Beach photo shoot- mama.

I like to think we're pretty vigilant about sun care, so most of the time on the beach I wore my obnoxious big hat. I think this will probably be the hat that my kids will some day beg me not to wear when I'm with them.

Miss Leah brought us a bunch of clothes that Olivia had grown out of. Including this super adorable frilly dress.

And Olivia had a matching green romper.

Perfect for a group shot!

Stop chewing shells, girls!

Georgie surprised us all when all 4 top teeth suddenly appeared in vacation. Poor kid. No wonder she didn't sleep well a few nights.

The best part of vacation wasn't photo-documented. One evening, Maggie and I were out walking on the beach and came across a group of people gathered around a fenced in area. Turns out it was a turtle nest that had just caved in, which meant that some turtles were due to emerge that night. We stayed for a while, then went back to the condo to let Holly and Leah have a turn. Leah came back when the hatch was imminent and we all got back just in time to see the last little turtle scuttle into the water.

After the near-miss, we noticed a lot more turtle nests on the beach and made friends with the very large network of volunteers that monitor the nests and keep vigil when the the turtles are due to hatch. There were two more nests we visited for hours every evening, but in the end we didn't get to see another hatch. It was kind of like waiting for me to have a baby. It should happen soon, so you can guess I'll go late.

We did get to see the nest get cleaned out and saw all of the eggshells and unhatched eggs. We also got to see a loggerhead turtle come out of the water and promptly get chased back in by a bunch of idiots with cameras who clearly hadn't read any of the literature about how loggerheads are endangered and should really be left alone when they come ashore to lay eggs. Good thing Miss Leah saw them from the balcony and hightailed it down to the beach to tell everyone to get lost. The volunteers found eggs a ways down the beach, so hopefully our turtle was able to make it back ashore and lay her eggs in peace.