First Day at Beach

Quite some time ago, Madison and Daddy went for a walk outside the Hollywood Hotel in Hong Kong.  We were able to see the South China Sea from there, although Madison probably doesn't remember that at all.  Daddy himself barely remembers it - but that's the closest Madison has been to the sea in her life so far.  Even then, she didn't go down to the beach or anything - we were just at a point where we could see out into the ocean.

Following this blog, you'd be surprised to realize that Madison has never been to the ocean before today.  We've been to Florida many, many times - and very close to the ocean each trip.  But our journeys south have always led us to Ba-Ba and Nana's house, or Disney World - and not the beach.

That is, until today.  Today we arrived at Port Canaveral a little later in the day, and had ourselves a few hours to spare.  We left Ba-Ba and Nana's house later in the afternoon, having filled our tummies with a big breakfast and having watched some more Olympic games.  Madison was watching kayaking with Daddy, and then beach volleyball, and more swimming... and so on.  You get the drift:  we've been hooked on the Olympics.

But we did actually leave the house after a time, and made the quick trip down to Canaveral, stopping at a squillion toll booths along the way.  We went through some pretty dramatic storms as we traveled, but God's grace was over us the trip down, and we were quite safe despite some very heavy downpours.

Finally, we saw the ocean - Madison looked out the window and saw it again, but we didn't see the Disney Dream yet.  Apparently, it will arrive in the morning.

We got our stuff settled in our hotel, which was very nice.  It's only a few miles from the terminal, and it even had a pirate-themed bedroom for Madison.  And yes, a television set to watch the Olympics on. But we were at the beach, and there would be no television watching now:  indeed, it was time to set off to see the sea!

We went to the Cocoa Beach Pier, which was wonderful.  Parking was free, for example.  There was in fact a pier there, upon which was a restaurant that had a nice view of the beach and ocean.  We all ate there, Mommy and Daddy of course ordering some seafood.  Madison of course ordering fries and ketchup!

After that, it was time to attack the waves!  Madison was quite anxious to go to the beach and play in the waves, and we were too.  She held Mommy's hand at first, letting the water rush up around her ankles.  But then she became a bit bolder, having fun trying to jump over the waves.  It was a lot of fun simply watching her, although Daddy had to step in frequently to make sure she didn't go too far.  We didn't intend to get soaking wet, but nevertheless, we did:  Daddy and Madison were drenched in salt water!

It was a quick trip to the beach, but a memorable one - Madison enjoyed it immensely.  Can't say that enough.  An approaching thunderstorm cut things a bit short, but we needed the rest anyway.  We fled to the car just in time, and went back to the hotel with full tummies, and another exciting memory created.

Back at the hotel, we rested - sort of.  We certainly cleaned up.  Madison's room had a DVD player in it, so she popped in a Disney princess movie while Daddy watched some more Olympics.  Once every four years, Daddy becomes a sports addict:  when else can you watch handball or fencing?  Tonight's Olympics performance was the girls team in gymnastics.  USA dominated to the point you felt sorry for other teams - but there are so many sports and games that everyone has a chance to win.  Still, you love cheering for the home team!

We went to bed late, after Michael Phelps won another gold medal, and tried to get a good night's sleep.  Lots of excitement about tomorrow!