All good things must come to an end seems like a fitting saying when considering the fact that summer is coming to a close. Traditionally, we spend some time camping at the beach, so we squeezed in a trip right before school started. We had gorgeous weather and a relaxing time.
Braden loves everything about the beach. One of his favorite activities is collecting sand crabs in a bucket and begging to take some home.
Gotta love grandparents and their adorable ideas...take corndogging for example. Gramma encouraged Braden to get all wet and then roll all over in the sand. That's what corndogging is apparently. Cute.
Wow, that corndogging game was fun for a while, especially since Gramma kept encouraging him to do it. Should've had her clean the sand out of Braden's every crease and crevice.
Gramma is still a total surfer girl at heart. She had fun splashing around with Braden, but then decided to grab her board.
She suggested a race. Looks like Braden won by just a tad.
Braden decided he was ready to try surfing. He made himself a surfer necklace out of shells and was ready to hit the waves.
Braden got to take a lesson from the best...his dad! They rented a board in fear that Braden may ride Matt's surfboard onto shore.
He's practically ready to hang ten.
Tongue always hangs out when in full concentration mode. Trying to juggle the video camera and still camera, while avoiding the leopard sharks and sting rays we spotted, proved to be a challenge.
Papa is the original surfer in the family. He figured he could teach Braden a thing or two.
We love the beach!
Hard to conceive this crazy kid is old enough to learn how to surf!
Braden has always wanted to fly a kite at the beach. Papa must have known that because he brought an awesome one along and let Braden handle it.
Braden and Bentley enjoyed cruising up the coast.
It's always nice to make a quick stop to enjoy the early morning breeze and view of all the hard core surfers. Braden isn't too keen on the sleeping-in-because-we-are-on-vacation concept.
Bentley insisted on sitting in the basket for our ride.
Even Gramma wanted to tote Toto along.
Braden loves this dog....much more than I'd like him too. Guess a little dog slobber never hurt anyone.
Did we mention there's a pool at the campground? Yep, pretty much a full array of activities from morning til night. Somehow we managed to squeeze in some relaxation.
We thought a nice bike ride right before sunset sounded like a lovely idea. Matt decided Bentley could ride in my basket. Bentley decided to leap out while I was going downhill quickly. This dog survived roaming the streets half dead before getting rescued, so of course she survived the fall. Matt then carried her just like this for the remainder of the bike ride.
What's more embarrassing than Matt carrying this purse dog around is the fact that Papa decided to treat us to a nice dinner at a restaurant on the water and the restaurant allowed us to bring Bentley with us. They seated us on the patio overlooking the water....we are not THOSE people who do that kind of stuff typically. Bring a dog to a fine dining establishment?! We did actually enjoy a lovely meal and survived dinner without too many stares.
This is the pose I got when I asked them to put their heads together....guess that's exactly what they're doing.
Gramma and Braden have the capability of being slightly more serious.
One final stop before heading home....the tattoo shop. This boy is growing up way too fast! As long as it read 'MOM' with a heart, I didn't mind.
