Happy On the Way.com: One Day at the Beach

I have some lovely, laughter filled memories to share about my vacation with my daughters and my mom in Florida. But first, a heartfelt thank you goes to Tim and the boys, who were unable to go with us due to the state basketball tournament, but who graciously gave us their blessing to fly south for a week in the sun (and a good drenching of rain as well!). Now they may have second thoughts when they read about how much FUN we had, but they were as kind as possible about letting us head off for a girls' adventure! And thanks to Dad too, for letting Mom come!

Everyone's favorite day was our "day at the beach." We stayed the week at a great resort close to Disney World in Orlando. It was perfect for an off-site Disney stay and was only 15 minutes or less to each of the parks. BUT, after four days of amusement park "thrills," we were ready for some "chilling" away from ALL waiting lines, fake lagoons and piped theme music! Seriously! So, we cranked outselves out of bed at 5 am. (POST TIME CHANGE NO LESS!!!) and were out the door at 6, headed west to the Gulf of Mexico and arrived at St. Pete's Beach as the sun was beginning to rise. What a glorious time to be there! I parked the car in the dim morning light and we ran out to the sand and the surf, because when you live in the midwest, you ALWAYS run to the ocean the VERY FIRST second your foot hits the pavement of the beach parking lot. The ocean calls!

At first I was disappointed. One of the reasons we had headed over so early was to pick up shells, and at first glance, I thought there were few. But after ten minutes or so walking in the chilly, gloaming light of the early morning, the sun rose above the trees and lit up the beach with a happy drenching of golden warmth. Shells sparkled everywhere, fresh from the tide. They weren't the large conch variety, but there were plenty of the scallop type, and several delicate sand dollars along with various colorful "treasures" were soon in our bags.

Pink is the color to wear to the beach!

Remember, we drove an hour and 40 minutes to get here, and the girls slept the whole way, so please excuse the bedhead. It is about 8am. in this picture, and soon the pink chenille would be coming off as the sun warmed things up!

We spent about an hour gathering shells and then headed back up to street to sniff out some breakfast. This picture was taken as we strolled back towards the car with our bags full of seashells. So relaxing!

We were a bit chilly, a lot hungry but completely enjoying the amazing beauty of God's creation! Nobody wanted to stop and eat...

...not even Lily.

Mom had already gleaned a tip from a local about this popular place. It was around the corner and we wouldn't have found it without insider information...

There were geraniums in the window (loved that!) and it looked out on the bay side (St. Pete's is on a very narrow penninsula), and the staff didn't mind that...

....we ate...

...a LOT...(the blur that you see in this picture is Katie's fork...she was too hungry to stop while I snapped the shot!)...

A lovely sight to behold when you have driven an hour and a half, walked the beach for an hour and then waited 20 minutes for a table. It hit the spot...ALL the spots probably...

This is corned beef hash...for your culinary educational progress...

It was interesting...reminded me of the flavor of Swedish potato sausage. But...I digress...the restaurant staff was kind and didn't even mind when Lily...

...decided....

...that we all needed some entertainment and provided it with...

...a two sock puppet show!!! Sometimes you just know when it's time to go...

Speaking of knowing when it's time to go...this post is getting a bit long. So I'll just show you a plethora of pictures and tell you a few tidbits of fun:

You know how in Spain they run with bulls? Well...we did that seagull style! All morning long the girls begged to feed the gulls. I kept telling them "no," but they wouldn't give it up!

We had rented a cabana...a place to call home...and I didn't want seagulls christening our new home and turning the neighbors against us. So I kept saying "no"...until the 30th time they begged. Finally, I said, "FINE! BUT go far down the beach where you will not be associated with us, keep AWAY from all sunbathers and WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T COME BACK WITH SEAGULLS FOLLOWING YOU!"

I thought that Lily understood... I mean that's pretty clear right?

Katie got it...she even went off into the water so the birds wouldn't bother anybody...

But Lily, seeing her big sister's success, decided to try herself. She grabbed a couple pieces of bread and ran to join Katie...

Here she goes. But the pictures of this event end here, because no sooner did she get in the vicinity of the gulls when they all flocked all over her. You'll have to imagine the rest: she panics, hearing me screaming (yes screaming) "DROP THE BREAD LILY...DROP THE BREAD!!!!!" She does NOT drop the bread; instead she turns around and heads straight for my voice, with the pieces of bread flopping in her hands and no less than fifty birds chasing her down! At this point, EVERYBODY in the twenty or so cabanas is giving us their full attention and yelling "they'll attack her, they'll attack her!" I have no time to explain that, " You see we are from Minn-e-so-ta and don't get to the beach much, so we made this novice mistake but thank you all for your well-meant advice. We'll consider that next time...I apologize for the inconvenience that being mobbed by a bunch of gulls is about to cause you..."

No time at all! Here Lily comes, wild panic in her eyes! I keep screaming for her to turn around and take the bread away from all the sunbathers, but she can't process anything I am saying! So I throw the camera down, jump up from my sunbathing minus any of my many coverups, and start chasing Lily who at this point is just blindly running (FAST) in large circles around the cabanas! Finally I manage to grab her still bread-filled hands, duck the diving birds, and head back out to sea!!! The end.

My mom snapped pictures with her camera, between bouts of uncontrollable laughter, but they are sealed in a vault until after my death. Thank you very much.

The rest of the day was tame in comparison... we frolicked..