Beach 2013 - Playing in the sand and waves!

In mid-July, we enjoyed a wonderful few days in Gulf Shores with Tootsie and Pop!  It was a wonderful way to escape the rainiest summer I can remember, and thankfully we were blessed with several sunny days in the sand and surf!

Turner is at such a fun age and Pop really wanted to capitalize on helping her love to play in the water and jump waves without assistance, exactly like he did for me when I was about her age.  They did a lot of boogie board practicing, but Turner found her love in jumping waves.  The first day was still a bit overcast and as a result of stormy weather for days preceding our trip, the waves were just right for jumping!

We always love to make friends at the beach and Turner and this little girl enjoyed practicing cartwheels at the water's edge!

One of the first jumps without help!

Pop is always the star, but you'll see below that the rest of us got some recognition as well.

You'll notice several changes of swimsuits for Turner throughout our days at the beach.  We are one of those "go out at 10:00am and come back in at 4:00pm" kind of beach families.  But, the older we all get the harder it is for us to hang on the beach in those hot 12:00noon-2:00pm hours.  So we have a new routine of taking a mid-day break for lunch and rest and then we make our way back out for the afternoon.
Turner is so discreet with her potty breaks, right?

This particular afternoon Tootsie and Pop went up to the room and Turner and I stayed on the beach for a while.  I looked up from my chair to find Turner just sitting at the water's edge by herself, singing, playing with shells, and enjoying the sounds of the surf.

Later on this particular evening, we took an after dinner walk on the beach which turned into a late night swim in a very unorthodox swimsuit!

The next two days were beautifully sunny and the waves calmed down quite a bit.  Turner enjoyed swimming in the ocean almost as much as she did in the pool!  And of course we enjoyed lots, and lots of ice cream cones (in pajamas in the middle of the day)!

This was taken mid-wipeout on the boogie board.  Turner was a bit hesitant after this experience, but as you'll see below she was persistent and ended up really enjoying this toy.

Another family tradition - getting buried in the sand!

We had such a wonderful time!  Thank you Pop and Tootsie for a fun week!