Palm Coast Beach Trip!

Hey, folks! Sorry for the lapse in posts. We've been enjoying the last of our summer vacation. The boys are off on an adventure today, so I thought I'd pop in and recap what we did last week.

We left last Wednesday for a beach trip with the boys and Cacky. Eddie took off Wednesday-Friday and we stayed until Sunday. I think it was the longest we've taken the boys to the beach and it went great! Will had a couple moments of "drama" as James calls them. "Ohhhh, Mama. Will has DRA-MA."Other than that, we were pretty good!

We left on Wednesday morning and arrived at the condo right at lunchtime. Eddie went to Publix while Mama and I took the boys to the pool. Then he brought us a picnic lunch to the pool and we ate there. We have two little FISH in the water this summer. James swam all the way across the pool (this is SUCH A CHANGE from last summer) in the shallow end. Wild Will cannot be stopped. We put his puddle jumper on so that WE can have a break. If his little feet could touch bottom, he would be set. He wants to swim so much that he forgets to breathe. He would literally swim from me to Mama and back again without taking a breath or stopping. We had to hold him down to get him to stop. AND he loves to be thrown or jump off of Eddie's shoulders. NO FEAR. I think we stayed until 3:30 or 4 and then we headed in to get showered and go out to dinner.

James has decided he loves shrimp. He doesn't even care how they're cooked! Wednesday we ate at J.T.'s Seafood Shack. Because the boys hadn't slept on the way down and then they swam for over three hours, they were ex.haus.ted. They wound up falling asleep on the sofa while we got ready to go and we took two sleeping children with us. James woke up, but he was grouchy and Will never woke up until we were paying and leaving the restaurant.

On Thursday morning we went to Hammock Beach for the morning. Where our condo is it's rocky and when the tide comes in there is no beach at all. So we loaded up and headed to the public beach instead! The boys had the MOST FUN playing in the waves. James is the boogie board king. Will enjoyed playing in the sand. He and I sat at the edge and searched for sand fleas (is that their name?) for a lonnnnng time. We saw lots of dolphins and they were SO close.

Thursday night we did what is probably my favorite "beach dinner" - Eddie and James went to Publix and picked up steamed shrimp and we made grits to go with it. :) Yum! James told us he didn't think he wanted any (at that point he thought he just liked FRIED shrimp) but that was a LIE. Eddie got enough for Mom, himself, and me and we were going to feed the boys Will's leftovers from the night before. James decided to try one shrimp and LOVED it. He ate at least as many as me!

Friday morning we got up and headed into St. Augustine to drive over the bridge and see the boats and go to my favorite restaurant, Caps on the Water. Oh, yum! James got shrimp (again! I eat crab cakes like he eats fried shrimp!) and the boys were entertained watching the planes take off and land from the airport across the inter coastal. After we ate the boys went down to the beach with Cacky and were entertained picking up shells and crabs. After we left Caps (ohhhh, and I had to drag a screaming child from the restaurant!) we went to the carousel for a ride. Both boys loved it and I am willing to bet Caps +  Carousel becomes a tradition. Again, I dragged a screaming Will from the carousel. Whew! A dad said something to me as I was leaving and I said, "Someone has to have 'that kid,' right?" and he said, "We've ALL had 'that kid!'"

Saturday we hit the beach in front of the condo from about 10:30 to 3:30. I went back to the condo to make sandwiches and we picnicked on the beach. The boys did more boogie boarding, shell searching, and playing in the sand. It was a FUN afternoon. We were chased off the beach by a storm mid-afternoon. It was okay, though. We showered and got clean and went back to J.T.'s for a last beach supper!

Sunday morning we were sad to head home. We stopped at The Conch House on our way out for lunch and then bid farewell (at least until September!) to our favorite beach getaway!