Vacation Part 1

Sorry we've been away for so long. The beach house, as the Whole Wheat Noodle (since she's soooo brown even though she wore SPF 60 the whole time!) liked to call it, didn't have Internet access. The trip was so relaxing and wonderful--we had a great time. Even the 16 hour drive down and back didn't put too much of a damper on things (at least not for the 3-and-under-crowd)! She did an amazing job keeping herself occupied with her stuffed animals, baby doll, m*gna-d*odle, tea set and purse (play cell phone, camera, sunglasses, etc.). Listening to V*ggie T*les over and over again probably had something to do with it as well.

We stayed at J's parent's condo down in the Panhandle where there are just miles and miles of the white, sugar-sand beach. The water was the clearest we'd ever seen (think swimming pool quality) and since we went so late, the beaches were pretty empty. We only had one day of rain, so that allowed us to hit the outlet mall close by. The rest of the time, the weather was in the mid-80's with only relative humidity. Perfect!

Most days we were down at the beach by 8:30 (someone was still on Eastern time with her rising schedule) and stayed until 11:45 when we went back up and had lunch. Then the Noodle went down for a nap and we were back at the beach by 3:30. Most evenings we called it a night by 5:30 and headed back up for dinner. Not too much variation, but hey, we thought it was great. The Chinese Noodle had such a fun time taking walks/running on the beach, swimming in the ocean in her "special vest", riding the waves with the boogie board or noodle, digging in the sand, making sand creations with Daddy, looking for and watching the dolphins, turtles, fish, crabs and birds and flying her kite. I'd definitely say that she loved the beach and everything associated with it! More photos tomorrow.