Beach Vacation

-Sunset September 15th-

Vacation WITHOUT any children.  Now that's what I'm talking about!  Nate took me to Mexico Beach, Florida, a little beach town in the Gulf of Mexico, September 14th-18th.  (No oil from the spill ever made it there if you were wondering why we're vacationing in the Gulf.)  It was so much fun!  He had been there a few years ago for work and knew he wanted to take me there someday.  The peak season was over, so we had plenty of space all to ourselves.  All I wanted to do was sit on the beach and do nothing.... and that's exactly what we did!  The weather was perfect.  The sand was like sugar.  The company was great.... we also went with my sister, Shelly, and her husband, Ryan, and with my brother, Rick, and his wife, Carly.  If you didn't know already, the guys are all business partners so this was kind of a business retreat type thing.  It was also conveniently planned around mine and Nate's 12th wedding anniversary, September 18th and Rick and Carly's anniversary, September 20th.  Originally it was all vacation, but they ended up getting an under-stage door job 40 miles from where we were so the guys woke up early one morning did the job and were back by 10:00 a.m..  We didn't even miss them! ;)

 

We stayed in a cute, little, waterfront beach house.  Not fancy.  Just quaint and fun.

 

 This is the little trail from the house to the ocean we walked everyday many times.  It was kind of fun walking through the tall grass and vines.

 

 

We played lots of frisbee and catch with a football.  Woo!  Go Nate!

We had lots of fun playing in the water.  I never mastered the body surfing, but had fun trying.  I mean, good grief, look at my hair.  I must have just got pummeled by a wave!

 

This is the sunRISE.  That's right.  I was up to watch it.  We arrived the night of the 14th and went to bed at 10:30 p.m. central time, but both Nate and I woke up around 4:30 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep. So much for thinking we would sleep in with no kids to wake us!  At 5:45 we got up and took a long walk down the beach and back.  It was beautiful.  We did sleep better the other nights.  That first night was a bit crazy.  When I first dozed off I had a dream there was this 6 inch ugly black spider/scorpion/millipede thing in my bed and I screamed (yes, in real life) and jumped onto Nate (yes, again, in real life).  I soon realized it was just a dream, but I'm pretty sure that's why I didn't sleep well that night.  I'm not normally a sleep talker/jumper, but man, that was scary!  I DO NOT LIKE CREEPY, CRAWLY THINGS!

We saw lots of fun wildlife....

Dolphins.  They showed up on our last day and would come and go.  So fun to watch them.

Bald Eagles.  They seriously flew right by us, grabbed some fish out of the water, and flew away.  My camera was on the night setting still when I took this picture so it didn't turn out very well, but if you zoom in you can see the fish in it's grasp.  I still can't believe how close they were to us and how SLOW I was to grab my camera.

Crabs.  Yuck!  I'm sorry, but they rank up there with spiders and snakes.  Creepy, crawly critters just aren't my thing as I mentioned before.  They were all over the beach at night.... and for some reason us girls thought we would go out with the guys and catch some.  Let's just say there was a lot of screaming and a lot of laughing.  I'll let you decide who was doing which.  In this picture Nate found a cigarette butt and gave it to the crab.  That little sucker wouldn't let it go.  I'm glad Nate didn't test the claw with his own finger like he was originally going to do.

Seagulls.  Ryan decided to feed the seagulls one evening.  It was kind of entertaining until they almost pooped on me and bombed my shoe!  Nate tried to get them to eat off his head.... didn't work so well.

Nate and Ryan especially, would go up on the pier and watch the fishermen catch flounder, grouper, sand shark, and probably a few other things.  I'm surprised they didn't go buy gear and try it themselves.  Next time I'm sure they will.  You could also see jellyfish swimming around the pier when you looked down into the water.

We also ate lots of wildlife!  Flounder, shrimp, grouper, crab.....

We celebrated Carly's birthday on the 16th with key lime cheese cakes.  YUM!  I hope she had a fun birthday with all of us.

Lots of reading and relaxation!  If we weren't at the beach we were either eating or playing games in the house.  Speed Scrabble and Cheating Uno made for some good times.  For some reason the sunscreen Nate put on one day made him go all blotchy and polka dotted.  It was really weird.  Seems like his trach scar in the picture below is very prominent.  At least it's popping out to me.... so glad he is alive and doing well.  I love that guy!

I would sit on my chair and look at this.  It's not crystal clear.  Neither is it Caribbean blue, but it was still beautiful!

I could hardly open my eyes in this picture.... it ain't so pretty.... say cheeeeese!

Shelly and Nate

Rick, Carly, and Me

Being stalked by my sister's telephoto lens! :)

 

Enjoying our last night there.  We played in the water til dusk.  Enjoyed another beautiful sunset.  Perfection.  Thank you Nate!!

Boo hoo!  Going home.  We were ready, though. We missed our kids and were ready to smooch them again.  I know I felt very rejuvenated and have been a better mom since then.  Thank you to all who helped watch my kids... you know who you are. :)  This is definitely a place we'll go to again..... how about tomorrow?!