Turks and Caicos Part II

Day 3:

Beach again!  That's why we came, right?  You have probably noticed that I kind of like the beach.  The warmer the water, the bluer the waves, the better.  That is why I drag everyone thousands of miles.  Is it worth it?  No question.

We got up (well, the kids got us up...Dax does NOT know how to sleep in, even on vacation.  Especially on vacation), got ourselves breakfast, and headed down to the waves.  The highlight of the morning was when we buried Preston in the sand (I blamed it on the kids, but it was really my idea.  Shhh...don't tell). 

Do you see Preston's hands sticking up?  He tried to read his book through the burying process.  It was pretty funny watching Cora run over his belly, forgetting that he was under the sand.

After Preston escaped, Cora continued her sandcastle building, with a little help from Grandpa.  Daxton found a bunch of water noodles, and commenced beating everyone with them.  Before long, Arden picked one up and fought back and they had an epic battle in and out of the water.  He is getting so big that even though she is 6 and he is 3, they are pretty evenly matched. 

Me and Preston did some more snorkeling, and I actually remembered to bring the camera this time!  We found this stingray and his fishy friend while swimming over some sea grass beds on our way to find coral.

I was really impressed with how good of shape the coral was in since it was so close to shore.  Usually when coral is that close to a beach, people tend to trample all over it, but these coral heads had beautiful purple formations growing on them for the fishies to hide behind when I was trying to take their pictures.

 I saw one of my favorite fish - the Queen angelfish.  See her crown?

 And there were lots of these little purple guys swimming around:

We also saw lots of snapper.  Whenever I see snappers swimming around, I plan to eat snapper for dinner.  Yum. 

After we were beached out, we headed back over to the house, had lunch and rested by the pool.  This time, Cora fell asleep in my lap while the other kids splashed around.  We were all still a little worn out I guess.  

After naptime, we took a little drive around the island.  We drove to Sapodilla Hill, where sailors who had been shipwrecked on the island had carved their names long ago.  The oldest markings were from 1707:

This one says 1821 and 1819 on it:

Hope these guys made it off okay! 

There was a pretty view of Chalk Sound from the top of the hill (which wasn't a very tall hill, but nothing on this island was very tall):

Day 4:

Cora's Birthday!! My baby is THREE!!!  First off a little bit about Cora the 3-year-old:

Weight:  28.2 pounds (24%)

Height: 35.5 inches (16%) - she is little. 

I asked her a few of her favorite things.  Here they are:

Favorite color:  Puh-puh (purple).  No.  Pink.  No.  Red.  No.  Bwoo.

Favorite TV show:  Octonauts!

What she wants to be when she grows up:  Dwiver of da pwane (pilot)

Favorite thing to do:  Ride on a boat

Favorite food for breakfast:  Waffoos (waffles)

Favorite food for lunch:  Chicka nuggets

Favorite food for dinner:  Conch (she is lying)

Favorite dessert:  Cookies

Cora is a tough little girl and can't wait to grow up.  She is 95% sweet, but if something is going on that she doesn't like, she lets you know about it LOUD.  She is very feisty and holds her own against Dax.  She loves her blankie, singing, and playing outside.  She is a great snuggler and she is very smart.  She is a great talker and talks ALL day.  She is already excited for preschool.

Back to the trip!  Since it was Cora's birthday, I decided we would take a little drive over to Sopadilla Beach, which we had seen from the hill the day before.  I had read on the internet that it was great for kids.  It was a little tricky to find the road, but the beach was perfect for a just turned 3-year old.  There were no waves, and the water was very shallow...I had to walk out quite a ways to get up to my waist.  Here is the birthday girl!  Close up:



Far away:

The kids resumed sandcastle-making, and with Grandma's and Preston's help they had quite a big moat.

As you can see, the beach here was BEAUTIFUL.  Preston, me, Grandma and Val went out snorkeling, but it was mostly grassy here.  There were some rocks along the side of the beach, and we saw the most fish over there, along with some anenomes. 

As I was snorkeling my way back, I noticed a little white and yellow fish swimming around my mask, so I stopped swimming.  The fish stopped too.  I started swimming again, and noticed he was swimming along with me, right underneath me.  I stopped again, he stopped again.  I put out my arm, and he swam forward and stopped right under my hand.  I played with him for a couple of minutes, expecting him to swim away at any moment, but he didn't.  I lifted my head out of the water to see where Preston was, then swam over to him, with my little fish friend swimming right under my chin.  I showed him to Preston, who watched us for a while, then swam off back to shore.  I played with my little friend for another minute, but then I started feeling guilty for leaving the kids with Grandpa for so long, so I waved bye-bye to my fishie friend and stood up to walk back to shore.  When I got there, Preston told me he had been going to get the camera to get a picture of me and my fish.  Oops.  So, we didn't get a picture of him and me together.  I asked some locals later about what kind of fish it might have been, and they said it was probably a juvenile "horse-eye jack."  I looked up a picture on the internet, and it looks about right.  So, imagine one of these, only very small, only about 3 or 4 inches long: 

 And then imagine him swimming with me:

There you go.  It was the first time I had a fish following me instead of the other way around! 

The beach was so nice, we stayed until we were starving for lunch.  There was a restaurant only a minute or so away, so we headed there for lunch.  We felt a little silly going to a semi-nice place for lunch in our swim suit coverups, but once we got inside and sat down, most other tables were dressed for the beach as well.  Cora got to sit by Val, and was pretty excited to tell everyone, "Its my birfday!" 



The restaurant had a beautiful view of Chalk Sound (called that because the land around it is chalky white, which gives the water in the sound a crazy-beautiful light blue color). 

After lunch, we drove around a little and then headed back to our own little beach.  That night after dinner, Cora got her "birfday party," complete with cake (looking back, I should have done something with her hair after her shower, but oh well.  Too late now.  Sorry, Corbie)  Here she is, right before she blew out her candles:

And presents!  I brought along some presents in my luggage, so she got to open them up.  She got a dress-up Minnie doll (kind of like Polly Pockets, but about twice as big), an Aquadoodle penguin, and a stuffed "Bot" toy from Team Umizoomi.  

She couldn't have been happier with her "party," even though it was just us and there were none of the balloons, decorations or games that usually go along with a party.  Cora is (almost always) such a sweetheart, and I don't know what I would do without her.  I love you, Corbiecakes!  Now stop growing up! 

That's it for tonight...stay tuned for another installment another day.