Santa Rosa Beach 2011-- Day 6

Day 6 on the beach started out pretty nice, but quickly turned dark and gloomy. Tropical storm Lee was beginning to form out in the Gulf, and we were seeing the effects on our peaceful little beach. Bigger waves, cloudy skies, and the water was churning up the sand, so it wasn't the crystal clear color we were used to...spoiled by...seeing.
Philip went with a fishing guide for the morning and spent several hours Red Fish fishing. There is quite an art to it, and he had a great time learning the technique. He caught one and almost caught several more. He was excited to tell Cooper about the Red Fish and show him pictures when he returned from his morning excursion. And ever since then, Coop says he is fishing for Red Fish, too.
While Philip was fishing, Aunt Betsy, Coop and I headed down to the beach to play, fly a kite and feed the birds. And, let me just say, that Betsy and I are expert kite fliers. Really. We are. Absolutely no issues there. Nope. We knew exactly what we were doing and had zero problems getting that kite up. Really... Really?? Ok, not at all true. Did you know that if there is sand in the pockets of a kite, it's not supposed to be there? It's not there to help weigh the kite down in a certain spot so it flies correctly. Nope. It actually weighs the kite down to the ground. Did you know that if you dump out that sand, the kite takes off like a rocket? Yep. It does. We are geniuses.
Cooper was really excited to hold the kite handle and fly his kite! (We found the best kids kite at the Seaside Kids store!)

The water was a little too rough to play in, so we decided to feed the seagulls. Cooper loved feeding those seagulls this year just as much as he did last year. He laughed and squealed each time they picked up one of his goldfish. He kept telling me, "They love that! They say 'more please, more please'. You see that, Mom?! They love Goldfish!"

The clouds and the approaching storm made for the most beautiful sunset that night. We headed down for a little bit to watch the sun set and to play before going to dinner.

I absolutely loved watching Cooper escape into his own little world at the beach. He would walk around and inspect different things he saw--seaweed, sand crab holes, shells, driftwood--or he would start feeling the sand with such an inquisitive look on his face. This evening he was really interested in drawing in the sand. I watched him for work on this particular picture for awhile and when he was finished, he proudly told me, "Look! I draw a horn!" And sure enough, it looked like the perfect saxophone to me.

Of course we then had to guitar.

And the night wouldn't be complete without some Daddy and Cooper fishing time.

08.31.2011