New Smyrna Beach

The manatees were on the Gulf Coast, and once we were done with that excursion, we drove to the other side of Florida, over to the Atlantic coast.  Jonathan's (brother-in-law) family happens to own a condo on New Smyrna Beach, which is right by Daytona where we stayed from Thursday night until Sunday afternoon.  It was so much fun!  They really have the best condo in the whole huge building because it is on the first floor and faces the ocean.  You really walk out and down a few stairs and you're on the beach.  Amazing!  The condo only had two bedrooms, but it was really nice and we still made it work comfortably.  The first day there was really nice weather, but it was a little cooler so we mostly stayed in jeans/sweatshirts, etc. but still got to go out and enjoy the sand and dipping our feet in.  It really warmed up for a couple hours in the afternoon, so we played a lot of shuffleboard, which overlooked the ocean.  It was fun.  The next day though was definitely the best.  It was warm, and so we went out in our bathing suits/shorts and about a half hour into that, a storm blew in and it was a downpour of rain for a little while.  It was really pretty though and the men were out surfing and swimming in it when it suddenly happened.  I was with Lucy and Jackson on the beach, and since it came on so quickly, we decided to just have fun and go running all over the beach in it.  Once the rain blew over, the sun came out and it was a really warm, beautiful day.  There was a lot of surfing, fishing, playing in the sand, searching for seashells, exploring the beach, throwing around the football, etc.  The beach was really open and didn't have any gross seaweed and junk like California beaches have, so it was awesome to let Lucy roam around and do whatever she wanted without me having to worry about what she was going to put in her mouth- which she loved!  During the evenings, we stayed up late watching movies, talking, and eating (yeah, definitely a theme here).  Sunday morning we packed back up and then left in the afternoon right at naptime so that all the little girls could nap on the way back to Gainseville.  These pictures all uploaded in such a random order and there's too many to organize.  Also, I got a bunch of pictures from Rachael from this event but can only find like half of them for some reason!?  So here's some of our trip at the beach. :)

 I love these three pictures below because it looks like the three girls are totally having a great conversation together. :)

 Everyday Lucy started out with a lot of clothes on and as the day went on, she gradually lost layers until she was either just in a diaper or a bathing suit. :)

 Again, Jackson was so nice to Lucy.

 These next two pictures are so funny to me because Lucy did not like her hands getting dirty in the sand.  Anytime she fell over while walking, she would push herself back up with the sides of her hands and avoided getting her hands messy as much as she could.  She probably got that from me.

 Now water was a different story... she would gladly splash around in any bucket/puddle of water she could find.

 Beach bums...

 Lucy got away with Craig's football yet again.  Sorry/thanks, Craig! :)

 This was just before the downpour.  Pretty ominous, huh?

 Lynnlee was totally happy to be inside when she could color with her ginormous pen.  I just thought this picture was funny.  She is actually a great little artist for her age... even with a ginormous pen!