Here is our summer beach vacation, in October!

Ahhh, the beach.... Daniel and I love the beach, we are totally "beach" people. He loves swimming in the ocean, and I love relaxing in the sun. Honestly, my preference is EXACTLY what we had on this vacation. A hotel right on the beach with a pool that looks out over the beach and ocean. That is perfect for me, because at the pool I don't get all sandy and salty, but I get the to enjoy the beauty of the ocean while laying out in the sun and getting in the nice, clean, creature-free pool.

I just have to be honest, this was one of the best vacations we've had. You see, Daniel and I are very different, so naturally we want two different things out of a vacation. He wants adventure, and I want ease and relaxation. Its not a vacation for Daniel unless he has hiked something, ridden something (this could be anything from motorcycle to jet ski), fished for something, etc. And its not a vacation for me unless I've had at least 24-48 hours of total relaxation. Not going many places, not having a schedule, not exerting too much energy. Those two things don't mix well most of the time, so normally on our vacations one of us has to compromise some and try really hard to enjoy the other one's "ideal" vacation.

Well, not this time! We relaxed a TON by the pool, ate at places close to the hotel so we didn't have to travel far, took strolls on the beach, took naps (all of these are MY ideal vacation), and then one afternoon Daniel rented a moped and had his adventure exploring the more rural areas outside of the town! He came back so excited about what he had seen. He took the moped out several more times and LOVED every minute of it. So, we both felt like we had gotten all we could out of our vacation! Such an amazing blessing!

Ok, here is the beach. It was really nice and wasn't this crowded most of the time.

This picture and the one below I love so much because they capture two of Elijah's "looks" that he gives us a lot. Ha! He is such a cutie-pie

Here is a picture of his brand-new floatie swimsuit!! He absolutely LOVED wearing it. He would smile so big when he knew we were about to put it on him and he loved to walk around in it.

Daniel and Elijah on one of our beach strolls

The courtyard just outside our room at the hotel. It was SO BEAUTIFUL. There were more flowers than I think I had ever seen in one place!

Here we are playing in the shallow side of the pool. Elijah could stand up in this part, but the water hit his chin. And he had a hard time keeping his feet down when he was wearing his cute little floatie-swimsuit. So I held him most of the time and bounced him up and down in the water and let him splash (which he is really good at by the way!)

It was so nice because most of the times we went to the pool we were the only ones there! I don't want to be a recluse or anything, but sometimes its nice on vacations to just not be around crowds of people (especially when those crowds of people have never seen a caucasian child and they all want to touch him/coo at him/talk really loudly to him/take pictures of him. Its VERY hard to relax when that is going on :) So we were thankful for the solitude!

Here is Elijah swimming in the ocean for the first time! Daniel said he really liked it. From the beach I could see him just splashing and smiling the whole time.

Here is a woman selling jewelry on the beach. These women were serious about selling too, let me tell you! We had one woman (who I had purchased some bracelets from an hour before) literally CHASE us down when we were going back to our hotel hollering "pianyi! pianyi!" (cheap! cheap!) haha! I love the hats that they wear though! So cool and very cultural.

If you haven't been able to tell from my blabbering on and on and on, we had SUCH a wonderful time on our vacation. It was a much needed break from language study, cooking, cleaning, etc. We feel rested and renewed and so thankful!