Fun and Games at the Beach

Esther watches a basketball mysteriously hovering in the air.

"Come here!"

     Let me mention a few things about croquet. First of all, some players are rather dangerous to play with, considering how much the ball weighs and the fact that the mallets look like giant hammers. Also, some tend to send the ball flying through the air at around 90 miles per hour and hitting the sea grape tree.

First, we watch our sister pound those metal hoop things in a little too vigorously.

Next, since it's Esther playing... STAND CLEAR

Just look at what she did to that wicket.

This is Esther's croquet-playing face.

"I got a hole in one! Oh wait, wrong game..."

Better watch your feet here

Ping-pong was another fun game, assuming you're the kind of person who loves chasing after stray balls every few seconds, that is.

Playing ping-pong with my sister is an experience not to be missed. Now, I'm not saying she's a bad player or anything, I'm just saying she needs a little encouragement before she actually hits the ball. Sometimes, though, she does manage to hit it, like under the ping-pong table, up in a palm tree, or on my head.

No wonder I couldn't hit the ball. She had both paddles. 

This is Esther's ping-pong playing face.

 A few photos from the hotel's pool...

 They say the water is "heated to a comfortable temperature year-round", but once you start doing this...

...and this...

 ...for a few minutes, that "comfortable temperature" quickly becomes "way too hot".

One Second After the Jump

      We finally got to go in the ocean one day, the first day there were no rip current or jellyfish warnings. The ocean was full of seaweed though. Every day, there had been huge clumps of it floating on the surface of the water, and now it was starting to sink. You just looked down, and you could see this long, creepy mass of black seaweed maybe 6 or 8 feet long.

Doesn't look so creepy on the beach, does it? Looks can be deceiving... 

 It's creepy enough thinking about what strange creatures might be hiding in those masses of seaweed, but wait until you accidentally touch it. Oh no, you didn't think all those huge clumps of seaweed were just going to drift by without grabbing your ankles and trying to pull you under like some sea monster, now did you?
     Before you get too scared to go in the ocean, let me tell you that playing Marco Polo in the ocean is a lot of fun. Until I came across something strange in the water, that is. I didn't know what it was, but it bore a remarkable similarity to some creature I'd be better off not meeting. My dad went in to investigate this strange creature, wading in closer and closer... until suddenly he grabbed the thing and held it up in the air!
     It turned out to be a plastic bag.

 And finally, as if you haven't seen enough pictures of her already, here are a couple of photos from a little photo shoot I did with Esther on a sea grape tree.

I hope you've enjoyed this Florida post, because there will be more coming soon! :)