Recap from the beach week

As we work through the many loads of laundry and task of unpacking, we thought we should share some of the highlights from our beach trip 2008.  We enjoyed a week in Santa Rosa Beach with our friends Melissa & Brant Rackley and their two children, Polly (3.5 years) and Sam (4.5 months).  

This being our first road trip with the minivan, we can now say with certainty, that we love, love, love our Honda Odyssey minivan.  We can’t believe how packed it was – we folded down the third row seats and the van was packed to the gills...yes, we did over pack a little, but with all the baby gear, coolers, toys, towels, etc., you never know!

It took about 5-10 min to walk to the beach from the house, but took close to an hour to prep to get to the beach. Clearly we maximized our time at the beach once we were there!  Henry LOVED the beach – watching him grab the sand and feel the texture in his hands was priceless as well as the wet sand in between his toes and the waves rolling up on his feet – he bounced, he wiggled, and laughed.  We quickly learned that he could not be contained on a beach blanket under the umbrella and we took a suggestion from a mom of 3 boys next to us to buy a baby pool.  From Tuesday on, Henry and Sam splashed in the inflatable baby pool under the umbrella while the grown ups took turns watching over them. Ahh the sounds of the ocean....Henry napped daily on the beach blanket and slept for longer intervals than he ever does at home in his crib!  The real sounds of the ocean are apparently way more soothing that the ocean sounds from iTunes.  Mary worked on many sand castles throughout the week and enjoyed learning how to walk out to the sand bar where the water was about ankle deep. We survived the sting of the jellyfish – Mary O (x2), Joey (x1) - OUCH – Mary handled it like a champ.  She was so brave and didn’t let it ruin her week. ( I don’t think I would have ventured back in the water if it had happened to me!). On our last beach day Mary and I set out on a mission to find seashells and coral that she could take to school to show classmates and share with her Nino. We came home with a ziploc bag full of both. Mary is excited for school to start next week so she can share her finds with her classmates.

We made daily trips to Publix.  It seems no matter how much we planned ahead, there was inevitably a new list of items needed each day – more baby food, more water, diapers, bread, sun hats, flip flops, you name it...

Great beach art and memories were created...thanks to Melissa, the girls have two new tie-dyed t-shirts (lovely shades of pink and purple), the boys have their own tie-dyed onesies (blue of course), the girls also have their own self-decorated beach journals and photo albums.

We went to some favorite spots from past visits – Elmo’s Grill (for the atmosphere and the dancing for children), Miss Lucille’s (for the ice cream), Seagrove Market (for the shrimp and grouper po’ boys) We also found some new spots – Stinky’s Fish Camp – funny name, great food, great service. We picked up a new shirt for Mary from Stinky’s that says “I’m a Stinker” on the front. Perfect. We discovered last year at the beach that Mary liked popcorn shrimp. We don’t get a chance to eat shrimp at home too often, so Mary made sure to get her fill by eating popcorn shrimp for dinner 4 times during the week!

Last year we played putt-putt golf with Mary, but this year with strollers, it was not an option. We went to the same place as last year and rode some of the kiddie rides, and then tried something new, go carts! Mary rode shotgun with Joey and loved it!

Supercalafragalisticexpialadotious (sp???) -- Polly introduced Mary to her favorite movie – Mary Poppins – now a new favorite in our family.  Mary watched it on the way home, thanks to the rear entertainment system that only works on long car trips :)  

It was important for us to continue with our routine of recycling all plastics, glass and paper and drove to the local recycling drop off multiple times during the week.

As in past trips, we always stop at Shrimper’s Seafood Market on the way home to fill our cooler with 4 pounds of fresh shrimp on ice. Always a tasty treat when we get home.

Even though it was a “vacation” we were thankful that cell phones worked on the beach so I could take calls from agents while sitting in my beach chair – and that the house had wireless internet, so we could all catch up on email when needed. Gone are the days of catching up on books and magazines, or taking a nap on the beach...we slept less than we do at home some nights, relaxed less than you expect to on a vacation, but would not trade a moment.  

All in all a great week with lots of new memories and no sunburns to report!