I mentioned, in my last post about the beach, that we had SO much fun. After that first sunrise trip to the beach, Iliya didn't wake me up SO early every morning, but he & Natalie were typically up & ready to go down by about 7:30 or so. So, after breakfast & a thorough sunscreen application, we'd head down to get some good playing in.

The forecast touted bad weather all week, but we watched the storms go around us every single day. How lucky! It finally rained on our last day - which made it a little bit easier to pack up & head home.

Instead of giving you a long narrative of our trip, I thought I would just share some pictures. I'm using a new slideshow program - so I hope it works for you all. If you have problems, just let me know!

You'll see that Iliya thoroughly enjoyed himself...as did the rest of us! One thing I (and, apparently, all the other adults involved) never have enjoyed is getting sand all over myself. But we ditched our non-enjoyment of being covered in sand and took on a big project - a sandcastle. Well, Nathan and Iliya started it, and then Iliya ditched Nathan for playing in the water (and getting buried in the sand). Nathan pressed on and after the castle survived the first night, he was eventually joined by Patrick (my BIL). Natalie & I decided we were going to make an alligator in the sand and it quickly morphed into a firebreathing dragon...headed to the Castle Fortess to wreak total destruction!