Our First Beach Weekend

Remember when we spent Father's Day weekend at the Residence Inn Treasure Island with our good friends? Well we went to Busch Gardens the first day (check out my Family Fun at Busch Gardens post!) and then spent the second day at the beach. This post is long overdue, but I finally got a minute to share some pictures of our fun day with you.

After we had an awesome breakfast at the Residence Inn, we headed down to the beach. It was a beautiful day, and perfect beach weather! The sand was soft, and since it was a short walk to our hotel and we didn't have to get all of the sand in the car, I didn't mind being in it.

We walked out to the beach and set our stuff down in the sand. Before we could even get the umbrella set up, Rylie and Bryce had their SwimWays gear on and were out playing in the water with their friends Payten and Camryn.

Bryce got busy helping Payten and Camryn build a sandcastle while Rylie went exploring in the ocean with her dad. She found all kinds of exciting stuff to show us.

We finally got our Sport-Brella set up so we would have some shade when we wanted to escape the sun. We took turns sitting under it, and thanks to the side flaps, there was a nice breeze blowing through and we didn't get too hot. I highly recommend these beach umbrellas!

At one point I looked up and didn't see Rylie and Brian anywhere. I saw two little dots waaaaay out in the ocean and finally squinted my eyes enough to figure out those two little dots were my husband and daughter. I can't say that my heart didn't do a little flutter when I saw them way out there. I knew Rylie would be safe with her dad, especially because she had her SwimWays Swim Vest on, but of course I was fearful of sharks.

Once those two crazies made it back in, the dads and the kids had a fun time splashing around in the water. They pretty much stayed in the water for most of the time we were out there, except when they came in to have a little lunch. All the kids had on floats of some type, and since the water was really calm, they swam around very well.

Since I was "home" that weekend, my best friend Rebecca came out and joined us at the beach for a while. I really miss everything about home, especially my two best friends who I don't get to see enough. So while the boys were out swimming with the kids, the girls sat on the beach chatting away and enjoying the sun.

After a couple hours out in the hot sun, little Camryn just couldn't do it any longer and ended up taking a nap under the umbrella while Rylie relaxed and had a drink. Our Sport-Brella got a lot of use that day!

Once Camryn fell asleep and the other kids started acting a little tired, we decided to pack it in and get out of the sun for a while. It wasn't easy getting Bryce to leave the beach, though. He was having too much fun! And boy was he a hot mess. We had put sunscreen on his head, and the wind had it sticking straight up. He was covered with sand too, and he loved every second of it!

For some more pictures of our fun weekend, check out Tiffany's post on her blog, The Florida Hogans. Of course her post has been up for well over a month now because she is on the ball, unlike me. Her pictures are better too, since I was too scared to bring my good camera out to the beach.

We had such an awesome weekend, and such a great time at the beach! We have decided to make this an annual trip. I keep saying that I want to get back to the beach again this summer, but our crazy schedules have prevented that. Hopefully we'll get back there soon!