Born a Beach Bum

July was also the month, the Youree family packed up and headed south to the land of white sand, real sweet tea, and boiled peanuts--a.k.a., my homeland. We "beach bummed" only a few miles from the hospital where I made my earthly debut. But I digress.

Fourteen of us happily lodged at the Beachcomber three-story home located right on Seacrest Beach. Oh. So. Wonderful. We swam, saw stingrays, gathered shells, built sand creations, flew kites, played games, and ate and ate and ate and ate. We took a boat ride to Shell Island one afternoon, and another day visited St. Andrews State Park with its gorgeous emerald water.

Once Colton entered the ocean, it took the entire family to coax him out. Sun up, sun down, Colton was riding his boogie board, i.e. wading two feet into the water.

Gracyn played in the water the first day, but the waves were a bit intense for her. And then there was the whole crab situation. One of my favorite memories is her walking next to my chair as I lounged half in the water and half out . . . she whispered: "Have you seen any crabs?"

Gunnar is the king of penny-in-the pot. Although, the first place prize went to Gracyn, Gunnar's math skills alone win him a spot at the top. Gunnar, I'll be on your team ANYTIME.

Garison donned the goggles to find treasures on the ocean floor and the opportunity to spy many creatures--which I care nothing to know about or I'll never get in the ocean again. :-)

Allie braved her fears and went parasailing--so proud! We also had fun crashing a few stores, of course.

Allie's partner in parasailing crime was Dakota, who took to the air with his step-sis. I also heard that he gave Uncle Bryan a run for his money in Sequence.

It seems that everyone had such a fun, fun time . . . and would be game to do it again in the future. I hope so!

Of course, no Bryan and Emily expedition is complete without a little mishap. Thankfully, that happened early in the trip (you know, get it out of the way). Our flight was twoish hours late, getting us to Florida at midnight or a little after. Then, the rental car line was longer than even imaginable. Speaking of the rental car, we discovered six drink bottles, one hamburger wrapped, and stale bread under my seat. And then there were zero parking spots at the hotel when we arrived at 2:00 a.m. Really, not one. But alas, these are all funny memories now, right?