The Beach with Grandmary and Grandpa

We were lucky enough to have Dave's parents in town for Labor Day, AND Dave had the weekend off, AND we went to the beach! It was all around a fabulous weekend.



I knew it was off to a good start when we checked into our hotel and they were serving ice cream with toppings! Anna was too excited she could barely keep her shorts on (well actually they are a little big for her still) Once she got her ice cream, she zoned out and scraped every last bit out of the bowl that she could.

Anna eating her ice cream in her ice cream shirt. And she didn't even plan it!

We stayed at a great place on Carolina Beach and Anna was so excited that she could see the beach from our room. She must have remembered it from last time because she kept pointing out the window saying, "Beach! Beach!"

Anna dancing excitedly out on the balcony

Anna thought it was funny to have her feet buried by daddy.

Anna LOVES the sand. I feel a little guilty about not having a sandbox for her, but I'm not sure if I want to deal with the mess. So maybe it will just have to be a good excuse to visit the beach often. Any thoughts from sandbox moms? How do you keep it out of the house, and out of their hair and diapers?

"culdoo! culdoo!"

(That is Anna for Cool Dude! whenever she puts on sunglasses)

Anna loved playing with Grandma and Grandpa at the beach. (And I think the feelings were mutual!)

The next day we went to Wilmington and toured around the cute charming old city.

Here we are with the horses and trolley that took us around the city.

Last time we went to the Aquarium we bought a pass, so we just had to go back for more under the sea fun.

Anna loves playing in the tide pool - especially touching the starfish.

always making time to stop and smell the flowers

Later that evening, we found another little beach park that had a nice walking trail. I didn't want to get out at first because I knew I would just be chasing Anna around and telling her to not throw rocks. But I'm glad we did because it was a nice relaxing walk with beautiful surroundings. Don't get me wrong, Anna still ran and picked up rocks, but Dave promised he would be in charge. So yes, it was relaxing.

Anna pondering life on her rock bench

On our final day we had to check out by noon, so we had a few more fun hours at the beach. Anna liked getting her toes in the ocean, but didn't want to go swimming this time. She loved collecting seashells and sitting in her water hole. We timed it right, because this was the beach that got the big storm from Hurricane Hannah last weekend.

After check out, we took Dave's parents back to the alligator/turtle park that we went to before. No alligator sightings this time, but plenty of turtles. This park fascinates me just because it's so unique to me. Nothing like I've ever seen before. I'm sure they're a dime a dozen in the south, but it's new to us, so we love it.

We had a great time with Colin and Mary on their quick visit. Anna LOVES having Grandma (and Grandpa) around and usually has to be in her arms the whole time. We hope they come back to visit again soon!

our sweetheart. This picture just sums her up to me. Ice cream on her face, down her shirt (along with drool, juice and who knows what else), sticky fingers, and a look with those big blue eyes that melts my heart.