So, sleep like a baby.... and awake at 6:44am!!! What is up with that???
Finally everyone got up by around 7:30, and down to breakfast around 9am. We grabbed out beach bag on the way out, so we were able to head straight to the beach after breakfast.
The Hilton rents the big umbrellas and 2 chairs for $31 from 9-5, so I had Jeff take car of that, while Ally and I checked out the water. It was like bath water...... Ally immediately hit the waves!
Now the nice thing about the gulf coast is that it is great to play in the water. There really aren't any large waves, so it's also great if you have smaller children - less of a fear of them being swept to Australia by a giant wave. Seriously, that's a big fear of mine when we hit the Atlantic beaches. I won't let her go in above her knees because some of those waves come in and suddenly the water is well above her waist and the force is knocking her down.
So I was pleasantly surprised by the nice calm waters of the gulf. We were close enough to the surf to watch her and let her play alone. But who's kidding who, I was in the water almost as much as she was!
Our umbrella....
See the pink water ring? The water was so calm that she was able to float in that thing and the little waves would carry her in, and then right back out again. So Jeff and I could stand in water about waist deep and she would just float around us, we didn't have to go swimming after her. It was awesome!
About noon we dried off and headed across the street to the Mandalay Grill for lunch. Cute little place with outdoor seating, but nothing like our dinner later on that night. Yummy fresh grouper sandwich, and a virgin pina colada for Ally. She's become quite the pina colada afficionado of late.
I think Jeff just likes ordering her anything with "virgin" in it. He's quite overprotective of his baby girl. And I'm thinking he moved us to SC 15 years ago, knowing full well that one day he would have a baby girl. He was wanting to get his "redneck" on and ready for the day that baby girl would go on her first date.
So after lunch we headed back to the beach and decided to walk up and down a bit and check out the "scenery."
Then this prompted Ally to ask, "Mommy why is that man wearing girls panties?"
Hmmmm, how to explain that one! I tried to explain to her that many Europeans wear the old speedo. I don't think she liked that, cause she was quick to add, "I'm glad Daddy doesn't have a swim suit like that."
Yes, dear, we're ALL glad Daddy doesn't have a swim suit like that!
As you can tell, the beach was pretty crowded! Never uncomfortably crowded, but pretty packed nonetheless. And that just upped the percentage of "Vilano" beachgoers. I mean, why can't women buy the WHOLE bikini bottom? And why do they even make bikinis in some of those sizes??? I know that sounds terrible, but seriously. It's a matter of self respect.
Or maybe I'm just jealous that I"m not THAT comfortable in my own skin?
Whatever. Dress your age. And your size.
So around 3:30ish we decided to head in and get cleaned up for dinner. I didn't want to do another 9:00 dinner tonight.
Jeff decided that we'd hop in the car and try to find something down the beach. So we drove about a mile and a half south. Couldn't find anything.
Then we drove about a mile north. Couldn't find anything.
Wait! Slow down. What's that. Down that dead end street there. Toward the beach.
So we turned around, and found Frenchy's Rockaway Grill.
Earlier on the beach, our umbrella neighbor that we affectionately named "Meathead" was talking to his lovely bride about a place called Frenchy's. It's a t-shirt restaurant. You know, the kind of quaint place that sells t-shirts for tourists to take home to wear around Boise, or Memphis, or Jacksonville.
We pulled up and saw a packed parking lot. It's actually a parking lot for public beach access, but Frenchy's was right there. So Jeff decided to drop Ally and me off and go park the car.
Problem. Ally has fallen asleep while we've been driving around. So I woke her up and boy oh boy was she pleasant!!!
So I dragged her behind me as I made my way to check the wait. No wait for inside seating and only 15 minutes for the deck! So I gave her my name and headed for the outdoor bar to grab a couple of brewskies for Jeff and me, and a water for the princess.
We were seated shortly after Jeff arrived, right where we wanted to be. You can't get much more beachfront in a restaurant - a t-shirt restaurant to boot!
The food was tasty, but the location was perfect!!! We drug our meal out as long as possible, to try to catch sunset. Luckily our server was pretty weeded, but we didn't mind. There was a nice breeze and we were loving the view.
We wrapped it up about 30 minutes before sunset, knowing that we could get back to the hotel, and get out on the beach in plenty of time.
What we didn't know was that with all our driving around trying to find a place to eat, Frenchy's was literally 2/10 of a mile from our hotel!!!
We walked down the beach the next day to find it
about a 10 minute walk in the sand. Huh. Glad we were driving Jeff's company car, with company gas.
So we got ourselves staked out on the beach outside the Hilton and I headed off to use the restroom.
As I came back, Ally came running up to me, with Jeff laughing his butt off behind her.
"Mommy, since you can speak "seagull" can you get one to land on your arm?"
You know that should come as a shocker since I'm always so caught up.
I know it's normal but it's so wrong.
