Loving this Island!

After hanging out at the beach, we decided to do a bit of exploring. We headed north to Bean Point and then stopped to check out the Rod n' Reel Pier. This is a very popular place to fish, there were a ton of people throwing in their lines. As we walked out onto the pier, we saw fish swimming around, everywhere...we even saw a dolphin! It was awesome and it totally made our day!

We relaxed a bit and then got ready for church. We were invited to one called "The Bridge", by our beach house realtor. She was super nice and we loved her church! When we arrived, we were escorted as visitor V.I.P's! They totally welcomed us and treated us like royalty. The kids hung with us and as we stepped inside, the music was rockin'! It was right up Billy's alley..lol. We met Pastor Mark Alt and enjoyed his message, it was about prayer and was really eye-opening (another post to come). The kids really enjoyed it too but couldn't wait to get back to the ocean to see the sunset.  Turns out that we were a bit late for a sunset, but Daddy took by the ice cream shop for a nice treat. This really was an awesome day!

Ready for church!

Our First Morning, Oceanside

The kids were up at 4:30am, I made them go back to sleep.  We woke again around 7:30am. We all hung out in the water...Billy and Blake tried sea-fishing, Tay built sand creations, and I hung out in the sun, catching up on my blog writings. If that is ALL WE DO this entire vacation, it would be perfect by me!

busy checking things out!

the clouds are building

the boys, watching the storm roll in

 

a little storm won't stop these fishermen!

even beautiful with a storm on the horizon

Oh, the ocean...

Ready for the ocean!

 

 After we got done exploring the beach house, we headed for the shore! It was wavier than we expected, but that's okay. There have been some major storms in the gulf, but not here...we have prayed them away, so a few crashing waves won't hurt a thing! (Well...except for Blake's other knee) We all waded out and let the waves rock us around. Taylor, literally screamed at the top of her lungs...continually, with delight! Billy and Blake tried to boogie board, it was hard. I tried once, caught a wave (and it is only 3ft deep or so) and I rode it for a sec, then it tossed me and then rolled me...a few times! Fun was had by all!

Rolled by a wave!

Biggest smile ever!!

We watched to see if the baby turtles would hatch

We ended the evening by walking miles up shore. All the while, the kids were picking up seashells, excited about each new find to add to their "already growing" collection. Blake found out that he SHOULDN'T go barefoot, he got a cockle-bur stuck in his foot...ouch!  We ordered pizza delivery and went to bed early...we can't wait for tomorrow!

A lot of time was spent looking in the telescope

 

WE ARE HERE- it's meant to be!!!

We finally got to Anna Maria, and even got to check into the beach house early! We couldn't wait to run inside and check it out! The kids were screaming that they LOVED their room, Billy and I were saying, "WOW...look at that view!" and "Wow" to just about everything! The coolest part was when Taylor noticed a teeny little house gecko...this means, not that we just found a lizard in our beach house, but that EVERYTHING was meant-to-be, because...we had a wild little house gecko, named Elmore. He was found at Billy's work and obviously not from our area, so we took care of him, loved him and planned on bringing him to Florida with us, to release him. We had him for over 8 months, but didn't make it to his trip back home... we were really sad to lose him.  So when the first thing we saw, was a baby Elmore (he even had the same crook in his tail) it made us remember Elmore and know that this was the house for us! lol!  Plus...house geckos keep bus out and are considered a sign of good luck! This was a wonderful little blessing- meant to be!

Turns out that "Elmore II" has a Mom!

the view!

The "long" ride to Anna Maria

We have been planning this trip for over 6 months, and it finally came! Billy took Friday off, we got everything ready, boarded poor Sofa, (she cried), got the kids out of school early and took off...the kids fought before we even left.  Billy was getting stressed, but as we drove, through torrential rains, road construction, in the middle of the night, we somehow-thanks be to God, remained calm and took moments to remind each other how blessed we are to have one another and to be headed to the ocean!

Golden Arches Prayer

We rarely go out to each as a family, but this was a busy busy week. We had had activities each night this week, and although I had tilapia and esparagus on the menu plan, time got away from us and we were exhausted, so...we decided to have dinner at McDonald's, before heading to our Wednesday night Bible Study.

We sat down at the table and before we began eating, Billy asked if Blake would like to say grace. Blake, without even a second thought, put his hands together, bowed his head and said one of his heartfelt dinner prayers. When we finished, and began to eat, Taylor, our 5 year old, said, "It sometimes feels weird to pray with all these people around", Blake immediately spoke up and said, "I know how you feel, but you get used to it and then it just feels like normal, something you just do." I chimed in and agreed with Blake, I do remember, in the earlier years of becomming a follower of Christ, that it did seem "weird" to pray in public, actually I remember the very first time we prayed over a meal in public...Billy made us say grace over our sandwiches at the Target Eatery! It definitely felt "weird", but that was years ago and I am ever so glad that I have grown.

Visiting the Arch

Since Billy was on vacation, we decided to visit the arch! We haven't been there in years, and Taylor never has, as a matter of fact, the last time we drove past it, she almost cried as we talked about going to the top...she claimed she was afraid of heights.  Today was no problem for her, but Blake got super nervous, especially as we stood outside, looking up!

Blake looks terrified! lol!

 

Even  on the way down, Blake looks scared! lol!

We really enjoyed the museum too!