The Quinns: Fourth of July Weekend

We were able to spend the whole week of the 4th at the beach this year! It's been a while since we were able to go down there for that long, and we were so excited. We headed out on the Saturday before the 4th after our friend Nora's birthday party. I had forgotten how bad holiday weekend traffic is, so I'm 110% positive we will never leave for the beach during the day again. Not fun!

By the time we made it to Florida we were all going stir crazy. So we stopped for dinner at The Bay. It's a new restaurant that opened earlier this year, and we had not been there yet. It was SO good! We all thoroughly enjoyed it.

As soon as we got to the beach house, I took Sallie down to the beach. The day before she had willingly played in the sandbox at home, so I wanted to keep the momentum going to see how she would do at the beach. However she freaked and didn't want me to put her down. So I went back upstairs and started getting us unpacked. A little while later I walked outside to find everyone, and I was quite shocked to the scene below.

I had to run back in and grab my camera to document this occasion!

I wouldn't go as far as to say that she loved the beach, but she definitely tolerated the sand, and there were plenty of times when she happily played in it. She also mostly loved the ocean and wanted to swim a lot. Sometimes she only wanted to be held in the water, other times she wanted to get down. We never could predict how she would act from one day to the next. (but hello, she's two.)

And I'm just going to go ahead and warn you. I uploaded 63 pictures {I delete a few}. And a lot of them are out of order {which drives me insane} but I don't have the energy to fix it. And my parents and brother were with us, too, but they didn't make any of the pictures. :(

I bought a blow-up pool at Target, and it was a big hit until it got a hole in it. :(

At the beginning of the week, there was lots of seaweed {which is typical for this time of the year}, but it ended up getting really clear and pretty! But the water was a lot colder than normal.

We drove down to Alys Beach one day to let the girls play at the splash pad.

SC was VERY timid at first {typical} but then she ended up having a blast!

We always get up early on the 4th of July to watch the parade. SC refused to change out of her pj's at first. And I couldn't get a good picture of the four girls.

Candy Judges

Checking out their loot after the parade.

Gorgeous water on the 4th of July!

I think this picture is from our first day. I was trying to get her gradually warmed up to the sand by letting her stick her toes in it while in my lap.

OK so I kinda overdid it with all these pictures, but SC in the sand was monumental in our lives! :)

Sno cone and mojito time down in Seaside!

Family pic on the beach. SC was not feeling it.

I couldn't believe she fell asleep on me! I knew she was acting unusually grumpy, and when she got woken up a few minutes later I knew why. She proceeded to throw up on me. Twice. Poor thing! I was so worried that she had the stomach bug and was going to infect everyone else, but thankfully it was an isolated event.

These are out of order pics from when we got lunch and ice cream after the splash pad.

Curran posing in front of the new gate my dad made. The girls loved it!

On the night of the 4th, we walked down to Seaside to hear the Pensacola orchestra play. It was so fun!

Just doing some dancing.

Waffle breakfast with my girl one morning.

On Saturday, our babysitter Courtnie and her family were heading down to Grayton for the week, so they came to our house that morning and hung out for several hours. We loved getting to see them!

My two with Laura Kate and Libby.

Becket and Sallie with Mrs. Courtnie

Ryan, LK, and Libby took my girls down to Seaside for lunch and found this fun photo booth. :)

This picture is random but I am including it so we can always remember how they play "puppy." It's their favorite game, and Curran is typically the person and Sinclair {and sometimes SC} is the puppy. And she stays in full {non-talking, only barking} character and does whatever Curran says. They are using parade beads as leashes in this pic. :)

By the end of the week, we were all ready to back to our own homes. We had planned to leave late on Sunday, but ended up deciding to leave around 11:45. We ate lunch at The Bay on the way out of town and really enjoyed it again! The drive home was long and slow, so SC did her best to entertain us all.

My children did not fall asleep until we were about 40 miles from home, and then they got woken abruptly by a loud siren. Then SC proceeded to scream the rest of the way home. Good times.