many monkeys

ahhhh.. the beach!

We had a wonderful week in Florida. A very relaxing week...just what we needed. We only went out to eat one night. We just stayed on the beach, napped, Carleton grew his beard out and I got to see some knots unfurl from his shoulders. Life is so busy around here that we really look forward to downtime with NOTHING to do!!

On the way out, we spent a night in Houston. Darrell cooked steaks and we were able to have a very peaceful adult dinner! Justin and Sara always disappear as soon as we hit town, and now Collin and Owen have started doing the same thing. So the adults were left alone with miss B (who was just playing with her feet on the floor next to us) to enjoy our dinner. We hit the road at 6am Sunday to make the rest of the drive to Seagrove.

We always stop in Pass Christian when we drive to FL, and this was our first stop post Katrina. Most of the town is gone, but there are still a few of the old homes being repaired. And we let the kids play on the beach for a second. Blaire's first sight of the beach!

Seagrove was perfect. Collin dug for hours every day, Justin battled the waves and Blaire splashed in the tide pools. They met some kids from Alabama and enjoyed their company. We all enjoyed watching Beckett. He's a really cute kiddo. Collin ran a fever the first day we were there, but that was it. Unfortunately, it looks like whatever he had passed on to Beckett and he got a harder hit. He ended up with an ear infection by Saturday.

This time next year it is going to be so fun to watch Beckett and Blaire tearing around together! The kids enjoyed seeing Papa, Layne & Gene, Kate & A as well. Justin really liked playing soccer in the surf with Drew. I'm surprised Carleton and Justin aren't pickled, as much time as they spent in the water!

D & A spent the last night at the beach house with us, as they were en route to Disney. Have to say that when, at 6am, we headed for DFW and they headed for Orlando, we were feeling more than a bit jealous! The kids were great for the 13 hour drive home. We did it straight through. They are road warriors, our bunch. Blaire was upgraded to a big (rear facing) carseat for the trip and was quite happy.

It was a great trip. There is something so wonderful to me about having all of our kids in the car, headed for some adventure. I just love it!

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