The 23rd of September was my birthday, and we celebrated from the 22nd all the way through the end of the month! We spent the last week of September at the beach! I have no complaints there! 🙂 We have done this for the past two or three years and so I have come to expect it as part of my birthday tradition! I hope it keeps!
On my birthday (the actual day 🙂 ), we celebrated by having a wonderful home cooked meal. I love cooking so much I volunteered to make my own birthday dinner! I know, I’m a dork! I made roasted beef tenderloin, potatoes au gratin, and steamed green beans. The roasted beef tenderloin is so easy to make and it tastes better than anything you could get from a restaurant! Here is the recipe for Ree’s Roasted Beef Tenderloin! Dinner was followed by an extra special dessert! When Andrew and I lived in Boston we had the privilege of visiting the parker house a few times. The Parker House is known for their famous rolls, and the Boston Cream Pie! I love a good slice of Boston cream pie! I made a comment about it about a month ago, and Andrew decided he was going to order me one for my birthday. I’m so spoiled! It arrived on the 22nd, and we, I mean I, could not wait to taste it. So we had Boston cream pie two nights in a row! 🙂 They did make a mistake in packing it, and so the design was messed up on the top, but trust me, it did not effect the taste! 🙂 We did get a partial refund though when we told them how it arrived. It was nice to have a little taste of Boston in Arkansas!
The next week we headed down to the beach. Our original destination was Dauphin Island, but because of hurricane Sally we were sad to have to change locations. Instead we ended up at Fort Walton, FL. We had been to Fort Walton before and liked it, so it all worked out!
I have a TON of pictures so I narrowed it down to only half a ton! 🙂
Because we had a last minute change in location we were able to get a condo on the ground floor. This had it’s pros and cons. Pros being we didn’t have to take an elevator and access to the beach was right out our front door. Cons being our view of the beach was obstructed by sand dunes. The condo had a great outdoor porch, and we were able to sit out there and enjoy breakfast each morning! The kids liked watching the crabs by our condo. 🙂
We had nice weather during the week. Almost every day was pretty and sunny. However Tuesday was a little chilly and not the best beach day. Tuesday morning we were down at the beach, the kids were complaining about being cold and so they went back to the condo with Grand-mama. Samuel was still enjoying playing in the sand and so we stayed down at the beach. While we were playing in the sand I saw a shark swim up to the shallow waters. I couldn’t believe my eyes, and picked up Samuel and started following the shark swimming along the edge of the beach. He was only about two to three feet long, but I had never seen this before! I am so disappointed that I didn’t get it on video! We think he came that close to shore because there was no one in the water that chilly morning.
It has become a tradition that we go to the beach with Andrew’s parents. We all have a great time, and the kids get to spend special time with G-pa and Grandmama. This time G-pa got to read books to Emma and Samuel. I say books, but I think it ended up being the same one or two books over and over, and over! Ha! 🙂
We collected some seashells at the beach at the the kids had fun water painting them!
One of my favorite things about the beach is that you never know what you are going to see! We found several crabs! David loves crab hunting! We also had a day where there were a lot of jelly fish floating around in the ocean! More than I have ever seen, actually! There were lots of moon jelly fish, and Andrew even spotted this big red jelly fish!! Not sure exactly what it is called but it had a lot of little fish swimming around it!
The kids always love playing in the sand! We love to make sand castles, and bury each other in the sand. Andrew does not like the sand! We were not able to coax him into being buried so I had to take his place! Sigh! 🙂 Samuel did not want to be buried in the sand either! He loved burying everyone else though. 🙂 He was a little more scared of the ocean this time than when we last went. He had a few times where he warmed up to playing in the water, but overall he was not too adventurous about getting into the ocean.
This is what a morning at the beach does to you! Look at that sweet face!
One of the benefits of going with grandparents to the beach is that you get to have a date with your honey! Andrew and I went on a lunch date! I totally over indulged! The food was great, the view was amazing, and the company was even better! 🥰
Beach shenanigans! It looks like they are doing push ups or something!
This is at a restaurant in AL, Capital Oyster Bar, on our way home! I totally recommend eating there! They had amazing outdoor seating with a beautiful view of the Alabama river too!
We managed to do some virtual school while at the beach, but we have to get back to reality this week!
Love,
PK
Treble Mama 