GS Day 2 - The Beach & Visitors

Once we got back from Pensacola, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach! We played in the water, built sandcastles and got a surprise visit!! I was out in the water with Madison when I noticed several dark fins in the water about 50 yards out. I wasn't really scared of sharks but I wasn't sure what the fins were so I decided to come back to the shore until we could figure it out. A few minutes later, one of them jumped in the air and we discovered they were dolphins!! They played in the water just off our beach for about an hour! It was just to watch them out there - I still can't believe they were so close!! Whales are my favorite animal with dolphins a close second. If reincarnation was real, I would want to come back as a dolphin: they're intelligent, playful and they get to swim all day! Anyway, the dolphins were just an added bonus to a great afternoon!

A few highlights that I wrote down:
- McKinley kept saying, "I like the beach. I like the ocean. I like the bubbles." She called the foam on the waves bubbles. If you asked her if she wanted her towel, she always said, "No, I want water. I want bubbles."
- Madison loved to be out in the water with her floaties. She didn't want us to hold onto her, just stay within reach. She kept telling us she was practicing her swimming.
- Madison got swamped once by a wave that snuck up on us. But she just popped back up and said, "That's what happens when you're four!" Those of you who know how much she hates water on her head in any form, including in the bathtub, can guess what a shock it was to see her react like that!! But she seriously loved it!!
- Madison also liked chasing the waves down the beach when they receded and then running from them when they came back.
- McKinley liked to stand in the surf and let her feet get buried in the sand by the tide. She got buried to her knees once before we pulled her out!
- Every time a wave would come and then pass by, McKinley would laugh and they say "Do it again!" She also learned to anticipate the waves and would say "Ready, set, go" as they came toward us each time.
- We discovered shells on the beach that we thought were just normal sea shells. But Jen watched them a little closer and saw them start to move when the water touched them. It turned out they were little tiny crustaceans (I think we decided they were Kokina crabs). They would lie there innocently and then as soon as water touched them, they extended tiny translucent feet and burrowed down into the sand. If you dug down a little bit, you could find dozens of them huddled together. They were pretty fun to watch!

A beautiful beach all to ourselves!

She chased the waves ...

And then the waves chased her :)

We got this beach chair at a discount store for us to sit in but McKinley quickly claimed it as hers

Madison and Mom just before the fins appeared

You can just barely see the three dark fins in the middle of the picture

And then this happened! I was standing on the beach taking this picture. The one above this one is zoomed in a little on the fins, but this one isn't at all. That's how close they were!

The start of one of many sand castles for the week!

Jordan had Madison fill a cup with water to help get the sand wet for their castle. Once McKinley saw that, she wanted to help too. But she didn't quite understand that the water was for the sand, not for Dad!

Madison got bored with the castle after awhile and decided to help Brandi bury Robbie instead. She may have just shoveled a bunch of sand into his face :)

Meanwhile, I got to play in the sand with these two cuties, McKinley and Baby Zoey!!

They had fun grabbing handfuls of sand and burying each other's legs :)

Where's Robbie?!

Back to the castle - they're excavating the moat here. Jordan was very proud that he was able to excavate it all the way under the bridge he made!

The finished product!

And then Madison decided to pretend she was a dragon who came to destroy the castle. She even made me video her destruction!

See you tomorrow, beach!