Indian Rocks Beach Vacation 2014

We just got back from a much needed, amazing vacation at a new beach for us, Indian Rocks Beach!  It is located on the Gulf coast of Florida, just south of Clearwater.  The water when we got there was so clear and calm!  It looked more like a lake than an ocean and the water was HOT!  I mean, it was even warmer than the air itself!  On Wednesday an all day storm system came through and the water was stirred up and it looked more like the Atlantic coast that we are use to and there were a ton of waves!  By Friday, though, it was back to being beautiful weather with lake-like water!  The kids enjoyed both jumping the waves and lulling around in the still waters as well, so they got a wide range of activities out of it:)  We had a great week with lots of sun, food and family time!!  We are already talking about our beach plans for next summer:)

Saturday -
M and I got up at 4:30am!!!  We got ourselves ready and the car packed and then got the kids up and were on the road by 6am!  Never have we been able to get away this early!  It was great, though, as we beat the traffic and pretty much had the road to ourselves for the first couple of hours!  It took us 11 hours, including stops, to arrive at our condo at about 5pm.  Whew!!!  What a drive!  We unloaded the car, went to PJ's Oyster Bar for dinner and then hit up the grocery store so that we would be ready to hit the beach in the morning!  The kids were sharing a room, and as it is the first night whenever they do this, there was a lot of talking, but finally they went to sleep with visions of the beach dancing in their heads!

6am!!

First picture upon arrival - even if her eyes are closed!

1st sunset view from our balcony!

Goodnight!

Sunday -
The kids were up super-excited and were like bucking broncos!!!  They were ready to get to the beach!  I, on the other hand, and it was mid-afternoon before I felt human again:)  We got out there early, about 8:30am and the beach was gorgeous and we spent all morning and after lunch/rest we spent the rest of the afternoon there as well!!  After dinner at the condo, guess what we did... went down to the beach AGAIN for an evening walk:)  C said his favorite part of the day was going out in the water to where he could barely touch - daredevil!  S said her favorite part was going on the boogie board and collecting shells!

Good morning - ready to GO GO GO!!

These 3 spent a LOT of time in the water!  I'm more of a sand
person myself:)

This was our first year that we were able to sit and watch
the kids play - at least a little anyway!

He insisted on goggles anytime he went in the water:)

Monday -
We all got a lot of sun yesterday, so we decided to do things a bit differently!  My beach book for the trip was Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews.  As I was reading it on Sunday, they mentioned in the book a breakfast place in St. Pete Beach, FL.  I looked it up and it is a real place and was only about 40 minutes from our condo.  So, we loaded up early and headed down the peninsula to The Seahorse for a most delicious breakfast!  After breakfast, and with some very full bellies, we did some "adventuring" around the southern tip of the peninsula, went to John's Pass to the sweltering boardwalk and found a very entertaining Parrot in one of the stores that could talk and sing 3 nursery rhyme songs and rev like a Harley, stopped by a very stinky and a let down of a bird sanctuary and got back just in time to eat lunch and rest before we went out on the beach for the afternoon.  Last year my dad had staged a treasure hunt on the beach for the kids where they found Blackbeard's treasure.  This year, I still had some of the "pirate booty" from last year's find, and the kids were drawing treasure maps so we decided to find out where they thought the treasure was hid from their maps and then hid the money while they were distracted.  It was so fun to watch them get so excited about the treasure!!!  We grilled out shrimp (on a slow, charcoal, windy grill so it ended up being boiled shrimp instead of grilled shrimp!  HA!) and then went for another walk on the beach before tucking in for the night!

At The Seahorse

View from the southern most end of the peninsula looking back up northward.

John's Pass

Talking parrot "Sinbad"

Finding treasure!

They ran a bunch when we went on our evening
walks!

Tuesday -
We woke up and were down at the beach early again this morning!  We even saw dolphins!!!!  We came up for lunch and while we were up, a storm appeared out of nowhere and we watched as our poor tent was snapped in the wind!  So upsetting!!!  M ran out there as fast as he could when we saw the wind coming, but he couldn't get to it in time:(  It cleared up quickly and after rest and a fast trip to the pool and painted nails for me and S while C napped, we showered and went to Clearwater for the evening.  We had dinner at Frency's, famous for their grouper sandwich which I of course ordered and it was delicious!  After dinner we went to Pier 60 where they have what M and I compared to the Marketplace in Charleston set up on the pier.  There is a playground there as well and the kids enjoyed playing on it before walking down the pier.  The beaches around the pier were so crowded, but so beautiful.  We no sooner got our toes in the sand than we saw the storm clouds coming toward us and looking at the radar on our phones, we knew it wasn't going to be good!  It was almost 8pm by this time anyway, so we called it a night and went back to the condo to put 2 tired kiddos to bed!!

Morning discussions...

Burying C

Our poor tent

She insisted on a picture of her painted toes:)

Dinner at Frenchy's - he was being a monster/bad guy and
wouldn't cooperate with a smile... such is life!

Pier 60 at Clearwater

Look at all those people!!!!!

Wednesday -
When we woke up, the weather had cleared and it was calling for scattered rain.  We were low on a lot of our groceries(it is amazing how much more food we go through during the day when M is around!!!  HAHA!) so M went to the grocery store and the kids and I vegged for a bit.  By the time he got back, around 9:30am, the skies were dark, it was windy and as soon as we stepped out of the elevator to go to the beach, it was started pouring!!!  All day it was rainy and gross!!  We tried playing games, but after that we just let the kids watch TV.  We went to lunch across the street just to break up the monotony of the day.  It was a place called Guppy's and a friend of my cousin owns it!  It was probably the best place we've eaten yet!!  So yummy!  Every chance we got we would run out to the beach between storms, play in the crazy ocean for about 20 minutes, and then run back in when the next storm would come!  We ate dinner in the condo and afterwards we determined the rain was done for the day and ventured out again!  We walked about a block for ice cream(or milkshakes in the kids' case!) and then walked on the beach while we ate it!  It was a great ending to a rainy day!

Lazy morning cartoons while Daddy went to the grocery store
to restock!

S has ALWAYS loved to chase birds at the beach and
this year was no different!  Every day she chased them at
some point!:)

Throwing seaweed in the wind and watching it FLY!

First attempts at boogie boarding were rough and the kids were
thrown all around in the waves.  They stayed really shallow
and did much better in the surf than trying to venture out
any further!

S got really good at boogie boarding!  The waves would just
take her and send her soaring!

They were excited to get their milkshakes!  Each of them got a
HUGE one and drank practically the entire thing!!  C had trouble
getting to sleep that night - wonder if it had anything to with the
fact that he had napped and had a mega sugar buzz!?!?!

Sunset!

Thursday -
After the rain yesterday and the rain all night it was time for some sun and we got it!!!!!  We were out early again, about 8:30am and stayed down at the beach all morning, not taking it for granted at all!  The waves were still huge from the storm and we all got into the boogie boarding!  I have not done it in YEARS, and had so much fun!  It was hard to stop but I had to give M a try since he had been wrangling the kids and letting them jump waves while I was having a blast out in the deep water:)  We came up for lunch and C took a nap and M fretted about sod(which he has been doing all week so hopefully he will make a decision soon!!)!  We spent more time at the beach after C woke up, had dinner at the condo and then finished off with another evening stroll!

C wore his goggles in the ocean every time!

Look at that upside down monkey!

Friday -
This morning, even though we were still up by 7am, we were slow to get moving and didn't get down to the beach until after 9am!  It was a beautiful day!!!!  The sun was shining bright and hot and the waves had settled down tremendously!  M and I sat for a few minutes while the kids were off like bullets into the water:)  We collected a bunch of shells today, played with the millions of tiny clam shells in the tide pools, caught little sand crabs, M pulled the kids on the boogie boards and after we had enough sun for a while and our tummies were hungry, we went up for lunch!  After some rest, we spent some time in the pool, which we haven't done much of since we've been here because we have pool access at home and use it a lot, and then got ready for cleaned up for dinner!  We ate an early dinner at the Pub, where the kids were served dinner on Frisbees which they thought was very cool and we also saw dolphins from our table!:)  After dinner we made sure to make time for a swim in the ocean and some time playing on the beach to conclude our family beach trip!

Jumping waves:)

I think I have this pose of C every day HA!

The kids were excited to throw their new Frisbees!

C had apparently never thrown one before, but after I showed
him how, he caught right on!

Last ocean swim of 2014:(

Saturday -
We got up early, early again and were on the road back home by 6am!!  When you have 11 hours to go, you've got to start early!  The kids did great on the drive and we were all so so so glad to pull into our driveway and sleep in our own beds:)

Our beach trip was amazing, and we made some wonderful memories!!!!  We are already looking forward to and talking about our trip for 2015!:)