Florida Beach Vacation- Day 6

Wednesday was our sandcastle building lesson.  The only time we could get a lesson was right in the heat of the day so we just let the kids play around the house that morning so they wouldn't be too tired.  After lunch, we loaded everything up and headed back to Inlet Beach. 

 

Our instructors, Ryan and Brandi, met us at the beach with all the tools we needed to make some great sandcastles.  The first step was to create a big pile of sand to build the sandcastles on.  The next step was "smash and mash" which required us to bring big buckets of water from the ocean to put on our pile of sand.   

Once we had a good foundation, they showed us how to make the sandcastle form.  The four steps to making a solid sandcastle are dry sand, water, mix it up, tap it to get the bubbles out and then repeat as may times as needed until the form is filled to the top.   

After the forms were finished, it was time to start carving the designs.  In hindsight, we should have shown the kids some pictures on the internet to give them some ideas because several of them didn't know what they wanted their sandcastles to look like.  But with a little help from the instructors, they all were able to create great sandcastles that they were all proud of.

Our sandcastle lesson was such a fun experience and I'm thankful that our friends suggested that we do it.  I think it will be something the kids will always remember.



Florida Beach Vacation- Day 5

Since the kids had gotten pretty sunburned on Monday, we decided to wait until dinner to go to the beach on Tuesday.  After walking to the local candy store and letting the kids pick out one treat, we went to the pool and then came home for lunch.   Granna had brought some crafts for the kids to enjoy that afternoon while we waited to go to the beach.

We picked up some pizzas for dinner on the beach and then let the kids play until sunset.  It was so much cooler and we were all able to enjoy our time on the beach without worrying about getting sunburned. 

A friend of mine suggested bringing flashlights and letting the kids search for crabs after dark.  The kids spent an hour making a "home" for the crabs they thought they were going to catch!

Even Granstan got in on the digging!

While the kids were working on their crab home, Cory and Craig waked down the beach and discovered a starfish.  The kids (and adults!) thought it was pretty cool!

Finally, after the sun set, the kids got out their flashlights and started looking for crabs!  Lily was the first to find one!  They were small and fast so we never caught one ourselves but we did see one that another little boy had captured up the beach.  It was a great way to end another fun day at the beach!