Fort Walton Beach: Friday

If Thursday was the day of adventure, Friday was the day of relaxation. Mom, Dad, and Paul left for home at around 9:00 and we had the rest of the day to ourselves. Unlike Thursday, Friday was cloudy and windy but still very warm. Given the kids screaming at the ocean on Wednesday, we decided that today we would start them off at the pool. We had bought water wings for Elisabeth and Matthew and a floating duck baby seat for Rebekah. But once again: "SCREECH!". I am pretty sure the entire condo thought we were trying to drown our three children. Elisabeth was nervous, but quickly decided she could at least put her toes in. Matthew wouldn't go near the water unless forced. Rebekah was put into her floating duck baby seat and held on to me as close as she could, crying the whole time. After realizing that I wasn't letting her out of the water she promptly put her head on the duck and went to sleep, not moving again until we decided to go back for lunch.

I was always told that in the old days fathers would throw their sons into the water and tell them "sink or swim". I thought about doing this with Matthew, but decided that then everybody really would think I was trying to drown my children. So for the next hour or two I carefully led Matthew and Elisabeth around the pool, holding their hands, telling them to kick their feet, and trying not to let them pull me under. By the end, Elisabeth was swimming around by herself, jumping in, and having a great time. Matthew never swam without me holding him and he was never quite sure if the pool was fun or torture.

Before we knew it, it was lunch time. So after a quick bite to eat and an ee of DuckTales we walked down to the beach for the last time. Friday was yellow flag weather, which means there is a moderate surf and currents. It is the best weather to play in because it means that there will be some waves, but very little danger. While the Gulf Coast looks very calm, it occasionally has riptides that can pull you out to sea. There was still a lot of seaweed, but not nearly as bad as it was on Wednesday.

Given the struggle that the kids had at the pool, I decided to not even bother trying to get them into the ocean. Instead Matthew and I build a sand castle while Elisabeth and Rebekah did their own playing in the sand. Once the sand castle was complete I went out into the water and played in the waves. There is something truly enjoyable about swimming around in the ocean. Letting the waves crash over you and flow around you. It was a great experience. Stacy on the other hand found that the most fun came from laying down on a towel and reading a book. Amazingly, after watching me for a good long time, Elisabeth decided that what I was doing sounded like fun. She asked to play in the waves with me. So we went out together and ran into every wave we could get.



At around 3:00pm, we went back to the condo, gave everybody a bath and put them down for an afternoon nap. During their nap we got to see one of Florida's famous rain storms. The kind that pours down a full days worth of rain in 30 minutes, then stops just as quickly as it started. While it was raining we couldn't see across the street, but luckily it had finished by time we wanted to go to dinner.

For dinner we went out to eat to the Old Bay Steamer. The food was delicious. I got their assorted seafood Steamers, which has shrimp, crabs, and various shellfish. My only complaint was parking was awful. I would hate to come here at the height of the season, it would probably be quicker to walk from the condo than try and find parking. As it was we had to park a good distance away. But the food was well worth it, even if it was a little weird looking down at your shrimp and having him stare right back at you.

It was a great relaxing day, the only downside was that we had to go home tomorrow.