Friday, August 05, 2011

Seaside, Santa Rosa Beach, Old Friends And A Final Summer Fling

Here we go.

Seaside was darling.  I've heard about it for years and my bff from college recently went and said it would be somewhere I would adore. She was right.


Yall might know this place from The Truman Show......the movie based on a picture perfect life with Jim Carrey.




Yes, please.  We're moving here!

I kid.  I kid.

Spaghetti for Laine at lunch.


I like any place where bikes are a popular mode of transportation.


Tried for some photos.  You know how well that went.




Love. 

And, it is a 'simple, beautiful life'. 

For a fee, of course.






After a day spent in Seaside, we finally met up with the Griffin family.  These are great friends of ours from years ago.  Some background:  We built our first house in Keller, TX is 2002.  Ryan and Cortney lived across the street from us and we became very close friends with them.  We've seen each other through babies, moves, losses and gains......absolutely love these peeps.

Since we took the voluntary bump from our seats on our way in, we convinced the airline to extend our stay a couple of days in order to visit with the Griffins, who were vacationing just down the road from where we were with the Starnes family.  They were not entirely sure they were coming.....and we certainly didn't know we'd have the bumped-flight opportunity......so this all came together beautifully at very little cost to us!

I love when things like this work out.

We immediately headed to the beach.

Their youngest and our youngest are very close in age......Syndey and Lainey.  They had a blast together.


I love a pretty sunset on the beach.



As the sun went down, everyone started crab hunting.


Ryan's sister and neice, whom we also knew from Keller, were there, too.

Ryan and Jennifer.





Carter still carries a picture of Halle in his wallet.  From when she was 6 months old.  :)

Doesn't she look like Little Cindy Lou Who?  So precious.

We put the kids to bed and sat out on the deck under the stars just like old times.

It was a ton of fun.

Spent another day at the beach.  That's Carter snorkeling in the background.


We, unfortunately (and perhaps purposely, knowing Cortney), were forced to drink from these hideous cups. 



The whole group.  Jennifer with her sweet daughter, Rylie.....the Griffin fam.....and then the Starnes fam.


We headed back to the house, cleaned up for dinner and walked to the beach for some pictures. 


I tried out my new fancy camera in hopes of getting some options for everyone's Christmas photos.


And, of course, got one of all the kiddos.  Love this picture.






None of these are edited or cropped, etc......but I think they turned cute.







This is what it looks like when it's our turn.

I might actually use this one.



At dinner that evening. 

Back to the beach for some more crabbing.

Look what Carter caught.



We cooked him and ate him.  Carter was so proud.



Another night with old friends.  Such an awesome end to our Florida adventure.

Last morning.  I had hoped to make it to see our good friend, Kelly, but I started to panic with thoughts of packing up again, returning the rental car and 2 flights ahead.

So, after a final visit on the sand, we returned to Pensacola.


The boys did fit in a far out dive to find sand dollars.




These are still alive, hence the brown color.  Need to research how to preserve them and turn them white.



And, we're done.

Done!

Do yall hate Florida now or what? 

Thanks for hanging in there.

Arrived back to LAX at 1am, rented a car and returned home.  What a journey.

So...........

What's next?

*School prep.  Boys start in mid-August and Lainey, September 8.  I will have 3 kids on 3 different schedules this year.....with no buses........so look forward to some rants about the carpool lane.

*Lunch today with Jack and Lainey's former preschool teachers, turned friends.  Can't wait to see them!

*Visit this weekend with friends from Vegas.  Beach, Legoland and the like.

*Our final trip for the summer.....one last jaunt to LA for Phish early next week.  It's going to be a patchouli-filled, patchwork dress laden, mess of fun at the super fabulous Hollywood Bowl.  I can't wait!

Extra bonus points for anyone who lasted this long! 

23 comments:

Dee Stephens said...

Mega post!! So glad you guys had a good time. Not sure what's going to happen with our planned beach trip next month.
May end up having to cancel :(

If the shoe FITZ said...

Casey! Get some sunscreen!
Halle is so big!!!! I totally remember her.

Jodee said...

Seriously, you take the best vacations ever! It looks like you had a blast!

Miss Sweet Tea said...

Hi! Love all of the pictures! It seems like you've been on vacation for oh, forever! AWESOME! Welcome back :)

Lauren W said...

Love, love, love the Seaside pics. We have been going there at least once a year (sometimes more) since 2000 and I love it. I knew exactly where you were in every single one of those shots. And I love Jacks Bud's 30A shirt. I might have to find that one. All we do there is ride bikes, swim, play on the front porches, shop at Modica's Market, and eat at all of the airstream trailers. :-) So glad you had such a good trip.

Amanda said...

what great pics! brought back so many memories and made me really miss Seaside. What kind of camera did you get? The family pics look awesome.

aunt caroline said...

Ohh, the girls look so cute! Hard to believe they're so big! And so good to see Ryan and Cortney on here!

Quinn, Allison, Rylee and Cailyn McNamara said...

definitely keep that picture in the mix for your christmas card! looks like so much fun...but you guys have fun everywhere you go (: glad to have you back!

Brittny said...

It looks like you had a great time and I now miss FL even more! Thanks. I really hate that I couldn't make it down there to meet you. If I could have dropped my kids off I would have done it. But part of the fun was to meet the kids. And it took them the entire weekend to recover from Nashville. They wouldn't have survived FL thrown in. Makes me sad we were so close to each other and missed out. Just have to do it another time! Glad you enjoyed your trip so much!!

Kim said...

Love all the pictures you took, looks like a very full trip! Lots and lots of great memories.

Nate, Abbey, Noah, Blaire and Tatum said...

I loooove Seaside. It's so perfect. and love it...Boomer Sooner! :)

Life in Beverly Hills said...

Looks like an amazing trip. All of the pictures you took with your new camera are fantastic!

Can't believe school already! The summer is flying by.

Monica said...

I loved your entire trip! You took some really great pics with your new camera. I'm impressed!

Also, I love Jack's "hot dog" shirt. Maybe it's because I'm a doxie owner??

merrilee said...

Seaside looks charming. Your pictures are beautiful....nice job!

SASS said...

You spelled niece wrong, boobaliscious.
So many cute kids in one post! I was slightly disturbed by the catching and eating of the crab....
Love love your hair! And the bod looks good too sista!
Miss yer face! I'm not a hater.

Kristen said...

I want to live in your shoes for a day. Or maybe a week. Or a month. Now I'm getting greedy. Always so much fun.

And those first pics of just the punks... LOVE LOVE LOVE Jack's facial expressions.

And your potential Xmas pic??I vote yes. It's fabulous all around your boobs look fantastic. That should push the decision right over the edge to YES!

Happy almost Friday.

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