Family Holiday 2016: Seashells By the Seashore

Our third day we awoke in Grandma and Grandpa's condo.  The girls got their own room complete with a TV designated solely to their every Netflix whim.  They had no time to watch it, however because we headed straight to the beach for some fun in the sun. For the next 4 days, our time was spent enjoying the Florida waves, sun and seashells.  I am going to write a bit about these days, but I must admit that the pictures tell the tale far better.

My kiddos LOVE the ocean and I feel like I could reach in and touch the excitement through these images.

Grandma and Grandpa have a beach literally 5 minutes from their house and it was perfect.  The waves were toddler sized and it was shallow for yards and yards.  The girls loved it and I loved that I could hang on the beach without fear of losing them to the big blue ocean.

The girls both got their own dolphin, but found that they enjoyed attempting to ride together.  I love their faces, I love their joy.

I was so impressed with Lily.  She mastered the art of snorkeling in a flash and she and Grandpa scoured the shallow waters in search for seashells and sea money!  I will admit, I have never found a sand dollar out in the wild and I even got a little giddy when we started finding them on the sandy bottom. We rented kayaks towards the end of the day and found ourselves combing the sandbars.  The girls could have stayed out on that water forever.

Bob unfortunately, became patient zero for a flu bug that joined us on our trip so he stayed in bed most of the time at the condo.  Poor guy.  I relished in the time spent just hanging out with my girls and loved building sand castles and making memories.  It was a sweet time.

Bob mustered his energy to come with us on our Shell seeking cruise to Captiva Island.  It was a blast and such a fun way to spend the morning.

The boat ride was absolutely amazing and a once in a lifetime experience for me because we were able to have dolphins swimming and jumping right near us.  I took a bunch of videos of the dolphins, and not one actual still shot.  It was just so mesmerizing.

We arrived on the island and spent 3 solid hours combing the beach for those special seashells.  All the girls wanted to do was swim, but Grandma and I had a great time finding the treasures.

I braved the water for a bit of swim time with the girlies and let them have the rest of the morning to play in the waves.  I just stood back, with my camera and let the good times roll.

The time we spent at the condo was so wonderful.  We built legos and ate seafood.  We played games and put puzzles together.  It was wonderful and ended far too soon.

We all got our final big sleep before heading back to Disney.