool was a popular spot to find them in the morning, including in the filter. The boys had a fun game every morning of cleaning the frogs out of the pool. 

The Beach '14: Shelling By Flashlight

When the sun goes down, but you are not ready to leave the beach, you break out the flashlights (thanks to grandma). The boys had fun looking for shells by flashlight.