Monkey and The Gorilla: Seaside, FL

Over a long Columbus Day weekend, Peter, Bobby, James and I, along with our friends Ross and Steffie, went to Seaside, Florida, one of our favorite beach destinations. Peter's mom owns a house in Seaside, so we don't have to deal with hotels or condo rentals, and Seaside is such a beautiful, relaxing place. We have a close-by beach in Houston (Galveston), but the water's pretty warm and, well, brown. In Seaside, you can see your feet, and watch as little schools of fish swim around and nibble on your toes.

It was the boys' first flight, and I was terrified of long lines to check luggage and get through the family line at security, so we got there about 2 1/2 hours early - way overkill, as it turned out. There were no lines for checking bags, and we zipped through security. James enjoyed crawling around the airport and asking strangers for food (it was lunchtime), so we headed over to Pappas' Burgers and had some lunch.

The boys enjoy puffs at lunch in the airport.

They did pretty well on the flight. We bought them each a seat, so Peter and Ross took James, and Steffie and I had Bobby in the row behind them. Both boys slept most of the hour-and-a-half flight, and woke up towards the end. I don't know about James, but Bobby felt the bumpy landing with slammed-on brakes was hilarious! Guess that little guy's going to like roller coasters!

We tried to keep the trip relaxed. We went to the beach a couple of times. The first time, James thought playing in the sand was just fabulous, and Bobby wanted nothing to do with anything. The second time, James was pretty ornery (he hadn't slept well the night before), so he was not a huge fan of anything, but Bobby loved going out pretty far into the ocean and being swirled around in the sea, as well as jumping waves. We've got ourselves a little fish! They also enjoyed swimming in the kiddie pool with me and Steffie, and going out to eat - they love smoked tuna dip! Well, let's be honest, they loved pretty much any grown-up food we stuck in front of them! Ross and Steffie went home Sunday afternoon, and we headed home Tuesday. The flight going home was super easy for Peter - James slept the entire way! Bobby required entertaining almost the entire flight, though, and finally fell asleep as we started to descend - of course! All in all, though, our first trip with the boys went well, and it helped teach me what we do and don't need to do for our big upcoming trip to Disney World with the boys Veterans' Day weekend.

And now for a picture overload (I apologize for the messiness of the layout)....