Sun and sand in Destin

Well, July seems to have become travel month for the Cowan family! After our journey to the Pacific Northwest, we made a short stop back in Tennessee before heading south to Destin, Florida. Jane was at such a great age for the beach this year. (Click here to see the change from last year!)

She loved the sand and the water, which was a relief because otherwise it would have been a long week. The first evening we arrived, we headed down to the beach to stretch our legs and get our feet wet (another great opportunity to use the word "literally"... see previous post). As soon as we got to the fluffy sand, Jane started falling backwards and rolling around in it, as if it were a giant air mattress. Still in her clothes, we took her to the edge of the water to dip her toes in, but after a few minutes Jane somehow managed to get completely soaked.  Here's a little compilation from our first evening on the beach:

The rest of the week was equally fun with plenty of sun and a nice breeze to cool us off.

Why are we learning about shapes on vacation?
Because your parents are teachers. Now, which one is the circle?

First koozie experience

See the yellow plane? That was a HUGE hit with Jane.
"Lello bane!" she exclaimed every time it flew by (about every half hour).

All clean and dressed for the evening... legs getting a little sandy...

... and now for the hair.
(That made for a total of three baths this day.)

Here's Daddy on the same beach at the same age as Jane!

Check out the pictures at the end of this old post to see Richard and Jane at the same age last year.

As much as Jane liked the beach, the pool was definitely her favorite. The activity she enjoyed most was sitting on the edge of the baby pool and then leaning forward until she plopped into the water. Then she would plow forward across the baby pool and belly flop back under water. She learned pretty quickly how to tilt her chin up and get her head out of the water, which made it much less stressful for us! She was having a ball and was so much fun to watch. Here's a little clip of her graceful entry into the water:

This slightly cheesy walking-away-footprints-in-the-sand shot seems like a good one to end on: