Beach Trip

We were blessed by a trip to the beach a few weekends ago. I had been yearning to go and told Coleman that maybe we'd get to go someday, so we said a prayer to ask God to provide a way to visit the beach, and God did bless us with an amazing condo to stay in right near one of the nicest beaches on the Gulf, as well as perfect weather. You can see Coleman and Eliza having fun on the lounger in the master bedroom. That morning we took a walk, and Coleman biked, to explore the local 'town'.



After a long nap we all made our way to the beach. I forgot how that sand gets everywhere! Digging a hole is what Jared loves to do, and then he and Forrest got busy designing a city of sand castles. Jared never stops working. Eliza and Coleman loved the sand, but not the water. I'm with them...the ocean is intimidating. Coleman had to learn the important lesson of not destroying other people's sand castles. It was a hard lesson for him.















The next day: same thing. Beach time! I braved the water and discovered its not that cold. I'm used to swimming in the ocean off Rhode Island where you would get in up to your ankles, then when they were numb you'd wade into your knees and wait for them to numb, then wade in..and so on. This was like bathwater compared to that. I even got to see two dolphins swimming by, or maybe one dolphin jumping out twice.
















At the condo we had a deck and were on the third floor so we'd often eat our meals out there. Here Coleman is eating his dinner and talking non-stop about where the ocean is and the pool, and the sand, and, and, and....He was very excited!
















The next morning I took a 25 mile bike ride while Jared, Forrest and the kids explored a nearby town. Coleman had fun on his bike too! That afternoon we went, for the last time to the beach. All was good and fun until Jared and I decided to go in the water together. We were having fun, jumping over waves, laughing, ha, ha, until we decided to go back in. We started swimming and I realized I'd used up most of my energy on the bikeride, because I wasn't moving any closer to the shore. Jared was having a difficult time as well. We both started to panic and started flailing around, bumping into each other. Jared started to lose his glasses and I started to really panic to see him not calm. He told me to swim sideways. I started praying and somehow we finally got in close enough to where we could both stand. I have never been a fan of swimming and being under water, but this experience just reinforced my fear of water. Ahhh, what's a vacation without a near-death experience?














The final day we left in the morning and met Dad and Cheryl at the Montgomery Zoo for a break from driving. Coleman got on his bike and zoomed all over the zoo. Eliza apparently had not drank any water in days because she spent most of our time guzzling water. And pointing at everything she saw. It was a great way to end our vacation.