Florida, Part 2

We survived both flights and made it to Tampa.  We collected our bags and met Christie and Brian near the bathrooms, which was a good place to be at that point in time since everyone needed a bathroom break.  Carting luggage around was much easier with two extra sets of hands as well.  We went over to the car rental kiosk and picked up our brand, spankin' new car that had about 12 miles on it! Then we drove out to Naples to the house that Chuck had rented for everyone.  We had a nice master suite with a King sized bed for us and a crib for Benjamin.  There was another room across the hall with a double and a twin that Frances and Henry shared and then another room with a double and twin that Dan and Nikki shared with Abby.  Chuck had a master suite downstairs.  There was a nice patio (technically a lanai in Florida-speak) and swimming pool out back.  We asked the kids to take a nap and then afterwards we went swimming. Outside. In November!
Thursday morning we set out for a walk and ended up at the beach.

We were going to just walk on the beach and look at the water, but the kids had other plans!
At first the rule was to just get their feet wet. (Benjamin wanted absolutely nothing to do with the water OR sand at this point!)

The kids were being chased by the big scary "Papa-gator!"

Then the rule became something about trying to keep their clothes dry...

And then you really just have to ask yourself: "How many times are these kids going to get to go to Florida and play in the Gulf of Mexico??"

Benjamin finally consented to getting out of the stroller, as long as he didn't have to be anywhere near the water or sand!

The big boys enjoyed themselves too.

Ultimately, the questions of the day were: How long will soaking wet, too big shorts stay on?  and How dirty/wet can we possibly get?

And Benjamin finally got into the sand!

In fact, he decided he loved sand so much he wanted to shampoo his hair...

...and eat SEVERAL handfuls!

Aunt Christie came down to meet us and run around for a bit.  

Meanwhile, the boys had walked back to the house and picked up the cars, so when they arrived back at the beach, we attempted to remove as much sand as possible and head back to the house for food and naps.  And don't worry, when I asked the rental car guys at the end of our trip whether they charged per grain or per pound for the sand, they told me it was complimentary!