Florida Day 4--flashbacks and Taboo

Monday, I finally made it onto the beach to run! Yes!  I think I went about 3.5 miles... not too bad.

The rest of the morning was spent at the beach and the pool. Vacation is AWESOME!

The older "kids" spent most of their morning like this:

I say kids because I simply cannot wrap my mind around the fact that they are all 19 and older. Crazy! 

In my mind they're still like this:

2003--Taylor with Aunt Linda, Bethany and Kailey. Look how little they are!

 Bethany with Lance in 2006 in Florida

 Stephen and Bethany, 2006

 Kailey, Jason, Bethany and Jacob in 2006

Allreds with Kailey, Bethany, Jacob and Grandma in 2006 after a morning walk/run.(Look how little Lance is!)

Okay, back to the present.

Lance has a deep love of the beach and ocean.

The call of the sand and water has been strong for him since he was tiny:

Even at 9 months old, he couldn't get enough.

Lily seems to be following in his footsteps. She got braver as the week went on and soon was toddling out into the waves all by herself.

She got knocked down a time or two, but got right back up. She's a feisty one.

Laura did double-duty on the beach while I took pictures and played with the boys in the water. You wouldn't believe she was 7 months pregnant with that tiny belly and toned physique. She is incredible. 

Hooray for Uncle Tyler! He and Lance had a good time out in the waves.

Mom came out and everyone decided the waves were too good to pass up.

Lance loved being out there with all the adults. 

Cole begged me to take him out into the "deep water" with everyone else, so Laura watched Lily for me while we jumped some waves. He did a great job! We had to dive under a few really big waves and he took it like a champ. 

I was a little nervous I would lose him in the waves, but we managed to make it back to the beach in one piece.

Mmmm. Sandy fishies.

Why do I have so few pictures of Jude? He spent most of his time in the water, but with the undertow, he got dragged up the beach so quickly that before I knew it he was a speck in the distance. I spent a decent portion of my time running up the beach and bringing him back to our towels, only to repeat it 10 minutes later. I explained the importance of staying close and showed him how to keep checking his position by looking at the building, but to no avail. That kid turned into a boat and just kept floating.

After the beach we cooled off in the pool before lunch and naps. It was a perfect way to rinse off.

There's Jude! He was still perfecting his swimming and spent most of his time on the side, swimming to the steps or to Aunts and Uncles.

Lily having a good time with Aunt Amy.

This guy was a bit more hesitant in the pool than the ocean and refused to jump in to me, but had a good time pretending to be a train on the side.

Mason and Grant were fish! Mason went under the water all by himself many times. I was impressed!

Uncle Jason and Lance.

Love, love.

Mason had swimming down. By the end of the week, he could swim all the way across the pool all by himself.

Yay for Grandma!

Sisters

That afternoon we went back to the beach to play. I love that the sand is literally two minutes from our front door.

Lance worked on perfecting his Cribbage game by playing three-way with me and Grandma. 

Josh brought his boys over that night to play. I can't believe how big they've gotten! So cute and well-behaved.

And after the little ones went to bed, it was time to play games! It was Lance's first time playing Taboo and he rocked it!