A note to Ms. Cheryl

Day 4 and 5 in Seacrest

Our last day in Florida was spent at St. Joseph State Park.  This area (Cape San Blas) has an amazing eco system and was a very laid back with very few people.  There were shells galore!  We had a lot of fun collecting them in our sand bucket.  All of the big curly shells had hermit crabs in them.  I was impressed that Serif actually picked some of them up to look inside.  

There was a family down the beach from us and the mom was incredibly intelligent about this area and all the sea creature around. She was calling out all of these different names of sea creatures her kids were catching and we couldn't help but walk down and introduce ourselves to see what all of these things were.   This looks like a stingray but it's really a horseshoe crab.  She flipped it over to let us see underneath and it was quite amazing.  Look at all the legs!  

This slug was pretty neat to watch too.  He hung around for a little while.  It even latched on to Jeff's leg for a little bit.  He was amazing to watch swim.  He was so graceful.

We always have to get this family shot.

More underwater shots of the boy.  Jeff said he almost left this camera at home, but we're so glad he didn't.  We never would've expected to see him do all of this much less capture it on camera!  By the end of this trip, he was actually scaring me a bit with his bravery and constant diving under water.  He even yelled at me a couple of times because I was helping him up when he wanted to do it himself.

Zonked out at dinner time . . . again.  We had a tough time fitting in nap time during this vacation.  We were all so exhausted every night from the long filled days.  This particular night, we were getting Serif in the carseat after dinner and he couldn't stay awake for anything.  He had a mouth full of food and we kept trying to wake him up enough to finish chewing.  We finally got him to spit it out (most of it).  It's like he was drugged or something.  He just could NOT wake up.  Poor guy.

Back at the airport and ready to go home!

Making snow angels on the carpet as we wait for the plane to arrive.

What a cute traveler.

Waiting patiently with Sher-Kahn.

Serif wanted these sea stars so bad when we saw them at the cabana market.  In effort to not give in to every request he made, we didn't buy them.  We felt so bad though because he was almost in tears over the white one (below).  He said, "But this is my most favorite one ever!"  I had to go back and get it, but we hid them in his suitcase and let him discover them when we got home.  He was SO excited!

What a great trip.  We can't wait until our next one now!

Today's Quote

We've started buying the box Chef Boyardee pizzas so Serif can help make it. Tonight he was helping me spread the dough and I said, "Okay! Time to put it in the oven for 5 minutes!" He quickly replied, "But we have to put on all the surprises first!" (toppings)

He never wants pepperoni because he says "it's too spicy." I cut up a red pepper for us to snack on while we waited for the pizza and he wanted that on his piece. He loves it . . . and so do I actually. That may be our new topping!

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Wink

I picked Serif up from school today and he turns to look at me and starts winking repeatedly to show me his newly found skill! He was thrilled for me to take a picture to send to Daddy.


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Serif's Monster Drawing

we were at Jeni's getting ice cream and Serif wanted to draw a monster on their chalkboard. he did this ALL BY HIMSELF!!!

Today's Quote

Serif: Are we not going somewhere today?

Me: Yes, we are. We're going to school and work today.

Serif: Well, you know that church school? Yeah, I want to go to that school.


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Today's quote

We decided to travel over to St. Joseph State Park by Cape San Blas today. We're in the car heading back to our place and Serif was getting the jimmy legs (which typically means he's got to go to the bathroom.) I waited to ask him if he had to go because I thought maybe he was fighting sleep. He just went at the ice cream shop a few minutes ago. He suddenly shivered and I finally asked him if had to go potty. His response was, "Yeah, I have to potty." Then he said to Jeff . . .
"Daddy, when we get to a big tree, that means you have to stop and let me go potty."
Admittedly, we've had to do this more than once this trip.
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Day 3 in Seacrest

today turned into being all about the pool but before we got there we started out at the beach.

the beach didn't last too long, he seemed kinda moody. but once we got to the pool . . . 

best photo ever!!!

Day 2 in Seacrest

 A new float for the pool! Although he ended up being afraid of it in the water.  He'll jump off the side, go under water with his eyes open but doesn't want to have anything to do with the ring float . . . except for having his shark and dolphin jump through the hoop.

 We have a closet full of pool and beach toys at our place.  He actually liked this float pretty well.  He fell off it the first time out, but he got back up and tried again . . . and again.

 A photo of our place looking up from the pool.  There are 2 units per floor, so we're the left half of the 3rd floor.  It's really nice to overlook the pool, it's so beautiful.  We are sheltered by the palms, but you can see over them from our balcony.  It's perfect.

 We went to Seaside for lunch to have a burger at "Pickles."  Serif was as limp as a noodle, exhausted.  

 He woke up slowly after the food was ready and he was perked back up in no time.

 Rock 'n Roll!

This little house sits in the courtyard just across from Pickles.  He remembered it from our 2010 trip picture book.  He spent a good bit of time playing in here.  

 Silly face.

 The house has little round windows out the back side of it that faces the ocean.  It's perfect to look out and see the gorgeous blue water.  The wind that blows through these holes are even better!  Believe it or not, it's cooler in this house than out of it!

 Being funny.

 Admiring all the shells and sea stars in the cabana market.

 Serif playing with his diggers out on the balcony of our place.

 A nice little walk to dinner.

 We promised Serif that he could "go to Florida" after dinner.  Serif thinks that we're not in Florida until we're at the beach.  It's just like when I was little and we never thought we were in Kentucky until we hit the hollow.  In reality we'd been in Kentucky for hours before we ever hit that marker!

 What would we do without apps?  The flashlight app came in quite handy tonight.  It was so cloudy that the moon couldn't shine through to give us light to see by at the beach.  He's giving more Rock 'n Roll fingers!

 We went in a toy store after lunch today and he got to pick out one toy.  Of all the stuff in there, he chose yet another digger.  I really wanted to tell him to pick something else, because he has so many of these things, but that's what he wanted and he LOVES it!!!

 Jeff was playing with camera settings and exposure.

 More playing with exposure.

 This one took a few tries to get a clear circle and to be able to see Serif's face.  Serif loved taking this one.

This is my personal favorite.  We tried to spell Serif's name all together in one exposure time, but it didn't work . . . not to mention you have to spell backwards to be able to read it forwards in the photographs.  So we broke it down to one letter at a time.  My brain can't work 5 letters backwards at one time.  We love how it turned out!  This will be framed in Serif's room for sure!