Clearwater, FL

We visited Clearwater Beach on our vacation.  It was lovely.  I'm beginning to think there isn't a "bad" beach on the Gulf of Mexico.  That beautiful, fine, white sand.  The brilliant sun and warm water.  It was so bright they insisted on shielding their eyes for most of the photos.  Look at that background, it looks fake, but you just drive right up and park and there it is.

A quick stop for lunch at a beach side restaurant.  Best. Shrimp. Ever.  Ben got the kid's shrimp meal and I wish I'd gotten it too.  Unlike Dean's hard and fast rule that Chinese restaurants serve the best bacon cheeseburgers, I learned the hard way to stick to what is advertised on the sign outside. New rule, never order the "Asian Salad" when you're at the beach.

Ben's favorite activity...
You can see the storm rolling in. He was digging so fast to try and beat it, but it won and we ended up running to the car and driving to Orlando in the rain.

Alan spent all his time in the water...

Sadie, ever the climber, could not get enough of the chair...
(I had to order her this surf suit when I saw two of my favorite little people in them this Summer. They are perfect for the beach, no sunscreen required and the amount of sand in the diaper is minimal.)

We debated squeezing a trip to the beach into our vacation.  I'm so glad we did.  Everything is better at the beach...except the Asian Salad.