Spring Break Day 6 MORE Beach

This is the first trip we have taken with the kids that feels like a vacation.  Last year's spring break was a super fun trip, but it was way too active to be a break.  But this year?  WE ARE SO RELAXED and happy doing absolutely nothing.  The kids, too.

 Today we woke up late-ish, walked to the clubhouse for muffins and coffee as a pre-breakfast snack and spent some time swinging on porch swings that look over the gulf while Ben combed the beach looking for the sparkly pink sunglasses that Dorothy owned for approximately 35 minutes last night.  We also used our free movie rental card to rent Goosebumps (the clubhouse has a Redbox thing that just takes a free swipey card and has pretty good movies) which the kids watched while I made second breakfast for everyone.  Ben and the kids hung out in the condo while I worked out, and we all hit the beach by 10:00.

We lounged on our chairs, helped the kids dig some big holes, and had pina coladas until around 12:30 when it was tome for a trip to the main pool to wash the kids off (the main pool is heated, but the 4 smaller pools in front of each high rise building are not) before heading in for lunch and some down time.

We were back on the beach by 2. The 3 boys played a really intense war game on the beach today that involved a huge hole and some buckets for almost an hour while Dorothy played with the 2.5 year-old in the chairs next to us and Ben and I stared at the waves.

Then around 4:45, Ben walked to the club house for a shower and a sauna, and I gathered all of our crap while the big boys gathered shells, Cooper laid in his giant sand hole, and Dorothy snoozed in a beach chair.  We straggled up to the clubhouse to join a sand-free Ben who took the kids to the indoor pool to wash off all their sand.  I took a lovely shower with delicious spa products and then sat in the steam room and sauna before we dragged the wet kids back home for dinner.

After dinner, we walked to the ice cream store at the edge of the resort and hit up the anticlimactic clubhouse game room before strolling home across the boardwalk that connects all the buildings.  The kids went to bed at their normal bedtimes, exhausted from full days of sun, and Ben and I are watching Mocking Jay pt. 2 on the Apple TV.

A perfect day.

Really, for us right now with all these little kids, the condo aspect of our trip is what's making it so great.  Lots of room to spread out.  And!  Most importantly!  We don't have to get everyone dressed and sit in a restaurant 3 times a day.  It's been totally lovely, and I was really reluctant.  I think it helps that this place is a resort, too, with all of the resort perks I like-- pool bar, towel service, maids, chair rentals, a million pools, kid activities, etc.  We always feel exhausted when vacation is over, but not this time (although, to be fair, I should wait until Monday to see if this is true).

Ben's unsuccessful sunglasses hunt:

 Swinging:

 Dorothy was really serious about wearing this bucket on her head

 But then she took it off and I wanted to eat her up she was so cute.

 We tried ALL DAY to get a picture of all 4 kids.  NO DICE.

 They spent an unnerving amount of time under the sand today.

 Cooper just mostly sat in a big hole.

 Harry and Jack used tiny shovels to bury themselves tablespoon by tablespoon-- it totally kept them busy.

 She totally had the kind of beach waves I used to use beach wave spray to try to get.

 Hug or headlock?  Hard to say...

 Such a happy little spot.

 The beach knocked her right out.

 Dinner with a view

 Ice cream!!