The beach!

We arrived at the Destin airport on Monday, after a relatively short flight in the Baron from Paul and Lila's house. It was beautiful to overlook the area and see the bright white beaches and know that we'd have a full week to enjoy! We unpacked and got settled into our place and enjoyed the pool and hot tub after we ate lunch. The resort we're staying at has a great kid-friendly set up. There are two kid pools that are shallow but big, a huge pool with beach entry and a bridge across it to an island, and a large hot tub. CK and Sofia played in the warmer kid pool for a while then headed to the hot tub, where Sofia didn't want to leave. I don't blame her - it's pleasant here this time of year but not exactly hot, especially in the afternoon when the sun goes behind the buildings.

On Tuesday we ate breakfast, slathered on the sunscreen and headed to Henderson State Park, which is just across the main road from where we are staying, but the main road is a four-lane highway so we have to drive there. It's great to have clean bathrooms though and the beach wasn't as full as we expected it to be. We carried all of our stuff down to the beautiful white sand beach and spread out our towels and got settled into our spot. Sofia was very afraid of the ocean when we went to Mexico in November, so I've been talking to her about the ocean for a few weeks and have told her how there is no reason to be afraid of the ocean and that we'd be with her so nothing would happen.

So, this time she actually walked sort of near the shoreline, but still ran away when the water would come towards her. At one point I convinced her to play in the sand near the water and she was fine until the water came toward her, at which point she raised her finger and pointed to the ocean, saying "No, no no ocean! Don't come near me!" then when the water started receding she said in a deep voice "I'm sorry Sofia, I won't do it again." This went on for awhile, but ultimately she decided to go back to our towels and play in the sand.

Flying toward the Destin Airport


Papa and Sofia head to the beach for the first time


Walking down the stairs


Playing in the sand - she immediately fell into building a sand castle, so she could smash it - her favorite part


Inspecting the sand on her hand


Filling her bucket


Our brave girl walking toward the ocean solo


Two beach bunnies - Mommy and Sofia