The Birds and the Beach

Those were two of Addy's favorite things on our trip to Florida last week.  Especially the birds.  Pelicans, seagulls.... she loved them all.  That girl can spot a bird a mile away and she stops everything to point and "oooooh" at the birds.  It's so cute.

Addy definitely loved the beach too....but not so much the ocean.  She enjoys pointing at the ocean when you ask her where it is, but she prefers to hang safely in the sand to dig with her shovels or collect shells and put them in her buckets.  Poor thing gets very nervous when she senses that you are about to take her down to the water.  She gets stiff and clings onto you for dear life.  And she will not relax again until she is back on dry land.

Here are some photos from the day that we arrived.  It was already pretty late in the day, so we didn't bother with bathing suits.

First beach photo this year.  Addy loved it!

That is my grandparent's condo in the background.

Hard to see, but Addy's shirt says, "Full of Shenanigans.  That's Me!"  Appropriate since it was St. Patrick's Day.  We were all decked out in our green :)

Grandma and Addy, on a mission to find some shells.

"Ummm, did I Mention that I hate the ocean???"

(Notice that she still has a firm grasp on her shells.)

Happy Girl!

View from Grandma and Grandpa's porch :)

When Addy and I arrived, we kind of crashed into the condo and took over.  We stole Grandma and Grandpa's bedroom and everyone's lives revolved around Addy's nap times and bedtime.  In the following pic, Tina needed headphones but forgot that hers were in the bedroom, and since Addy was napping, no one could enter.  So she borrowed Addy's headphones...

When Addy woke up, she decided that she needed them back....

This was one of my tricks to keeping Addy content on the plane.  I ordered these cute panda headphones for her about a week before the trip so that she could watch some of her music videos and TV shows that we downloaded on the IPad.  Well, of course, she wanted nothing to do with the headphones.  But I practiced with her everyday, and eventually she realized that she couldn't hear anything without them, so she left them on.  I really couldn't believe it!  I thought she was probably too young, but thankfully those panda headphones served me well on the airplane.

First full beach day :)

Another thing that I thought we would struggle with was keeping a hat on Addy's head, but she left it on without a problem.  Only this hat though.  Others she would rip off the second we put them on.

Addy found a bird!

Beach baby :)

 

Love those sandy toes :)

She loved sitting in the big chair.

Just hanging out, reading books.

Then Grandpa came to play.  Love how Addy is handing him a shell here :)

New bathing suit, new beach day.

 

My little shell collector :)

A video of Addy working hard :)

 Another quick video :)

Last day

We were all amazed at how well Addy did walking in the soft sand.  That little nugget has some pretty awesome balance.

This was Addy's typical attire after the beach day was done.  Bathing suit was wet, but there was only an hour or so left until bedtime, so no sense getting another outfit dirty, right?

Ha ha check out her giant brush!  Much needed for her full, thick locks, right?

 

We had a great time in Florida as always!  It was so nice to be with family relaxing at the beach.   And we had some awesome weather this year.  Sunny and 80 degrees every day!  The ocean was even warm enough to swim in!!

Our days consisted of:

-waking up around 7AM

-having breakfast

-playing for awhile

-Addy napped from about 10-11 

-We would then lather on the sunscreen and head to the beach for 1-1.5 hours. 

-Then come back for lunch

-Addy napped again from about 2-3:30 (Grandma and Grandpa would stay with her so that Mom, Tina and I could get some relaxing beach time without a toddler to look after.)

-When Addy woke up I would go back to the condo and bring her back to the beach for the second time of the day

-stay at the beach for another 1-1.5 hours

-back to the condo for dinner

-6:30 bath time for Addy

-7:00 bedtime for Addy

-Us adults would then relax and read or watch TV until about 10PM

-10PM bedtime for the big kids :)

 

Like I said, nice and relaxing.  Luckily Grandma's friend had a pack and play, a high chair, and some sand toys for us to borrow.  Good thing, since there is only so much you can cart with you on an airplane. 

Next post: Air travel with a toddler :)