Family Beach Trip 2013

Our beach trip this summer was a little different than usual.  Instead of a big trip full of friends, we did a big trip with mostly family.  Mrs. Barnes took the trip with us, but other than that it was truly a family trip for my nephews, Caleb & Jacob.  This was their first trip to the beach and they had their mom (my sister, Ashley), both grandmothers (my mom and Ashley’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Ginny), three aunts (Melissa, me, and Aunt Susie, which is Mrs. Ginny’s sister), and again, sweet Mrs. Barnes whom we all love.

After a long drive last Saturday and a stop for lunch at Lambert’s in Foley, Alabama, we made it to Perdido.  We put our toes in the water and pretty much made a scene as we cheered for each wave that covered our feet.  It was really fun to see my nephews experience the beach for the first time.  Caleb, who is the strong, silent type, just stood there grinning ear to ear.  Jacob, the chatterbox, would yell, “Here comes another one!  Here comes another one!” as each wave approached.  Mrs. Barnes snapped this photo of us in our joyful, goofy moment.

In the course of the week, we learned that Jacob was not a fan of the ocean because he didn’t like the waves splashing him in the face, but he loved the pool.  I also helped him build his first sandcastle one night.

Melissa and Caleb were in the middle of another adventure, but stopped by to help us out for a few minutes.

Caleb loved the waves and spent a lot of time in the water with Melissa and me.  We all refer to big waves as “netis”, because our friend, Joe, said the Gulf is like a giant Neti Pot.  Caleb said he didn’t think his sinuses had ever been clearer.  I’m sure some other people probably wondered why we would all yell, “NETI!” every time a big wave approached!  Toward the end of the week, Melissa asked the boys what their favorite part of the beach was.  I think they both said “netis”, but I’m not sure that’s true for Jacob!

The last night we were there, a few of us – Aunt Susie, Melissa, the boys, and I – went down to the beach for some photos.  We just had to set up Melissa’s automatic timer & do the best we could.  So the photos didn’t turn out the greatest, but we had fun taking them.  I also question my choice of a loose, flowing shirt with horizontal stripes.  I look large & in charge, but it’s kind of cracking me up.  Disclaimer: things in photos may be (somewhat) smaller than they appear!

Sadly, after this photo was taken, we all just kind of dropped Jacob like a load of bricks because we were all ready to run and see the photo!  Fortunately, I realized what was happening at the last second and tried to soften his fall a little.  He’s a good sport; he kept laughing.

I need to attach this photo of the boys with Aunt Susie, too, because it’s just so darn cute and the sunset was so pretty behind them.

We had a great trip.  We only had rain one morning.  Other than that, the weather was perfect.  The first full day had huge waves, which made for lots of fun in the water.  The last full day had calm water and was probably the most beautiful & clear I’ve ever seen it in all my years of vacationing in Perdido, which made for some great “shell shopping” conditions.  We searched for shells for a couple of hours in waist deep water in a special, uncrowded area Mrs. Barnes found & showed to us.  I had no idea I’d have so much fun doing that, but I could have stayed even longer. One of the most fun things for me was being an eyewitness to Melissa finding a gorgeous, large shell that looked like one you’d buy in a store.

I don’t get to see my nephews as much as I’d like – they live about five hours away by car – and I thoroughly enjoyed spending the week with them.  They’re good kids.  Caleb, an LSU fan, would declare “roll tide roll” every time he saw something in Alabama that didn’t make sense.  Jacob, a sweetheart with a big imagination, brought along his teddy bear, Leonard, and made up all kinds of adventures for his bear.

We ate ridiculously good food in large quantities.  We watched a solar flare one night and and attempted to watch the meteor shower, but it was too cloudy.  I took a few naps in my favorite place to nap in the world – poolside at the Perdido Sun.  We laughed a lot.  It was a fun, relaxing, enjoyable vacation, indeed.