Toes in the Sand

Since we are very much at home in Colorado, I am not sure any of us are true beach people. I must say that it is nice to put your toes in the sand every once in a while.  We were staying out on Clearwater Beach, and for kids our age, this is an awesome beach. They have very small waves, and a long sand bar, that you can wade out 30/40 feet and still be only 3 feet deep. We spent all day Friday at the beach, and then a speed boat ride.  The sand was great , the weather was great(we did have a short rain of about 20 mins, but that just cooled us off), with little crowds, it was a great day. I have several photos, so here we go.....

One of our sand creations

Hard At Work

The happy Couple - Joel did get a lot of compliments on his hat

After a quick rain shower - all smiles

Lauren enjoying the sunset

Found a crab - wanted to see if he would come out to see us

    After the morning at the beach we headed across the street for a boat ride. The Sea Screamer, a speed boat that we were able to see dolphins on, was next. It was very cool. This was Lauren main pick of what she wanted to do when we got to Florida. I was really glad we did. It was fun, and really amazing to see the dolphins playing in the water.

                       Not a great pic, but the only one of the whole family... remember we have been at the beach all day. That explains Lauren's hair :)

Dad and Lauren

Enjoying the wind in our hair

Here is a video of the show put on by our dolphin friends

The following morning we headed over the zoo( I will blog it next with the Science Museum), but after the zoo we headed back to the dock for Captain Memo's Pirate Ship.  This was Cooper choice. It was a two hour cruise around the bay, and I was a little worried we were be bored, because it was not a speed boat. Boy, was I wrong. We had a really good time. The crew did an excellent job of keeping everyone entertained and interested, telling pirate stories, arming all crew water pistols, firing canon's, and mustaches for the pirates. (Also did not hurt it has free beer and sodas :) ) Lauren had accidentally gotten some sun block in her eye, so that was  a little damper on the fun, but she still got right in there and participated with everything. It was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed it.

  Pirate Cooper ready to board.

The pirates getting permission to come aboard from the Captain

Checking out the main deckMom and Dad enjoying the day

Scurvy Dog Mad Mike telling a pirate story

Captain Cooper, Mad Dog Mommy, and Rennie the Renegade with their booty

I will finish up the trip with talking about the zoo and the Museum of Science and industry in the next few days. Until then... Argggg.