Cape San Blas {Sand and Surf}

Playing on the beach is always a highlight of our time spent in Florida. The kids love to play in the sand, building sandcastles or in this case turtles, mermaids and forts. Digging holes and making dribble castles also occupied hours of time spent on the beach. The kids and adults alike also loved looking for shells, both along the beach and in the water. There were some awesome sandbars for the kids to play on, and during low tide we had some awesome tide pools. The adults watched over the kids while relaxing but also enjoyed playing in the surf and even building with the kids. Beach time was as much fun and more relaxing than the bay time on most days.

{Playing in the water}

The air mattress has always been a favorite of ours.  Just look at how many can ride at once on those waves.  I mean what's not to love about that?

Abby making her way out to the sandbar.

Ready? Set? Go!!!

Karoline just hanging out in the surf.

Kaleb keeping his head above water.  

Matt and Elizabeth walking back to shore.  

Some of the kids and Matt hanging out on a sandbar.

If you haven't noticed, the sandbars go really far out.  None of us really wanted to go too far...just in case.

Yuji enjoying the water.

Just look at those pretty blue eyes.

Abby in her surf girl pose.

Masaki enjoying a ride in his boat.

{Playing in the Sand}

Elizabeth digging in the sand for coquina clams.  They are the small, colorful clams that are about the size of a finger nail.  Elizabeth liked to collect them and then watch them as they would dig their way back into the sand.  My mother said that my grandmother use to eat them. 

Abby adding some of her finds to the sand turtle.

Gabe digging his way to China.

Sorry boys, you can't beat the water.  It's just going to wash everything away.  It was so much fun to watch the boys as they tried to build walls to keep the sand at bay.  It was also fun to try and help them.  But it never lasted for long.  

Matt helping the boys to add more sand to their sand turtle.

Googie resting and relaxing.

What's that you have there Uncle Mark?  Is that a Pina Colada in your hand?

The boys working on their sand turtle.

Gabe hunting for the perfect shell.

Abby doing her own form of digging in the sand.

The girls finishing up their turtle.

Kaleb collect shells. 

Everyone is digging for clams.  

Googie and Mimi finding shells and pointing out things to each other.

Karoline playing the part of a mermaid.

Elizabeth buried in the sand.

The girls and their seaweed fort.

It's too bad Kaleb's sand fort isn't going to last very long with those waves lapping at the edges.

Castle and tunnels.  I remember making these and loving it!

Mimi enjoying a relaxing time in the shade of the pavillion.

I love this picture of Elizabeth it shows how happy she is to be at the beach and just hanging out.