1 Beach Baby + 5 'Gulls' + Lotsa Dudes = Fun in the Sun

Where do I even begin?? We just returned from a week-long family beach vacation. I have uploaded 200 photos, edited 75ish, picked out 40+ for the blog (its a record), and how do I even begin to convey how much fun we had, how many memories we made, and how darn cute my little guy was at the beach? Hmm...guess I'll start with my personal favourite photo of Punkadoo and go from there.


The Cast of Characters (from top-left to bottom-right): Aunt Marissa, Uncle Ben, Cousin Travis, Cousin Hunter, Cousin Ross, Grammie, Great-Uncle Gary, Great-Aunt Dona, Great Granny, Mom, Baby O, and Daddy Q. All these crazy folks are related to me (Sarah). We missed Paw Paw Mc and Great Aunt Julie!


Baby O ensured that the mornings started early for us! Many of them began with an early morning walk along the shore. Some mornings we walked with Great-Aunt Dona, some with Grammie and Daddy Q, and some were just O and me. All of them were special and all of them were made complete with dolphins dancing in the gulf.

After the early morning walk, we would have breakfast and then get the whole gang beach-ready! Then, we would take a short walk along the boardwalk to have a morning of sun, sand, and surf!

The Quinlan Fam on O's first beach day!

Each morning someone had to put up the umbrellas! On this particular morning 2 of the 'gulls' are struggling with the broken one. It took a little extra umph to get up and going!
After the 'brellas went up, it was on to the water for some of us~ This is Grammie giving O his first touch of the salt water! O would return to the water many times this week. Not only did he absolutely love being in the water, and stay totally cool when salt water splashed in his eyes, but his "thing" for sand made the water a necessity to remove some grit here and there...


Speaking of O's "thing" for the sand. This kiddo was hilarious with the stuff. This is O's first encounter with the powdery sand. I had him on a blanket and he scootched to the sand. On day one, the sand was really dry, so it mostly slipped through O's fingers. This seemed to perplex and intrigue him. However, after some thought and good 'ole trial 'n error, he got a handful and shovled it straight in his mouth. I thought...cetainly, that will be the one time he does that....


Wrong~ it was hard to let the baby near the sand without him trying to eat it. I spent some time figuring out ways to keep him from making a meal out of it.


Some fun photos of the little man from under the 'brellas.

His love for the sand did make it tons of fun to find ways to entertain him. One day, I buried the lower half of his body in the sand. He was looking for his legs, and then spotted his big tow wiggling about. Too funny!

When I finally got a routine down that kept him from ingesting the stuff, it was the last beach day. Oh well, ready for the next time ...

Other things that went on at the beach:

Watching for dolphins...

Conversation with family...

Getting tanned...

Kayaking--sometimes to get a closer look at the dolphins, sometimes to follow stingray, and sometimes just for some added fun! Ben and Marissa nicknamed me the dolphin charmer! The first two times I went in, I ended up getting quite a show from the dolphin! Aunt Dona and I shared a really magical experience out there one morning. There were about 12 dolphin dancing all around us. It was the neatest experience I've had at the beach!


Fishing...here's Uncle Gary with the trout Daddy Q and Aunt Marissa had for lunch!

Aunt Dona kayaking by the surf-fishing Uncle Gary.


Napping...
When afternoon came, we all trekked in for lunch, and then headed out again for the afternoon! Beach days are so much fun!!!

But, beach nights are fun, too!

The guys had a nightly game of Risk or Settlers. These games were quite intense and carried on well into the night. Apparently, we have some competitive folks in the family...and Daddy Q wonders where I get it...

....probably comes mostly from Grandma, aka Card Shark. Literally, she's a card shark in every sense of the term and can be heard making threats at the table--Hunter, glad you didn't leave with a "bloody claw". It is amazing how this sweet, good-natured Grannie turns into such a different person at the card table...just look at that meanness in her eyes...

For those of you reading this that were at the house--does the scene below look familiar?

In the house, as well as at the beach, we read. My family is full of readers.

Even Baby O got more serious about reading while he was here...

All of this reading for pleasure really perplexed Daddy Q.

But...then he found a friend. Guitar Hero Ross and Rock Star Daddy Q livened up the house each evening.

Baby O is looking on and seems pretty shocked to see his daddy rocking out...too funny!

We took turns cooking--Chef Ben and sous Chef Marissa are making a scallop appetizer...yummy!

Hunter is taking in all of the action from a spot at the bar!

Great Granny thought it was hilarious that Baby O is a raspberry blowing machine. She was often over-heard encouraging, and even emulating, Baby O's behaviour. No wonder he looks at her this way! She's his new best friend!!!

This summer's beach trip was so much fun. We really enjoyed hanging out with everyone and are glad that Travis and Ross were able to make the trip and were sad to see them go early! We had fun with Matt and Curtis, too! If you guys are reading this blog...thanks for the Pina Colada's, Curtis...and Matt, we must tackle guitar hero one day!

Last, but not least, some photos from our photo session! Thank you to Uncle Gary for being a photographer! We got some good ones!!!

I love you all and thank you for the fun and the fond memories. We had a great time and look forward to returning in 2010! In the meantime, here's to Alaska 2009.