The Tides have Turned

 Yesterday offered a mix of weather patterns, beginning cloudy in the morning, heating up a bit with a peek of sun before turning grey with sprinkles that led to some rain in the mid afternoon.  Luckily, we didn't have far to go to reach the comforts of our beach house, so we relaxed while watching the rain through the window, and within a few hours, it was gone, and the skies had cleared, offering the perfect evening.   

Four of us headed down to the beach relatively early, and I sat under the canopy observing these two building their sand fort, set up to watch the tide roll in.

As you can see, there weren't many people on the beach.

But there were a LOT of pelicans flying by yesterday, nearly brushing the waves with their bellies.

I enjoyed just sitting and watching these two romping back and forth in enthusiasm, waiting for the waves to crash and fill the moat with water. 

Soon, they were joined by other eager observers.

Obviously, it took a while for the water to reach the middle, but it certainly did offer quite a bit of entertainment!

In the meantime, there were other exciting features to the day:  like fish....lots of them.

Well.....let's just say "lots" in comparison with the previous day of just three total caught.  I think there were nearly half a dozen....but who's counting? 

There were sand creations....how clever is this?

mermaid sand art 

made by some little mermaids

snacking

and relaxing. 

And, that was all before the rain!

The entertainment continued through the evening

and there was even some kite activity to keep this little one enamored.

as well as a BIG helicopter flew that flew right by our windows!

After dinner, we headed down to the shore for a photoshoot of the kids.

And it was very amusing watching Jim try to get a shot where all five actually looked at the camera at the same time.  But he certainly tried his best.

Hope those made you laugh.....I certainly did when I saw them.

And then there was this.....Gramma G leading the littles.  This couldn't make me happier!

And Dad's with their matching shirts.

After our walk, we headed back to the house for cake....of course.

The feature dessert was our famous Paul Newman cake recipe, compliments of Amy who did the baking.

Delicious! 

And we ended the evening with the sunset. 

Perfect!