The Last Homely House: Catch a Wave

The Gulf side doesn't see very many "big" waves. It is calmer than the Atlantic side, so I'm told. The water certainly had been calm every other visit to Florida. Friday night we got a pretty decent thunderstorm with a gusty wind. Dan had been hoping for a storm. He wanted to go out to the beach afterward to see if we could find some cool shells and shark's teeth. We woke up Saturday and the forecast was rain for the whole day. After the storms moved out of the area, Dan, the girls, and I set off for a quick trip to the beach to shell hunt. Once we got the beach, we changed our minds. The waves were about 4-5 feet, with a few 6 footers thrown in. I had never been in such waves before, neither had the girls. What an experience!! We had to take turns holding onto Aly. Every wave knocked her over. Heck, every wave just about knocked me over. It was crazy. Dan and Skyeler went out where they could "bob" a little on top of the bigger waves. After having one or two of the waves break over me, I stayed closer to the shore :) The force of the waves just tumbled you over and over if it broke on top of you. Not MY idea of fun. We did have to take a break, it was hard work trying to keep on your feet in the waves (and keep 55lbs of Aly from washing away!) and hunt for some shells but we didn't find much. Skyeler and I were so tired once we got back to Dad's. Aly said she would never forget that day for the rest of her life LOL! These pictures were taken on Sunday, not Saturday. The waves were still pretty big. Dan and I took a couple pictures with the water camera on Saturday and I'll post those as soon as I get them loaded into the computer.

Aly after getting knocked over. On Sunday she was able to go out a little ways without one of us holding on to her.

Heading into the waves. Unfortunately, I grabbed the wrong boogie boards. These were skimmers and were not real good for riding the waves. They ended back up on the beach pretty quick.