beach club

so the cool think about the development we live in is that they have a private beach club for all the residents to go to.  we weren't sure what to expect when we heard about it, but we figured it's only about 5 minutes from our house, so we would check it out.  but uhhhh, yeah, this is pretty awesome!

this was little miss' first experience with a large body of water too! she loved it.  was a little cold at first, but we all got used to it.  we even went underwater once and she did great. we're going to keep at that so she's an old pro in the water.

so the beach club is basically a sandy beach surrounding a pool that is no deeper than 4 feet or so in the middle.  there is a great splashpad next to the big pool beach part, plenty of chairs along the perimeter, and even little picnic pavillions that would be great for parties or if you were planning on staying all day.  what we also found out is you can bring canned beer and drink it there too! jackpot!

so we may not have a pool in our backyard...but we have a beach! 

beach bums

grady has taken graham to the beach every morning before the sun gets too hot and then has run around a bit with the rest of his fam.  but today....today is a beach day with everyone!

sun, sand, surf and huh?  falling asleep halfway through eating a cookie??!

yup...that's what beach days are made of!

aunt star sent me these photos.  perfect memories captured!

father and son beach time

at least the two dudes were able to enjoy some time at the beach!

these two enjoyed some sun and fun before colin and stephanie's big day!!

i was so bummed that i couldn't make it down there.  but with my cast, i was going to take any chances with plastic bags, tape, etc.  i decided i would stay on star's patio and take pictures from there.  where's the real zoom when you need it!!  

based on the recap from grady, graham wasn't too thrilled going into the ocean, but LOVED sitting and playing in the sand and letting the water splash up on him.  

beach cookout

couldn't have asked for better weather for our sanner family beach cookout!  80's, sunny and a slight breeze.  oh yeah...and the water temperature was about 78!!!  perfect!

we all met at the beach around 2 and commenced to play in the ocean.  the dude, once again, loved everything about the ocean, and was even crawling towards it!!  his appetite for sand was still there.  at least until i think he actually tasted it.  then it was hard for him to get the sand out of his mouth, with sand on his hands!  funny!

the dude got knocked over a couple times by some waves and didn't drink too much seawater, but i think it was enough for him to realize the ocean is stronger than him!  after the two fairly big tumbles and wash outs, he decided to just crawl around on the sand and play with his rake.  fine with me!!!  

we were going to make sure to put him in the water before we left so he could remember how awesome the ocean was, but yeah....dude wiped out!!!

and grady has mad skills on a steal of a deal charcoal grill on the beach.  even with wind. he cooked up some mighty delicious hamburgers and hotdogs.  thanks hun!!!

the view

there's not much bad talking you can do about florida.  you can't really complain about sunny skies, slight breezes, seagulls cawing, waves crashing and the smell of salt in the air!  yeah...sounds good to me.  and there is definitely nothing we can complain about where star, tommy, kaelin and kamrin live!  their condo is AWESOME!!  

the pictures speak for themselves!!

thanks guys for letting us stay with you.  

beach time!!!!!  

today we ventured out to the beach for the dudes VERY FIRST time!!  he was very intrigued by the noise and smell of the ocean.  he couldn't stop looking at it and when we put him down, he loved it even more.  first wave came and it was a little strong.  no worries.  he took it like a champ.  his legs got a little buried in the sand, which helped him get his footing in the sand.  

of course the second thing he did, after splashing in the waves, was try to eat sand!  :)  i know it's going to happen a million more times while we're here, but i did try to stop it while i could.  

we were very happy with how everything went though.  no freakouts and no crying.  he absolutely loved the beach and we're looking forward to bringing him back tomorrow.  we just did a short trip today to test the waters.

looks like the entire sanner and hertel family kids are fishes!!!

welcoming committee

thank you to our welcoming committee.  i don't think a boy could have as much fun as he did after traveling for 4 hours!

and boy were we glad to see everyone!