Ocean

Naturally, a much anticipated event on our trip was the kids' first visit to the ocean. J's brother lives very close to beach - and by very close, I mean it took us about 1 minute to walk there. Yeah, it rocked.

So we crossed the street to our own semi-private little beach area and got ready to walk down the gentle, sandy slope to the beach and saw dolphins jumping. After a quick check to make sure they were dolphins, not sharks, I quickly decided that we couldn't have planned a better first view of the ocean for the kids.

I didn't know what to expect as far as how they would react to fairly cool salt water, waves, and sea weed. They were unphased. They loved every second of it. Each morning down at the beach starts out a little misty and overcast, but the sun often works it way in, as it did both days that we spent there.

 These were my two favorite days of our trip.  It was just fun, relaxing family time. We played in the sand, built sandcastles, hunted for tiny crabs and shells, and J and each even got a run in. We couldn't have asked for more, except maybe slightly warmer water temps so that Ms. Vivi would have wanted to really swim.

Feet in the ocean for the first time.

 They loved racing in on the sand, then racing back out as the waves came in.

Happy as clams.

 Taking a wave.

 Success! I'm not sure who was more proud!

Body surfing - she caught on fast!