Seaside, FL Day Three

AAARRRGGGHHH! AhoyMe Hearties! Aye Aye! Heave Ho! Landlubber! Scalleywag! Shiver Me Timbers!Thar She Blows! Walk the Plank! Yo Ho Ho!

Tonight we visited the Pirate Ship, Sea Dragon. Emily and Abigail were very excited to board a real pirate ship and meet "nice pirates".
Emily looking through her telescope at the people and ships passing.
The crew climbing the masts to be introduced. This quickly caught the girls attention.
Before the fun activities began, two of the pirates gave instructions. Neither girl was real sure of how to take these unfamiliar characters at first.
The trip began with a water gun fight. The girls mostly shot each other, but found it a little exciting that they could shoot other kids, as well as, adults without getting into trouble.
Abigail, in true pirate fashion, with her eye patch, and telescope.
Emily getting her face painted.
Abigail getting her face painted.
Abigail and Emily showing off their new face paintings (both dolphins) and their pirate hats.
Daddy and Emily sword fighting on the deck of the pirate ship.
Daddy and Emily in the midst of their fight. They don't appear to be too fierce of enemies.
Emily fighting one of the pirates. I think he was distracted by the pretty lights from her Twinkle Toe shoes. He stopped the fight to make a comment on them.Mommy took over the fight once Daddy got tired.
Abigail did not want to sword fight at first, but then she got into it once she realized she could hit Daddy.
The pirates showing the children the treasure map and trying to determine the exact location of the treasure.

After looking at the map, the children had to look out into the water to locate the orange buoy with the big black 'X' on it. One of the pirates threw out a hook to capture the rope and then, all the children worked together to pull the treasure chest out of the ocean.
Each child was allowed to get three items from the treasure chest. Here they all had to hold up three fingers. Notice Emily holding her three by putting down her ring finger and her thumb; not the typical thumb and pinky.
The pirates seemed to take forever getting the chest unlocked and showing the children what was inside.

Finally, the children were able to gather their loot from the treasure chest they had worked so hard on locating and pulling into the ship.
The evening ended with a Pirate Party which, of course, include the limbo. Both girls just ducked underneath until they saw what the older kids were doing. Then, Emily began laying backwards as she walked under it.

Both girls refused to participate in the Chicken Dance. I guess they thought it was silly??
The pirates lead the children around a conga line playing the tambourine and dancing.
The very last "treasure" the pirates gave was a skull and cross bones tattoo. Bones, the Pirate worked on putting Emily's on. Abigail refused it.
They girls also got to fire the "Kid Cannon" which consisted of soft Nerf cannon balls that were shot by hitting the cannon with a hammer. Abigail was a little frightened by the idea at first because she thought it was going to be loud like the big cannons they shot off earlier in the trip. She could not stand the loud boom and would cover her ears tightly. She also got worried every time the captain said anything about the pirate "Cannon Ball Sue". She just heard the words "cannon ball" and assumed they were about to fire it off again.

Emily and Mommy's matching tattoos. Check out those guns!

Our ship; Sea Dragon

Seaside, FL Day Two

It was another beautiful day at the beach this morning. We played, swam, built sand castles, and tried something new; body surfing. The water was amazing and the sand beautiful and white.
Emily showing off her new mermaid. We gave the girls $20.00 to spend last night when we went into the shopping area. Abigail spent all of hers at the first store we went to. She bought an airplane, a saxophone, and a fish; all red. Emily bought a stuffed cat there, too, but wanted to see what the other stores had to offer. She was very picky about spending her money and ending up going back to the original store and spent the rest of her money on this mermaid. We were surprised at how much she considered her purchases and Abi spent it freely. Based on their personalities, we would have guessed the roles would have been reversed.

Abigail tried to use this little shovel to fill in the holes as Daddy dug them. She made trip after trip getting a couple of ounces at a time and usually missed as she threw it toward the hole. I'm not sure why she chooses to use the shovel when we have numerous buckets.

Emily helping Daddy dig.

After our daily nap, we tried swimming at the pool, but were soon met with a thick wall of black clouds bringing a small thunderstorm. We went inside to wait it out and then headed back out to the beach to walk while we waiting for the storms to head further southwest of us.
It was cloudy and cool as we walked down the beach. It was low tide and made for some great discoveries.
It was also a bit windy out.



We just couldn't help ourselves. We had to stray into the warm waters a little.


Emily chasing seagulls. She really believes she is going to catch them.

In search...
Abigail found the "perfect seashell" and wanted to share it with Emily.



Abigail loves her red fish she bought at a shop, Duckies, downtown last night. She has been taking it everywhere with her, even to bed.

Seaside, FL Day One

Day one of our family vacation of 2011 at Seaside, Florida began at the only place it could have; the beach. We spent all morning swimming, boogie boarding, and digging in the sand. The girls have been so excited for this vacation. They actually starting packing for it months ago. We would find boxes of toys, videos, or other misc. things packed away with Abigail telling us she was "packing for the beach". She also described to me how she was going to hide Moonlight (our new cat) into her bag and bring it with us.

Now that we are here; they are elated! What a fabulous way to end our Summer.
Abigail with her goggles. She loves to go under water and see what's beneath, just like her Daddy and snorkeling.

Our beautiful Abigail
Emily getting water to help Daddy fill the "water hole" he dug for them.

Emily and Mommy taking a break from the waves. The girls really enjoyed boogie boarding and were actually very good. Several times they made it all the way to the beach on one wave and neither of them wiped out.
After going back to the condo, eating, and taking a nap. We went back out to the beach. We did less swimming and more muscle finding. The girls loved watching them burrow into the sand and Emily was convinced we could take them all home and care for them since they all lost their mommies and daddies. We would put them in our fish tank(fresh water) and feed them the snails from there.
At the end of the day, we went to a little pizza shop, Angelina's, for dinner. I don't think the girls have ever eaten so well without us having to keep on them.

Interestingly, Abigail does not eat pizza, which is extremely weird since that is both her parents' favorite food. So, she opted for plain spaghetti onto which she emptied the parmesan shaker contents.