Cannon balls and tortoise fights

We are settling into the rhythm of beach life at St. Augustine quite nicely. It goes something like this: food, beach, pool, food, beach, pool -- with the occasional bike ride, excursion to town or sandy jog with the dog thrown in.

Owen has learned to swim the width of the pool.
Will has mastered his cannon ball.And both boys have been doing some surfing in the shallows, although Owen requires some assistance to balance on an incoming wave. Owen laughs and laughs when he's riding a little wave, and he announced today that he wants to marry his surf board. Meanwhile on our boardwalk journey to and from the beach we often get to watch gopher tortoises, who are flourishing in the dunes here. Yesterday, we watched from the board walk as two male tortoises faced off in a little territorial dispute that reminded me of Will and Owen's wrestling matches. We watched them shove each other back and forth until finally the superior tortoise managed to overturn his opponent, who remained yellow-belly-up with his little legs flailing for a few minutes while the victor stood calmly beside him, apparently relishing his dominance.