Florida Day 2!

Another day, some more sun and fun at the beach. For all that the weather has not been superlative by Floridian standards, quite frankly, I'm still VERY happy with it. The storm clouds had blown over by the time I awoke (HUGE sleep in courtesy of Gilles), and we soon were out and about to enjoy the sunshine once again.

The shovel and preliminary sand castle...not so sure what we in fact did create!



Check me out Dad!



This time, we had all the necessary beach accoutrements and Isabelle had a blast and a half, to put it mildly, using the wagon, pails, and shovels with Gran, her Dad and I. We enjoyed the beach for quite some time - who knew that just shoveling sand and picking up seashells could be so much fun? We hit the pool on the way back from the beach, Isabelle enjoyed her dinghy again and had a great afternoon nap before we shopped some more.

Taking the wagon out to collect seashells....



Look at all those seashells!



This time, we hit the grocery store with a vengeance for all those American treats we can't get in Canada. Isabelle got a huge Elmo balloon and a Dora ball, snacked on some cupcake samples and generally had a great time. She did, however, have a small melt down when we had to take this huge beach ball away from her. She grabbed it (we're still not sure how) and proceeded to throw it every which way, which was somewhat unfortunate for the mainly senior crowd who were attempting to do their groceries and were not expecting to be felled by some massive inflatable object coming their way. Ooops. She found it hard to contain her exuberance, and so we had to take it away from her, which did not please her in the least. We also had figured out by this point that a few groceries were going to take us about five hours if she needed to throw this ball and run after it at every opportunity. She returned to her normal cheery self by the time we hit the cupcake sample and gave her some cheese.

Enjoying some gelato with Mom before her bath time...



If you want to get a good idea about the curls, expand that photo and you'll know what we're talking about!

On the way out of the grocery store, Isabelle's balloon flew out of her hands, and even though it was weighted, started to fly off. Gilles and I both took off like bees after honey and finally caught him. A man exiting his car said he wished he had had a video since he's never seen anything so funny in his life. I'm sure we looked silly, and were acting fairly dangerously since I, for one, was not paying any attention to cars, but ran wherever that silly ballon was flying. All in a day! We got him back, she was happy - no harm, no foul. We told the man that we were obviously REALLY trying to alleviate the possibility of any tears.
She's spoiled, but so darn cute that I still have to pinch myself that this is really my child.

One of her favourite things in the condo is definitely the balcony. She's never been up high like were are here, and the view of the ocean is fabulous. She goes in and out of the sliding door about 100 times a day too see how the waves are coming and where the birds are. Grandpa explained to her later tonight that they were now sleeping and when he went inside, she stayed there and continued to point out at the ocean and then laid her head down on her shoulder to motion sleeping.

She seems to be teething and is eating a lot less as a result, even when it's her Gran's famous cooking. It's so nice to see her with Mom and Dad, finally to the point where she knows, trusts and loves them. She is always happy to be in their company.

The perfect end to the day. A naked perusal of the ocean activities, watched closely by her friend Elmo!