Dancing on the Beach

By Carol Eiseman

Family vacations are a wonderful source of memories and tradition. While there are many exotic and beautiful destination choices, our family’s favorite vacation spot is on the West Coast of Florida. For over 25 years we have made it a point to spend time on the sand bar beach strip just south of Clearwater Beach, Florida in Belleair Beach. We rent a three bedroom condo that is right on the beach. Renting a private condo allows us to save hundreds of dollars as it is less expensive than a hotel and we have all the amenities of home. We save even more money by stocking up at the local grocery so everyone can make their own breakfast and lunch. Best of all, we walk out the door and have our choice: a beautiful pool or the Gulf of Mexico. What more could you ask for?

This narrow strip of paradise sits with the Gulf on one side and the bay and intercoastal waterways on the other. This barrier island runs from Clearwater down to St. Petersburg. There all kinds of accommodations available from high rises and hotels to smaller condo complexes or beach cottages. There is something to fit any budget. It is quiet and uncrowded but yet close to lots of activities!

When we want a break from the beach the possibilities are numerous. A 45 minute drive to Tampa and we are at Busch Gardens for a day of fun. If we want to attack the Orlando scene we get up early and make the 90 minute drive. We can spend the day at any of the Disney, Universal or Sea World theme parks and be back at the beach by 10pm.

If we want to stay local, we head 5 minutes up Gulf Boulevard to Clearwater Beach for shopping or water fun. Centrally located in the beautiful harbor, there are boat rides, fishing charters, pirate ships, dinner cruises and even parasailing for the more adventurous. Prices are much more reasonable than in some of the larger, more commercial beach cities in Florida.

Perhaps our favorite tradition is our night at the Clearwater Phillies minor league ball field. Located about 15 minutes from the beach, their stadium is beautiful, clean and family friendly. Tickets are under $10 and the food courts are well stocked with the traditional ball field goodies at bargain prices. You sit close to the field and have a great chance to catch a fly ball! Players sign programs and balls for the kids. They have numerous special events throughout the season including fireworks! It has been a part of every vacation for over 20 years. Of course, you can venture into Tampa and see the Tampa Yanks play at the famous Legends Field.

While we eat home for breakfast and lunch, we explore the local cuisine at dinnertime! Always budget conscious with our big crowd, we seek out the family style restaurants. Our two favorites are in Indian Rocks Beach. Crabby Bills has to be the best seafood restaurant in the state. It casual and fun and family style. Long picnic tables covered with red and white table clothes set the ambiance. Nothing fancy but a party like atmosphere prevails. Beer and soda by the pitcher, fresh seafood on paper plates with great side like coleslaw, fries and hush puppies. It is the perfect family seafood restaurant. Stop into their fun gift shop on the way out!

The second family favorite is an Italian bistro, also in Indian Rocks, TJ’s Italian Café. Casual with delicious home made Italian food. The pizza and strombolis are a must! It is an easy place to bring the kids no matter their age! After dinner hop next door to TJ”s Mom’s Homemade Ice Cream Parlor for dessert!

What would a family vacation be without a round of miniature golf? Travel another 5 minutes south and you will see Smuggler Cove Adventure Golf right on Gulf Boulevard. Three courses with lots of “pirate theme” holes including waterfalls and an alligator pond.

Family vacations are a great part of establishing family traditions. While our kids are all older from 20-26, we still ALL look forward to our family vacation. We start in later winter, pick some dates and everyone works their vacation schedule. They are welcome to bring along their significant other or a friend. Planning early allows for use of airline miles and assures lower fares. So this August there will 10 of us making memories at our favorite vacation spot in Florida. It will truly be a fantastic family celebration!

Carol shares more great family celebration and tradition ideas from their own family album at http://www.celebrationideasonline.com/family-celebration-ideas.html

Carol is married with four grown children. She loves to celebrate everything! This Florida vacation is one of their many family traditions. Their family celebration experiences and traditions can be further viewed at http://www.celebrationideasonline.com – There are some great ideas for creating lasting family memories!

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By Denise Sanger

Do you own a swimming pool? How do you entertain the kids while trying to relax away from work? Pool toys can be the answer to tons of backyard fun. There are so many pool toys to choose from. And there are pool toys that suit the size pool you have, from a toddler’s pool to an Olympic size. Items can be anything from lounges to motorized wind-up swimming toys.

One of the most important things to consider before purchasing an outdoor pool toy is safety. Does the toy float? Can a child get tangled in it? Can it be thrown safely? These and other questions should be addressed. Children can be rather rambunctious in a swimming pool, and fun is what it’s all about, but toy safety should be in the parent or pool supervisor’s mind at all times.

Floating toys are best and the most fun. There are lounges, tubes, and even trampolines for any age that can fit in any above ground pool. Small, swimming, wind-up toys are wonderful fun for babies and toddlers, even preschoolers. You can purchase bendable floating, colorful pipes that can be wrapped around the chest for those learning to swim. The traditional “inner tube” has taken on a new form, that of animal shapes, or even a picture of a favorite cartoon or child’s television program.

You can also buy games for the pool. Water volleyball is an important staple of the larger swimming pools. For more experienced swimmers, a set of goggles and diving rings, or other sinking items can lead to serious competition. You can set your own rules and safety measures…there is no limit to what kind of fun you can have with this type of game.

Babies aren’t left out of the action. Many products are out on the market today that babies and their parents can enjoy. Floating baby “swimmers”, which resemble their walkers in the house, provide water fun. For toddlers, you can get a floating “island” that the kids can hang onto or jump off safely. Most floating products today are made from much more durable plastics and rubber than of yesterday, and they can usually be repaired with a separate repair kit.

Small paddleboats for larger pools are also available. This would be a great learning experience for toddlers and preschoolers alike. With adult supervision, a child can learn the basics of boating.

There are target games that have a diving and rising action. Simply float a target ring where you want it, and with finesse, throw your diving item into the water to have it float up into the ring for a score. There are products that bounce across the surface, which can lead to a teen “dodge-ball” game. Pool golf, pool basketball, pool tag, and even toys for the family dog are available to anyone with a pool. You are only limited to the size of the pool, or whatever your imagination leads you.

Denise Sanger is the owner of USA Pool & Toy that specializes in wholesale toys and beach stuff. She also owns and operates NewCoolToysOnline.com that carries a large selection of pool toys for active and outdoor play including water toys, outdoor toys, pool toys, pedal cars, playground toys, and creative toys.

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Surfing is one of the most popular water sports globally and it is no wonder as it combines a powerful workout and exercise with being out in the outdoors. To surfers the act of surfing becomes more than just a sport and more of a lifestyle. To become good at the sport, you need to develop certain surfing skills.

To become a good surfer you will have to develop good upper body strength. You should try to do some upper body weights to build up your skills and many surfers also find that yoga is an excellent activity to improve surfing skiils. Yoga can help to build strength as well as increasing balance, which is a much needed surfing skill to have. With more power in your shoulders and upper back you will be able to paddle better to get out the back of the surf as well as to catch waves more easily.

Being able to read the beach conditions is also an important thing for surfers to know what to do. Since most beaches are unsupervised, it is important that you know when conditions are safe for you and when they are not. One of the most dangerous things on the beach is a rip. This is a leading cause of drownings on beaches, but it is also something that many surfers use to get them out the back of the waves more quickly and easily.

A rip is a current of water that sucks water back out to sea after it has broken on the beach. You can usually spot a rip when you are surveying the beach because it will be an area where there are no waves beside where other waves are breaking. The water in a rip sometimes looks darker because the area is deeper and at times the water may be brown from mixing with sand. Swimmers should try to stay away from them, but surfers can use them very effectively.

There are some basic skills you need to master in order to become a decent surfer. To get onto a wave you need to be able to paddle fast and strong, but before that you need to get out behind the breaking waves. To do this you will need to use an Eskimo roll or duck dive under a wave to pass through the waves. Eskimo rolls are used on bigger waves or for less experienced surfers who have not yet mastered duck diving.

There are some basic skills that you will have to develop in order to be able to surf and find it enjoyable rather than frustrating. Some of these skills include paddling, catching waves and then standing up smoothly on the board. Directing the board comes later when you have the basics down pat.

By developing your surfing skills and developing your muscles through other forms of exercise you will learn to surf sooner than you might have expected.

Article source: Author Palace

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You can find all the information about Gold Coast surf shops today! When you want to learn surf yoga, or find tips for better surfing, you can find it fast and easy!

By Dave Twining

The sport of dog surfing has grown considerably in popularity in the past few years due to a growing number of competitions and the national media attention that those events have received.

You read that correctly. Dog surfing. As in, dogs riding waves on surf boards. It almost always involves a dog standing on the board and a human pushing the dog surfer into wave. As far fetched as it sounds, the sport has grown enough in popularity that there are now several competitions.

The largest of the competitions is the annual Loews Surf Dog Competition in San Diego. In 2009, there were hundreds of dog participants and many hundreds, if not thousands, of spectators. Purina’s Incredible Dog Challenge in San Diego included a dog surfing competition this year. Another competition, the Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon, takes place in the fall. These events raise money for charities.

These competitions, however obscure sounding, have been featured on local and national media outlets, including NBC’s The Today Show, ESPN, The Baltimore Sun, and The SD Union Tribune.

In San Diego, in particular, the spike in popularity has also been helped by the accessibility of dog friendly beaches. These beaches provide a place to teach dogs to surf, sit and watch other dogs surf, or a place for photographers to capture great dog surfing images. These beaches include North Beach at Del Mar, Imperial Beach, and Dog Beach in Ocean Beach.

A growing number of great photos and videos can be found online. There is even a book, The Dog’s Guide to Surfing: Hanging Ten with Man’s Best Friend, as well as a popular calendar featuring San Diego dogs surfing every month.

If you have a dog and surfboard, give it a shot. Dog surfing is a fun way to spend an afternoon at the beach, and does not require big waves. Just an eager dog.

Plenty of information, including locations, instructions, photos, videos and competition information, can be found at San Diego Dog Surfing.

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