The rest of Sunday the 6th, we just stayed low key. The girls swam. The adults talked. It was nice and relaxing. The next day was Labor Day. Our girls had never seen the ocean before. Well, Lucy did when she was 7 months old, but I don't count that because she has no recollection. They had seen the Gulf of Mexico, but not the Atlantic. Chris and his family live really close to the ocean. Chris is a big surfer and they've always lived close to it. We decided to hit the beach with the caveat that if it was a crowded mad house, we'd leave immediately. Well, we needn't have worried. There was barely another soul around. The beach we were at was called Seagull Park and it's actually the same beach we took Lucy to as a baby, which was fun.
This was in the parking lot. Not sure what kind of tree it is, but Lucy thought it was cool and took a picture.
Then, oh, what's this? ANOTHER palm tree you say?
Ah, here it is. The ocean!
I was hesitant to go in because I hate cold water and I expected the worst, but it was so warm! I was able to walk right in and so the girls did too. The waves were big, but not scary big.
FYI, you will not be seeing me in a bathing suit.
I think this is the picture Jason was taking in the last picture.
Lucy's modeling pose.
Maura and her cousin.
It was a beautiful, hot, sunny day. The ocean was beautiful. But honestly, living on Lake Michigan, I often think it looks like the ocean so this wasn't a brand new view for me.
This is a sand flea. I'd never heard of them! They were actually really cool and would dig their way back into the sand if you took them out. Some of them got really big! Alas, this was the only ocean creature we saw at the beach. Maura was REALLY hoping to see a shark (yes, really, she loves them) or a dolphin, or a ray of some kind, but no luck this time.
Clearly Lucy was happy to be there.
We did see a lot of sandpipers, though! They were fun running in and out of the surf.
There was some body surfing.
Poor Maura. She lost her new diving mask she had gotten for her birthday. The wave came over her and just pushed them right off of her head. We looked for them for a good 20 minutes, but they would have been almost impossible to find. Her older cousin, A, had one she didn't use though, and except for the color, it was identical, so she let Maura have that one and keep it.
Right after that last picture was taken too, I had gone back to put my phone by the towels, and suddenly Maura is running up to me crying and panicking. She though Jason was drowning. He was just enjoying the water and had his head in. She though he had hit his head and passed out and was getting pulled out to sea. Thankfully that was not the case. He was just relaxing and probably doing the dead man's float and she panicked. I panicked for a second too, when she said "Dad went under the water and didn't come up." I started scanning the water and see him running up the beach. I told him what happened and he made sure Maura got a big hug. Poor kid.
After a couple hours at the beach, we went back to the house to rest. Well, the adults rested. What did the kids do? Of course you know they went in the pool.
Later in the afternoon, we went for a walk to the little pond near their house and saw this friend.
I think it's a Muscovy Duck. I only know that because I looked it up. This is the pond we saw him in.
We saw these friends too.
The next day, Tuesday the 8th, was our kids' first day of school. Want to see their first day of school pictures?
They did both check in since they're doing school virtually right now. Lucy was actually on for quite a while. Maura just said hello and got back to her vacation.
Later that afternoon we went for a hike in a park near their house. It was a really beautiful park and we saw some huge gopher tortoises. We tried to get a picture, but they were running. Normally, turtles are known to be slow, but not these! They were booking along! We saw a whole bunch of their holes/houses they dig too, hence the name gopher tortoise. The park was really pretty though.
And we DID get a picture of these snapping turtles. There were tons of them!
Look how long their necks are!
I think they were hoping we had a snack for them, but we hadn't brought any turtle food.
It was close to 100 degrees this day, and the sun was out, so our trip to the park was short, but fun.
We headed back to the house for one last evening. More swimming for the kids and talking for the parents. The next morning we'd be on our way to Disney! I promise, in the next update, we'll finally be in the bubble! Thanks for reading!
feel like we lug too much stuff when it comes to traveling!
I found your report! I was hoping you would start it soon! We leave in 27 days...but who's counting?????? I am so excited to get away and have fun being a kid again! I can't wait to read all about your adventures! I saw the State Fair picture... please tell me the cream puffs were just as good this year as they have been in the past! 
! Thanks for joining!
Over the years we've discussed doing this - we're in NY - but I was afraid we'd return with one less kid having left one on the side of the road 
I did always think stopping at interesting places along the way would be neat though.
