Establishing Our Beach Living Routines

We have quickly settled into living at the beach routines. When the weather is above freezing (crazy I have to add that clause), we head to the beach for a sunset stroll or a morning spent playing in the sand. We fish, dig huge holes, play tag, collect shells, jump off the sand cliffs just to name a couple of our favorite activities. 

 

Liam and Amelie love playing with the sticks. 

Near our house is a bridge over to the beach.  Amelie and Liam love racing up and down.  We often will walk to the beach here if we are not wanting to get too sandy.

Amelie and Liam playing in a  large hole/tunnel Bobby and I dug through the sand cliff.

It took Bobby and I over an hour to dig it, but we were proud of our accomplishment.  However, we were too afraid of it collapsing to let the kids crawl through…although they didn't want to crawl through.  

Liam holding a ghost shrimp which is the bait Bobby catches and uses to fish.

Liam loves fishing just like his dad.

Amelie is an expert sand cliff jumper these days.  We race from the sea oats to jump off the cliff.

We have also enjoyed reuniting with our snowbird friends. Bobby fishes with about 4 guys regularly and they all love our kids. What I have found mildly amusing is that even people that we hadn't met last year knew us. I have had more than one person say, "Oh, you're the one who lost the fishing pole out to sea." (story here) Yes, that was me. Glad my reputation proceeds me and we have joined local beach lore. ;) Sounds like that story was enjoyed long after we left last year. 

You can see our friends spread out fishing along the shore.  Liam will walk to each of their buckets to keep tabs on who has caught what.

The town house feels like home even though most of the things within the house are not owned by us. I guess because it is familiar. We did bring a toy box full of toys with us.  It feels like a lot of toys since they were used to only having what could fit in a duffle bag.  The kids continue to love sharing a bedroom. 

Playing in (and destroying) their bedroom on a day it was icy and snowing outside.

Bobby and I have a king size bed which allows us to sleep the entire night without even coming close to touching each other. It's SO nice. ;)  We also have loved having bathtubs again…and huge ones at that. The kids have enjoyed a good number of bubble baths lately.  Since it is a jacuzzi tub, we occasionally turn on the jets which brings forth an explosion of screams and giggles.  

Bobby and I have continued to stay busy with our jobs.  We love who we work for and are so thankful that is the case. We are working normal hours again since we are on the same time zone which has allowed for us to go to bed at a more respectable hour. 

Both kids attend preschool 3 days a week. Amelie absolutely loves going. She counts the days until it's time to go again. She loves her friends and her teacher. Liam on the other hand is not as sold. Poor guy. I'm hoping with time he will enjoy going and not miss his family too much. Bobby and I have been able to focus on work as well as go on some lunch dates. We have found that by the kids going to school, we are able to have more quality time with them when they are at home. I'm thankful the preschool is such an amazing place with good staff. 

First day of school in front of the school's playground.

When it has been uncharacteristically cold, we play inside, drink hot chocolate, watch movies, and make crafts. We also went bowling for the first time as a family and the kids had a blast! 

The ball was almost too heavy for Liam to manage, but he would not accept any help.  He did drop the ball a couple of times but it never managed to drop on anyone's toes.

Amelie spent time lining up her ramp and had her own style in pushing her ball.  

When we are not playing at the beach we are going to story time at the library, playing at the "Wood Park" playground, and walking around the zoo.  Since the large castle themed playground is across the street from their school, we have spent many afternoons there playing.  Some of Amelie's classmates have joined us which makes it even more fun.  Our other favorite after school activity is to run through the zoo.   The kids love feeding the animals.  It's a really nice zoo with a good variety of animals.  We found out that the cats are fed right after the zoo closes.  Since we go an hour before the zoo closes, this explains why they are so active.  One day, Bobby decided to talk to the tigers and he got talked back to…multiple times.  At one point, the tiger stood up and swatted at the fence.  I did not get that on video but I did get the tiger talking a little.  

After 3 cages of tigers and 1 of lions (all who were pacing and vocal), I caught this video of Liam telling Bobby he did not want Bobby eaten. 

We love having the beach for our back yard. We are loving this city as well.  The community is small and offers lots of fun activities for families. We are hoping to get more connected and meet some people our age. ;)   Who knows what the future holds, but for now we are loving beach life!!

Walking on our dock on the backside of the townhouse over the lagoon.