Florida (with pictures)
We returned on Mother's Day from our week at St George Island Florida. It was a great week!
St George Island is a barrier island off the Gulf coast near Tallahasee and Pensacola. It is approximately 15 miles long and half a mile wide. 9 miles of it are untouched state park (where we are in the pictures) Loggerhead turtles nest on these beaches and you can catch catfish in the surf.
We flew kites, rode bikes (with trailers for the kiddos), kayaked, strolled, built sand castles, played Marco Polo in the pool til it got dark, searched for the perfect shell, played scrabble and ate and ate and ate. We also enjoyed lots of fried shrimp and sweet tea.
Rich's whole family was there. Brother, sister, Mom, Dad, spouses and grandkids. 20 of us in all. And we all got along great for the whole week! I'm sure it helped that we were staying in a humongo beach house where each family had their own area to retreat to (and own bathroom as well). We are talking of making this a yearly or biannual event.
This part of Florida is definitely still the South. So at times, it seemed we were in a significantly different place than Colorado as we drove through towns named Sopchoppy and Appalaciacola. And a take out coffee took ten minutes and an exchange of personal stories. Oh, and there were a few bugs. Little gnat things. But that was really the only lowlight of the trip!
Happily, two kids on the plane was no big deal. Rachel has traveled so much that it was pretty old hat to her. Wyatt was happy to nurse and sleep. Dora on the portable DVD was a terrific travel companion as well.
Now I am back to work and preparing for more travel to Philadelphia and St Louis for depositions. And trying to stop eating . . . .
Here are a few pictures (clearly we were having too much fun to take many good ones!)
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAN3LNu1cNWjD6g
St George Island is a barrier island off the Gulf coast near Tallahasee and Pensacola. It is approximately 15 miles long and half a mile wide. 9 miles of it are untouched state park (where we are in the pictures) Loggerhead turtles nest on these beaches and you can catch catfish in the surf.
We flew kites, rode bikes (with trailers for the kiddos), kayaked, strolled, built sand castles, played Marco Polo in the pool til it got dark, searched for the perfect shell, played scrabble and ate and ate and ate. We also enjoyed lots of fried shrimp and sweet tea.
Rich's whole family was there. Brother, sister, Mom, Dad, spouses and grandkids. 20 of us in all. And we all got along great for the whole week! I'm sure it helped that we were staying in a humongo beach house where each family had their own area to retreat to (and own bathroom as well). We are talking of making this a yearly or biannual event.
This part of Florida is definitely still the South. So at times, it seemed we were in a significantly different place than Colorado as we drove through towns named Sopchoppy and Appalaciacola. And a take out coffee took ten minutes and an exchange of personal stories. Oh, and there were a few bugs. Little gnat things. But that was really the only lowlight of the trip!
Happily, two kids on the plane was no big deal. Rachel has traveled so much that it was pretty old hat to her. Wyatt was happy to nurse and sleep. Dora on the portable DVD was a terrific travel companion as well.
Now I am back to work and preparing for more travel to Philadelphia and St Louis for depositions. And trying to stop eating . . . .
Here are a few pictures (clearly we were having too much fun to take many good ones!)
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAN3LNu1cNWjD6g