it's bittersweet to come home...

we returned to birmingham on saturday afternoon. i adjusted fairly well -- especially compared to other homecomings. we really tried to squeeze in a LOT on those last couple of days at PCB. you can see here that i enjoyed making "puddles" by pouring ocean water onto drier sand. i was fascinated at how the water would disappear. i also enjoyed putting ALL the sunglasses on my dolphin. i also enjoyed finding the living clamshells that wash up as the waves break. i would dig them out of the sand before they could burrow back in... then i'd take them to dry sand, where i told them they'd be "safe." no one could tell ME that they belonged in the wet sand!! we got some blue bell ice cream & rainbow star sprinkles - YuM! but i was also interested in the taste of the ocean. i licked my fingers a LoT, despite discouragement from mommy. oh well... i was definitely braver about the waves & water this year. i constantly heard, "that's far enough!" we went to pier park & walked on the pier itself. i love this "pretty ball" -- the beach ball that is part of the pier park signage. and after so much running, i also wanted to sit still. i began by asking daddy to cover me up with sand... then i asked mommy to cover up daddy too! first she built castles all over us. later that day, i requested that daddy & i could drive "sand cars." mommy had to work pretty hard! all adventures must come to and end. but one day we shall return...

the photo shoot...

of course you MusT have a beach-photo-shoot on every trip. the mornings have been a little chilly so we had to wait till about 10 am to begin. so the light is a little bright in some of these. but they turned out pretty well, don't you think? and take note -- my grammy is an amazing seamstress!! she made this beautiful outfit!! it was PeRFeCT for my photo shoot!!

more beachy fun...

we've spent a LoT of time on the beach this trip. we go in the morning for a couple of hours & again after lunch. daddy dug a ReaLLY deep hole one day. i tried to help but i got distracted by the waves. we've also sailed a kite on several occasions. i love this kite -- it reminds me of a "dora the explorer" story that i enjoy.

my gulf world experience...

we visited gulf world on our second day in florida. i did the dolphin "meet & greet" but when given the opportunity, i refused to actually touch the dolphin. "striker" was my dolphin & our teacher was very patient & nice. even though i didn't touch striker, i really enjoyed being so close to a real, live dolphin. i thought it was really funny when mommy fed him some jello. i also got to watch the big dolphin show & talk to some birds.

beachy fun...

here are some pictures from our first day on this adventure. the first couple of days were somewhat chilly so we did some other fun activities. we played putt-putt at Goofy Golf and we began work on a sand castle.

can you smell the salt?

here's a little dose of beachiness for you! this is my favorite picture so far. we have been very busy & mommy hasn't really had time to sift through all the photos just yet. but we definitely LoVE this one of me finding a sand dollar (all by myself -- although i didn't realize what it was till mommy told me.) and don't you love these new shades? and by the way -- mommy wants a disclaimer... she did NOT choose this swimsuit. i picked it out at costco on my own. she tried really hard to sway me to other choices, but i HaD to have this one. however, now that we're at the beach, it's not QuiTE as ugly as she had originally thought!

preparing for the beach...

i recently got 2 new swimsuits for our upcoming beach trip. i was so excited about wearing them that i put on both at one time! (or at least part of each swimsuit!) i wore "summertime clothes" while playing happy feet.

the budding artiste...

currently, my school has a selection of artwork displayed for each student. here are the items i made -- a purple cross using purple hand-paint (mine is the middle one), a turtle made from a paper bowl & tissue paper & a caterpillar of circle stamps with tissue paper grass. i also walked around the school to admire the work of others. and here is my sweet teacher, mrs susan. also pictured below is my "world" that i painted.