Summer is here!

My girls are all finally out of school! Woohoo! their last day was Wed of last week. Of course the first thing I did was go to the beach! So I just had to come and share some photos! For one thing I have not blogged much this past week and for another... well I just wanted to share the pretty pics!
There is something about flip flops in the sand... I always take one of those pics for some reason! I guess it is just so quintessentially summer!

This is the very first little peak of ocean you get to see when you arrive. Lovely, isn't it? We went to the Playa Linda beach which is part of Canaveral National Seashore. Which... is on Cape Canaveral, where the shuttles used to launch from. Now they only launch rockets. But it was such a cool thing none the less to be there and drive by all that stuff. In the past, on launch days they would close down the park. Not sure if they still do that or not with the rockets only, but I imagine they would.

Another beautiful peek as you get closer! I just love the dunes on these beaches and how they protect the beach. You are in a parking lot with a hill of sorts and then you turn the other way and BAM! Beautiful nature! I heart this beach! This particular park has 12 beaches. Each with it's own little parking area and bathroom and walk up through the dunes. If you are a local, you know to be wary of beach 12 as nudists frequent that area... yea so we went to 11. lol

One of my favorite... and least favorite things about this beach is that it is always windy. That is a good thing because you can always fly kites, you never get over heated when you are out there, it is always so pleasant. The bad side of that is that it is even easier to burn because you never feel it. I am usually very, very careful as I am super white and burn so easily. I use SPF 70 and stay under an umbrella most of the time. This time I still burnt.

Some days my younger two love the beach and sometimes they just want to stay home. Today they stayed home so it was just my 21 yr old and I, which was an awesome treat because we always have a fun time together and we did not have to listen to their bickering and their being bored and wanting to leave lol. That would be my daughter's towel out there on the sand... I think she was off hunting shells.

In this pic, she is rolling around like a 2 yr old. lol I swear she has so much fun at the beach. She loved hunting seashells. This beach has a lot of them. We found a couple of pretty big ones as well. There were a bunch of crabs, and while we were sitting right there where the surf breaks, looking at shells coming in... their was a school of tiny fish, they were so cute!

The other cool thing this beach does is night time turtle walks. Right now it is nesting season and they have Loggerhead,  Leatherback, and Green turtles. I think it would be so fun to do one of those with the girls. I have to see if they are interested.

This was me the next day...  We were there about 2 1/2 hours, at least one of which I spent under an umbrella... plus the sunscreen! I let my middle daughter spray the sunscreen on me though and maybe she just didn't get enough on me. So next time not only will I make sure I do it but I will reapply while I am there as well.

My girls and I plan on checking out a lot of different beaches over the summer so I would love to come and share more photos with you of different beaches around us. I just love this time of year and getting to discover these things around us.

Florida really is such a cool place to live. The surroundings are so diverse. We have the busy tourist industry of Disney and the other theme parks, we have the fact that we are sunny and beautiful most of the year, we have all the beaches... touristy and true nature style, we have wildlife and farming... I am really blessed to experience being here.

Here is to hoping your summer is getting off to a good start as well! What are you doing this summer? Anything fun? Any exploring? Do tell!

-Tanyia