1st Family Beach Vacation

It finally came! Our first family beach vacation, just us four! Mama, Daddy, Cody and I drove to Jacksonville Beach a couple weeks ago. On the way down, we stopped to stay with Grandy and JuJu to visit in Valdosta, GA. We were excited to see them, but made sure we got up and hit the road the next morning because it was time to hit the "big sandbox"!! When we got to the "big sandbox" it was a little cloudy, but that was ok because Cody and I dumped out our toys and started playing!
Cody was quite content playing with the sand and filling his bucket and dumping it out.
After we played in the sand for a while, daddy held our hands while we all put our feet in the Atlantic Ocean!
Mama stopped to ask how we liked it and we said, "this is fun!!"
Cody was super excited and had so many things that interested him! One thing in particular, mama's chair! He of course thought it was more fun to stand in it than sit!
After playing a while in the "sandbox" the first day, the parents showed us our super cool pool! It had this HUGE waterfall pouring down, which daddy and I went underWe finally found the time to rest and relax with our drinks by the pool. Soon after that, we called it a day and headed to our room to get cleaned up.
We stepped out on our balcony to find this beautiful view of the pool and ocean and my "big sandbox"
The first nite we were all so tired, so we decided to watch fun movies on tv and eat some pizza! The parents told us to get some good sleep because we were going to do it all over again the next day. Apparently that excited Cody and me because we woke up at 6:30 The parents weren't exactly excited about being up that early on vacation. After we all got up and had breakfast, we headed down to the "big sandbox" again. It was still cloudy and actually started sprinkling some. Cody took shelter in the tent.
The sun started coming out some and quit raining, so Cody ventured out and decided to taste some sand. He actually seemed to like it!
The parents and I were super excited that Cody started walking before our trip. It was fun watching little brother prance all over the "sandbox"
He was even up for playing some football!
He got to looking around and found daddy and me way out in the water
So he started walking our way to play with us!
Along the way, he fell and was not exactly happy about it. Since it was so early and the sun had not been out long, the water was a little chilly!
So I went to sit with him and play to make it all better
He asked if we could go play in the sand again instead, which we did
Then we came up with a great idea!! We decided to bury daddy!
I thought it looked fun, so I told them to bury me!
Cody didn't think we packed the sand down enough, so he sat on me to do it himself
I was ready to get up, so daddy grabbed Cody
and I busted out of the sand and took off running.
I ran for a while and mama couldn't get me to come back. I guess you'd say I wasn't being a good boy, so I got put in "timeout". I was ok with that, because I actually knew JuJu was about to show up to play with us, so I was just sitting patiently waiting for her.
JuJu finally got to our "sandbox" and Cody greeted her with a smile (hidden under his paci of course!).
I asked JuJu to come play in the water with me. That's when daddy and she started to help me jump the waves!
and that was super super fun! JuJu's pants even got wet haha!
I was having so much fun and was constantly on the move, that I would not stand still to take a group foot picture with my family. So here are daddy, mama and Cody feet.
I think I was doing something else wrong by this point and mama got on to me, so I threw my hat down and just walked off pouting. I'm pretty sure I got in trouble for that to!
On my way back to my timeout chair, I found some BIRDS! So I took off chasing after them!
This is what I was trying to catch, but unfortunately coudn't get it

Mama wanted to take a picture with Cody and me in the water, but I was just not in the mood. She said please, and I walked off saying "no"
That's when we decided to get snacks and head to the pool. We stopped to rinse all the sand off. I helped mama rinse Cody.
Then we got to the pool and the sun was beaming! Mama sprayed me down with that COLD sunblock while Cody tried to put my floaties on her After we were all coated with sunblock, we jumped in for a little family swim
Cody didn't stay in very long. He preferred to sit on the side and play peek a boo with daddy
Then he found this cave...
He really enjoyed exploring the cave
I on the other hand, really enjoyed the pool! I would swim then get up on the stairs and jump in and do it all over again.
I think I've got this swimming thing down pat!
One of my favorite things at the pool was my new water gun that JuJu gave me. Watch out! I'll shoot you!
Mama took Cody to the room to feed him, clean him up and put him down for a nap. That's when daddy and I had a fun fun time together. We leaned on the side and kicked our feet
But then I decided I was tired and wanted to get out of the pool. I walked into the room and saw Cody sleeping
and I told the parents I was not sleepy and did not want to take a nap. This is what I looked like about 5 minutes later
In fact, I slept a really long time! The whole family was up and dressed and ready to go take some pictures and I was still asleep. So they sat on the balcony to wait for me to wake up.
Cody got really thirsty waiting on me
and a little bored, so mama and he watched people playing at the pool
Finally I woke up and we headed to "look" at the water
We all knew with Mama and JuJu involved that it would turn into a photo shoot! Cody didn't exactly cooperate and look at the camera for our group shot. I think I was just happy that there was a helicopter above my head!
We took several pictures in front of the water and sandbox. Here I am with daddy
then mama
then I got down and let Cody take a picture with mama then daddy

but then I jumped right back in the picture with daddy and Cody
and then with mama!
by that time, I thought there had been enough pictures! So I didn't cooperate for a picture with JuJu
but Cody did!
Once we were done taking all the pictures, the parents told us we were about to go home with JuJu. We were so upset about leaving the "sandbox"!
No, we were really just tired of taking pictures. We love going to JuJu's house! In fact, I was so ready, that I told them to get in and I was driving!
Cody was my only passenger at that time
After a fun, fun time at the "sandbox" we left the parents at the beach and headed to JuJu's for some more fun! Grandy has been working on his model airplane at their house. He let me get in and test drive it for a minute.
But I realized it needed wheels to land! So I helped him put them on!
The parents came to see us after their last day at the beach and stayed the nite with us at JuJu's house. But they left us the next morning to go to the Braves game in Atlanta. There they met Mr. Tank and Mrs. Gail.
They found Dale Murphy's number
and Greg Maddox's number
then they went into the game and stood down by the field
Since it was Independence Day, they brought out a HUGE flag in the outfield while the National Anthem was sung
The next morning, JuJu drove Cody and me to meet the parents so we could all go home. We had a fantastic family vacation. There are many more pictures from our vacation. Believe it or not, JuJu takes more pictures than mama!! You can click here to see all the pictures from our 1st family beach vacation!