What a truly blessed day. We have just arrived home from spending the day and evening at the beach, where everybody had a wonderful time.

That is, once we finally secured breakfast.

You see, I learned a very important lesson today: either update your GPS software when they tell you to, or simply open your eyes and look for the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts when searching for breakfast.

I thought I was playing it smart. Get in the Jeep, key in DD in the ol’ GPS, and slay our coffee and donuts with minimal effort. Unfortunately, The nearest DD was 106 blocks up Coastal Highway….a ridiculous drive for caffeine and sugar. Holland and I considered hitting the DD on the boardwalk, but we weren’t sure where we saw it last night, and we didn’t want to waste any time looking for it (for some reason (wink wink), it didn’t show up on the GPS).

So off we went to almost Delaware to get our coffee. It was really crowded once we arrived, and a little too claustrophobic for my taste. However, we got the joe and donuts and headed back home.

We passed the *first* DD at 81st street. That was pretty bad. Holland had a good time for about 66 blocks teasing me about the fact that we missed a DD closer to us….

And then, when we reached that 66th block south of 81st, we had to stop at the red light at 15th, just one block away from the condo. Holland looked past me and out my window and began to laugh.

There, just one block from where we were staying, was a Dunkin’ Donuts.

Needless to say, I’m walking to get the donuts tomorrow…. 🙂

Anyway…Here are some pictures from our day on the beach. Very muggy, thick air, so the pictures are not as clear as I would have wanted them to be. Still, Bella did a great job in the sun and the sand…

Holland, catchin’ a wave (and sittin’ on top of the world…)

Braeden, building castles in the sand…

Madelyn. Being Madelyn. OMG, honey…you are SEVEN. Ok? Seven years old.

Braeden “I’m David Hasselhoff” VW. 🙂

While the girls were swimming, we weren’t sure who was looking for lunch just a few hundred feet away…

Now, I’m no Finologist, but those fins could only be on two types of fish: dolphins and sharks. We took our chances… 🙂

I’m happy to report, we have no need to write the sequel to Soul Surfer…

Gull picture no. 1

Gull picture no. 2. At this point, I felt like I was in Nemo…. “Mine! Mine! Mine!”

Gull picture no. 3. Here’s where he started getting a little angry. Apparently, we didn’t spill enough Thrasher’s Fries for him, not to mention all of his happy-go-lucky friends… 🙂

Gull picture no. 4. At this point, we began fearing for our lives. Thank goodness his friend, Franklin the Laughing Gull, lightened the mood in the last gull picture, below.

I leave you with a photo that Amy took of Holland, just before sunset, after a meal and a walk on the boardwalk.