Beach Trip

Over Spring Break, I decided to take the kids to the Beach for what was going to be a day trip until my sweet grandmother (Meme) decided that she wanted to pay for us to stay overnight and we had a great time! This was the first time that Inna and Vitali had ever seen the beach and they LOVED it! I drove the 3 kids, Tiff, and we asked my mom (Gigi) to hop in with us last minute and she joined the party! Jason decided that the best way he could enjoy this time was to have the house all to himself since it doesnt happen much :) and so he opted to enjoy the quiet at home and join us on our next beach trip. On the way there, the kids just kept getting more excited the closer we got to being there. Inna kept saying..."I feel like I have been to the beach before because I have imagined it in my mind". Then, we past over the bridge over the bay and it almost took her breath away...she thought it was so beautiful. Vitali kept saying, "I have never been to the beach". (By the way, this is his new thing to say I have never..."I have never had a b-day party" "I have never...the list goes on and on to the point of even stuff like driving down the road and he will say "Mama, mama, mama, mama...I have never ridden in that car (meaning the car beside us on the road)...see what I mean, this list could go on forever. Ok, back to the beach...Inna was so excited when we finally arrived at Destin that she ran through the sand and plunged straight in the water even though it was FREEZING cold! She laughed and splashed and splashed like Vitali did when he first had a bath. She swam for hours and never seemed to realize that it was freezing water. She was having so much fun that the other kids all decided to join her...even Tiff. I asked Grant later if he thinks he would have ever got in the water if Inna didnt that day and he said, "No"...that he would have thought it was too cold, but instead he had a blast that day! The best part was that I just realized how therapeutic being there at the beach was for Inna and Vitali and really all of us, but I really could tell how enjoying one of God's most beautiful creations was such a healing experience for Inna. Later that night, we went out to eat and had more fun as there was a band playing some Jimmy Buffet type songs and the dance floor was completely empty and they had hoola hoops spread out, so we all danced and hoola hooped for probably an hour or more and had so much fun! Tiff, Grant, and Inna had some awesome hoola hoop tricks going on. The guys on the stage when they paused between songs even said, "Man, that is so cool" and started requesting tricks, haha! We wanted to take pics of this, but our camera wouldnt work with the lighting. We did get some beach pics though...