Since darling hubby had the day off,

we decided to head to the beach after our birthday cake breakfast.

 

 

 

We were a little disappointed to find this...

 

 

We spent a little time watching the tractors work

then headed back towards the lighthouse.

 

 

 

On our way, we ran into this awful fellow!!!

 

 

Ughhhh.... I can't even stand looking at the photos of him.

The children were excited and fascinated though.

We watched the slithery, little reptile hide himself under a few leaves.

And now, I'm just a little more afraid of leaves.

I may have to reconsider going barefoot all the time......... or not.

 

 

While Dad searched for the snake with the little girls,

Ally, Will, and I decided to take on climbing up the lighthouse.

 

 

 

 

Here we go...

 

 

 

175 stairs up... and then 175 stairs down...

 

 

Have your knees ever felt like they were made of rubber or jello?

Mine have only felt like that three times...

1. When I tried our eliptical for the first time

2. When we climbed Pinnacle Mountain in Arkansas carrying two toddlers.

3. When we climbed up and on the way down all of these stairs.

 

 

But it was worth it!

Ally had the camera and captured some beautiful photos...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, of course, we couldn't resist taking our photo from the top...

 

 

 

 

Will was a little nervous... and almost feeling a little sick

(I couldn't blame him... my stomach and eyes

were feeling a little strange as well)

so we took a photo with him inside the top of the lighthouse...

 

 

 

Then we headed back down the 175 stairs and the jello-knees kicked in.

When we made it to the bottom, we met back up with Dad and the girls.

The lil' girls wanted to go into the lighthouse, too,

so I took them to the bottom portion of the inside.

 

 

 

 

Even though we weren't able to go on the beach,

we had a great time of exploring

and making memories together.