florida vacation - part 3 - back to the beach

wednesday morning we hit the beach for a schedule free day. this was the only day that big pop and grandma got us all to themselves. i always say that they get ripped off with our visits because they have to share us with everyone and usually lose us for a day or two to orlando. i think that madelyn really enjoyed having her grandparents to herself for the day too.

all madelyn had been talking about for weeks and weeks was going to the beach and playing with a bucket and shovel - and finally she was getting her chance! and grandma made sure that there were lots of beach toys for her to play with in the sand. she was so cute pulling out the little wagon. she never got to enjoy a sand castle because she knocked down anything that got built. at least i know that she enjoyed knocking them down.

the best part of the day was that both kids got a nice long nap. it was the first real nap madelyn had since friday. i think they both slept about 4 hours. once they were up we had some dinner before heading back to the beach. mason was awake this time and was looking around but the wind was a little too strong for him when it blew in his face.

madelyn's joy (and grandma's) was feeding the birds! they had tried all morning to get the seagulls to come up to the back deck as they threw bread up in the air. madelyn was disappointed at their lack of success, but grandma was very, very disappointed. they tried for at least a half hour without a single bird. madelyn was saying, "come here birds! pleeeease!" she looked so sad when she came in to report that the birds didn't come. it was a totally different story that evening.

and here is a video of madelyn feeding the birds and then doing her happy dance/jump.

one of my favorite parts of staying at the beach is seeing storms come in off the water. there is just something magical about a storm over the open water. the only thing missing from this storm was lightning, but the sun shining through the clouds made up for it! isn't it just beautiful? love.