Slowly going insane: Siesta Key

Lovely Siesta Key! I had never been to this beach prior to our visit last week. Having grown up in Florida, I am wondering how on earth I was never exposed to this gorgeous, heavenly beach?!? Siesta Key was a very pretty place and the kids and I had a really nice time there on Saturday morning.

The beach was very wide and the sand was awesome, fine grain sand that didn't stick in a gross way to your skin.

The weather was perfect for our visit to the beach. We arrived around 10 a.m. and left at 1 p.m., and I didn't sweat a drop during that entire time. The sun was warm, but not hot, and there was a gentle breeze blowing the entire time.

Another great part about our trip to the beach was that Amelia and John entertained themselves so well (both with each other and with friends that they met at the shore) that it was super easy from a parenting perspective. Sometimes it's hard being the only parent with both kids while we are traveling, but for the majority of these three hours I was able to relax and feel peaceful because the necessary behavior interventions were short and simple.

Grandma bought the kids these long squirt guns for the water, and the kids had a blast loading and reloading to shoot water at each other, at the waves, and even at the silly seagulls.

After an hour or so, Amelia and John met some playmates from Brazil and New York. These kids all played nicely with each other for the duration of our beach time and it was fun to watch them.

The dad and grandfather to the boy from New York supervised an intense fort-building session at the water's edge. It was awesome to watch these young kids - most of whom didn't know each other (except for the siblings) - work together to make this fort. The kids must have worked together for over an hour. With minor coaching from adults, they split up duties (one kid collected wet sand, another collected dry sand, another was responsible for digging the front part, etc.) and produced a pretty substantial wall.