Our Vacay

Family on the beach, just before sunset.

Well J and I are back from our trip to Florida if you couldn't tell. Seriously. I posted Tuesday and Wednesday, so if that's not a sure way to know we're back, then I don't know what is.

[grin]

We're not as bummed as we were Sunday and Monday, but it is still a bit sad. Looking at pictures makes us long to be back on the beach. We're not crying or pouting as much anymore, so if you see us we won't have red puffy eyes.

[rolls eyes in jest]

I'm only kidding about the crying part. We probably did pout a little. Can you blame us?

Beautiful white sand, and turquoise water. Total relaxation.

Instead of putting ALL the pictures on here, I have uploaded them to a Photobucket account. Here's hoping it doesn't crash from everyone going to look! I don't want everyone to see "bandwidth exceeded".

From the "Florida 2008" page slide show, click on "main view", then click on the sub-folders to look at specific photo sets.


Here's a bit about our trip.

We left Saturday morning around 6:00 am and met up with J's brother B, and sister-in-law K (along with their daughter KB and son KJ). We had breakfast and got back on the road to continue our journey. We had a late lunch around 1:30 / 2:00 pm in Louisiana. Baton Rouge if I remember correctly (which should be said with an accent = Ba-ton Rooge).

[wink]

From there we drove to Mississippi, and made our way to Gulfport where we were meeting J's parents, and our other nephew and niece to stop for the night.

That evening we watched our 2 nephews and 2 nieces play in the pool while we relaxed. That was abruptly interrupted by an older man who we thought would need medical treatment! The people with him were yelling "Help!", and "Call 911!"

Thankfully my mother-in-law and another woman at the pool are registered nurses, so they were able to figure out he had just inhaled some pool water and could not catch his breath. Some of the people with him thought he was having a heart attack, but he wasn't presenting any signs of that. Just coughing and gasping, like he was choking. J's mom and the other woman calmed him down, raised his arms, helped him catch his breath, and then they kept an eye on him for a while. Everything turned out okay, and we were grateful. What a start to a vacation!

After that we decided going out for dinner wasn't high on our list, so we ordered pizza and camped out in two adjoining rooms. Cartoons in one, and a movie in the other. Good times!

The next day we got up to start the shorter leg of our trip. From Gulfport we drove on to Destin Florida, and on to Seagrove Beach and Seaside.

Our rental house on the beach was perfect. Even though it was not new or fancy, it accommodated 7 adults and 4 children just fine! We all had room to move around and a bathroom in each bedroom. The bathrooms made all the difference.

This is the back of the house from the beach.

The ocean view from the back of the house and rooftop deck was incredible! That was one of the main reasons we chose the particular house and location. We played, enjoyed the sun, and participated in different activities during the week. All in all, it was a great vacation with J's family. We were so blessed to have been able to spend such a nice time with everyone, and that no one got hurt or sunburned.

The sun is starting to set.

Isn't that gorgeous?

This sums up our trip and the activities.

Sat - Travel to Gulfport, Mississippi were we could still see the devastation from hurricanes Katrina, and Rita.

Sun - J's parents and one set of grand kids went to an air museum in Pensacola. The rest of us didn't feel like stopping, so we continued on to Seagrove Beach, Florida. We arrived and did some grocery shopping, which was very overpriced, but what do you expect for a beach town? $7.99 for a 6 personal sized bottles of Gatorade? Gah!

Mon - Coffee on the roof deck, breakfast, play on the beach, eat lunch, put the kids down for naps, play on the beach, play on the beach, eat dinner, play on the beach... do you think we played on the beach enough?

[grin]

Tues - Coffee on the roof, breakfast, play on the beach, have fun with sea kayaks, play on the beach, lunch and naps made it in there somewhere, have Uncle P (father-in-law's brother) & Aunt L over for a shrimp boil and steak dinner. Yum!

Wed - J and his mom went parasaliling (I wasn't able to because I didn't have a partner to ride with, so I took pictures from the dock.)

Thur - B and K, J and I, along with nephew B and Grandpa T went deep sea fishing in Destin (which was awesome). That night we had our freshly caught King Mackerel for dinner. It was delicious!

Fri - J and Grandpa T went golfing early in the morning.

Fri - Kids played on the beach with J's mom N and dad G.

Fri - Sister-in-law K and I went to a nearby spa for an 80 minute massage. It was a little pricey, but worth it. I think that was the best massage ev-ar! I am so thankful I have a sweet husband who knew that I had not gotten to do as many fun things as he had, so he told me to go ahead and enjoy it.

Fri - After we got back from our massage, K and I took the 2 nieces, R and KB (K's daughter), and J's mom N, with us to a little shop in the town of Seaside, called Fired Up to glaze / "paint" pottery.

Sat - Played at Uncle P and Aunt L's pool. The "June Grass" and jellies were a bit much that day, and we didn't want the kiddos to get stung.

Sun - Got up and left at 5:00 am. Ugh! We drove straight home without staying anywhere overnight, and made it back home to Texas around 3:30 pm.


So there you have it. Our trip wrapped up in a "nutshell".


Enjoy the pictures! I may post more on the blog in the days to come if I have the time.