You can take the girl out of Florida...

but you apparently can't take Florida out of the girl!

Having grown up on both coasts of Florida, the beach was always a 'day trip' to me, not a vacation destination. When I was younger, we regularly went to the beach (at least it seems regularly in my mind--Mom??). I have fond memories of playing in the waves, building endless numbers of sandcastles, collecting shells with my Gaga and eating sandy picnic lunches. I think I took the beach for granted and because I had been so often, didn't really even miss it much when I went away to college in South Carolina. While there, I learned a lot of things-- one being that going to the beach was a real and much anticipated summer vacation destination for many southerners (and likely northerners too-- there just weren't that many of them at Furman). For the first time, I heard about places such as Destin and Panama City Beach (Really? Those are in Florida?? Who knew?!) and Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head... when you grow up with a beach 20 minutes away, you don't generally (or at least we never did) travel to another beach destination for a vacation.

Since becoming a 'grown up' and living in Georgia, I have discovered that this 'beach vacation' thing is still quite popular with the locals. And in the past 15 years, we have taken a few trips that have included the beach as part (or all) of the destination-- but not usually because any of us was just craving the waves, sand and sea breezes-- those were generally just an 'added perk' of the trip.

However, as of this past weekend, I can officially say that that has changed. This Florida girl was hit with a craving for time on the beach like I have previously never known!! We had our vacation plans set for the year and they did not include salt, seagulls or sandy picnics. Everywhere I looked it seemed that people were going to, at or planning to go to the beach... except for me and I MISSED IT!!! This Florida girl needed to get to the ocean ASAP!!

(for my sister-- the only picture of me that I have is blurry!)

We are blessed to have a friend who owns a condo right on the gulf in Panama City Beach and let us rent it for just a few days (very uncommon in the height of the 'summer season'). We headed down to there on Father's Day and spent the next three days soaking in the sun, listening to the waves crash, searching for seashells, building sandcastles and relaxing.

(Calypso Towers)

The condo was fabulous-- on the top floor (23rd!) so the view was fantastic and located right next door to one of PCB's newest attractions, Pier Park--an outdoor shopping/restaurant/entertainment complex. We enjoyed several meals there as well as walking around the cute beach shops. This was our first time to visit Panama City Beach and we were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was (with it's reputation of being the "Redneck Rivera"!!). We were on the west end of the city and it was surprisingly not overrun with t-shirt shops, airbrushing studios and go-cart/putt-putt locations.

(Pier Park)

(Watching fireworks from the balcony-- we were higher up than them!)

Our favorite things were the simple ones:

relaxing under the umbrella...

playing in the the waves...

shell collecting...

reading a book....

and eating THE BEST DONUTS on the beach (and probably the planet!)...

We were all sad to leave... our little beach getaway ended all to soon. But we made some great memories as a family and have decided that our future definitely needs to continue to include the beach as a vacation destination.

And this Florida girl couldn't be happier.

A trip down memory lane

Yesterday, the girls and I had to make an unexpected trip to Woodstock, GA and so I thought it would be fun to take a run by our very first house-- since we were relatively near by. Michael and I built (not literally!) this house during the first 3 months we were married-- which any good marriage counselor will tell you is a big NO-NO! But-- we've managed to survive for nearly 15 more years so....

Anyhow, it was interesting to see the changes in the Acworth area-- we used to be in the 'boonies'-- no shopping or anything for a good 10+ miles around us. That had certainly changed. I was pleasantly surprised at the shape of our old neighborhood-- there were some houses & yards that could use some more TLC, but overall it was in decent shape.

Without further ado, here are the pictures:

We planted the Bradford Pear and Maple trees in the front yard and they were teeny tiny (remember, we were poor newlyweds-- we bought the cheap landscaping items at Home Depot!!). They are HUGE now!! Glad someone else has been able to enjoy them... We also planted (and repositioned about 3 times) all of the holly bushes by the front walkway and those are nicely filled in as well. "Our lawn" also looks to be in fairly good shape-- we redid the entire lawn during our first summer---re-grading the lot and planting/watering in the seeds. That was a project we have NEVER repeated (wonder why??!!).

It would have been fun to see the inside-- the site of another HUGE project (we finished the downstairs 'bonus room' entirely by ourselves).

It all seemed a bit smaller than I remembered (especially the front lawn-- I remembered that as being MUCH LARGER-- probably due to that grass project previously mentioned??!) It could also be that the plentiful trees have grown and filled in quite a bit...

Anyway-- it was a fun experience and I don't even think the girls were too bored!

A new niece!

We were excited to welcome Celeste Hope to the family on May 16th, 2009.


Although nearly everyone was predicting that Melissa was having a boy, baby Celeste made her debut as 'grand girl #4" for my parents.

My girls and I made a trip to NC to meet our new niece/cousin-- as well as throw a surprise 'Sprinkle' (baby shower) for her and spend time with the grandparents who were also visiting from Florida.

We managed to pull off the surprise for Melissa-- which was super fun because she is the big 'surpriser' in our family-- so do it to her for a change was great! She got lots of cute & needed items including a handmade, monogrammed pillow that Abigail embroidered for Celeste's nursery.

The girls really enjoyed the chance to hold a newborn (and help change diapers & give her first bath). They didn't get to meet Chloe until she was nearly 5 months old, so this was a special treat!

The girls also had fun with Chloe-- although she nearly ran the two of them ragged!! She is not even two and has more energy than both of my girls combined! She is a cutie, though, and we all enjoyed her bubbly personality and cute sayings.

They 'swam' outside, played 'house' and 'slide' and 'wagon' and kept the toddler pretty well entertained! We also made a trip to the Jumpin' Monkey and all three girls had a blast on the slides and inflatables.

Aunt Missy was sweet to take the time to do some special 'big girl stuff' with them when the little ones were napping or in bed-- she painted toenails, helped them bake a cake and took them in the hot tub. Uncle Tom taught them how to play on the Wii-- which had them in hysterical laughter several times over the week.



We had a great trip and really enjoyed our time with the family. We certainly wish we lived closer to each other but we treasure the times that we are able to spend together.

(I will admit, however, that we were all completely exhausted by the time we left-- I am DEFINITELY too old to mother a toddler and newborn!!!)