St. George Island, Florida 2008

We just got back from the beach last Sunday. Josh, Bennett and I went with Josh's parents, Steve and Lynn, and their dog, Beau, Josh's sister Lauren and her husband, Matthew, their two kids MacKeane and Rachael, and their dog, Truett. (Was that sentence a grammatical nightmare? Oh well.) Anyway, we had a great time. It was interesting, for sure. Six adults, three young children and two dogs - we were thankful that we were in a house and not a condo. We probably would have been asked nicely to leave if we had been in a hotel or condo. With Bennett and his happy but loud (and sometimes not so happy and very loud) squealing, Mac's constant yet delightful 2 year old voice, and Beau's scratching at the floor because of the thunder... Yeah, neighbors would not have been good.

We took Bennett out to the beach the first day and he did well. He was quite indifferent, actually. We just sat him in the sand and the tide came in and over his little legs and he just sat and watched it. The next day, not the same story. Let me start by saying that Bennett does not like to hear another child cry or become upset. This sets Bennett off big time. Well, Mac was not loving the beach like he did the year before, unfortunately. So he got upset once we made it down to the beach (with half of the house, I might add). Well, it didn't take but about 5 seconds for Bennett to chime in, and that was it. He was done. So, we marched ourselves right on back to the house and got in the pool (thank goodness for the house with a pool). Bennett loved the pool.





At home before we left for the beach, Bennett was getting very close to crawling. He could get up on all fours, but couldn't quite figure out what to do from there. So he would just plop back down on his belly and kick his legs and wave his arms like crazy. It looked like he was trying to swim. So when we put him in the pool in Florida, that's immediately what he did, and he was an instant swimmer (with a little support under his tummy, needless to say). Not a fan of the occasional face full of water, though, and he still kinda freaks out in the bath when I pour water over his head to rinse his hair. But that could also still be from the trauma Mama caused him when she dunked him in Aunt Nancy's pool with no warning several weeks ago. :)

Steve and Lynn invited Mama and Daddy to come down for a couple days since Lauren and Matthew and their crew had to go home early for Matthew to work. It pretty much rained the whole time they were there, so we just stayed inside and played Boggle all day. *Little side note - I LOVE Boggle* The rain stopped for a little while one afternoon so we hurried and went down to the beach and Bennett whined for a little while, but finally calmed down and played in the sand for a while.







I can't wait for next year. It will, no doubt, be interesting once again, but I think it will be more fun since Mac will be 3 and Bennett and Rachael will both be over 1. Mass chaos, but fun. :)