Now that Stella's in school, we tend to plan our trips around the holidays and the Cobb County school calendar. Because of that, this was our first "real" spring break since being in college.
I'm pretty sure I started packing for our Spring Break trip a week or two in advance. I picked up these books from Goodwill/The Book House (local used book store) to attempt to read while on vacay. Also, can't forget my pop-top sunglasses that I can actually put to use now that I drink a few glass-bottle beverages.
We left town just before 3:00 pm to head down to Mexico Beach. We made a few stops and arrived just as most of the color in the sky over the water was almost gone. Lolli and Pop, as well as one of their old friends were there so Stella visited with them for a bit and ran around. She shocked us both and never napped (first time she hasn't) and sometime not too long after arriving she went into the bedroom, took off her clothes and put on her mermaid pj's. Then she told us she was ready for bed. Ha. She slept in her bed the entire night. Clearly she was exhausted.
The next morning we did our usual morning ritual: grab some juice, sunglasses and hats and walk B around the block.
Daddy doesn't usually join us, but this time he did.
Unfortunately these oranges were up way too high for anyone to reach and they were in someone else's yard so we couldn't even sneak them.
Saturday, we spent the day down at Beacon Hill with Lollipop, Everett and later on, Leigh, Brian and the kids.
Stella was so happy to build sand castles with her Daddy. That's their thing. She doesn't typically ask me to build. She'll do it by herself and sometimes if I ask to help, she'll let me, but we do other stuff together. The sand castles are their thing and I love it.
Stella had a sudden upset tummy and had an accident in the sand dunes because we couldn't make it to the froggy potty in the back of the truck in time. Luckily, I'd brought extra clothes for her to change into. But then our friends Weezer and Geezer showed up with Brylei and their other grandkids, great neices, etc and Stella somehow ended up back in the water soaking wet.
This leads to....Stella, the naked flamingo
We left the beach and because my child was so appropriately dressed, swung by Marx and Claire's to visit with family.
Stella stayed with Lollipop and stole some of their food before passing out in the shark tent.
Donald and I had supper at Mangoes then went up to Lookout for a while. While sitting at Lookout I realized I'd accidentally dressed in all name-brand/designer clothes and accessories. I'm sure this had happened before, but it's definitely rare. I was wearing J. Crew plaid shorts, Tommy Hilfiger shirt and purse, Toms shoes, Victoria's Secret bra and Calvin Klein panties. I laughed and thought Michael would be proud of me. After closing Lookout down we went over to Joe's for a bit. It was a late, late night. We came in and tried our best to quietly head up leftovers since Stella was passed out in the living room. She ended up sleeping there all night too. Wow! Two nights in a row of not being crowded out of the bed or awoken by her sucking her thumb.
My Little Mermaid
Here she is having sweet snuggles with B while she makes up stories to tell him.
Lollipop left around lunch Sunday and we decided to have a lazy day in. That evening we walked Bandit down at the doggy beach. We walked for quite a while and Stella never complained once.
Hard to believe this isn't a flashback picture of me from the 80's. I mean, side pony, headband, Little Mermaid tutu dress, heart-shaped sunglasses. Of course, my hair wasn't as fabulous then as hers is now, but that's another story.
Stella was pining for some shrimp, but we didn't have any luck with it being Spring Break. She was hungry and tired and the wait to be seated at Killer, Castaways and Toucan's was too long. Well, technically Castaway's was closed. We ended up just going back home and fixing supper from a stockpile of freezer and pantry food I'd brought for these exact times. We promised to take Stella back to Toucan's if she was a good girl.
Monday, Stella and I walked B and afterwards we walked down to Sharon's Cafe for breakfast.
Stella went with the Minnie Mouse pancakes, I had an omelet.
We had lunch at Castaways where we all shared fried shrimp. It stormed at some point, but we did make it down to the beach for just a bit.
I'm happy to say I got to read the two of the three books I'd brought with me. 50 Things That Really Matter was a quick read and then I started on this.
We didn't mind the weather being not-so-pretty. We were just looking forward to downtime in any capacity. So we colored and watched Brave and took it easy.
Tuesday, we spent the better part of the day on the sand. We were down from noon until around 7:00 pm. It was fabulous.
Heading down to the water on the golf cart.
These next set of images got to me. I remember sitting in my chair watching my gorgeous child run into the waves with such joy. Tears started flowing thinking about how blessed we are and how special she is to be able to grow up down here.
My little beach babe
Later on, I stopped to take this picture of Donald's Great Grandfather's house (Stella's Great-Great Grandfather) from back in the 50/60's. It's just a block from where we have our place. Five generations of Bryan's have vacationed/owned property in Mexico Beach, "Our Beach" as Stella calls it.
Pretty proud of this as I painted both my toes and fingers. My spring break nails.
Tuesday: My crazy flamingo
Impromptu tents on the beach
So as you can see the blue sky and sun weren't exactly out, but we didn't care. Less possibility of a sunburn or me getting overheated.
Daddy's little fishing buddy.
Afterwards I videoed Stella chasing sand crabs around on the beach. Donald would scoop down into the wet sand and throw it up onto the higher, harder part of the sand where Stella would run around frantically grabbing them and placing them in a bucket. They both loved it. Such a great memory.
Stella wanted to change into her romper and then this happened.
More sandcastle construction....
We had an early lunch/late supper at Toucans. The clouds had begun to break up as we went down to the restaurant. We sat right by the open windows and had near instant service. Our food came out super hot and fresh and we had a ton of it.
Stella ordered the kid's popcorn shrimp. It came out and she picked up a piece and sniffed it. "Hmmm...nope. Doesn't smell like popcorn." Then we explained why it's called popcorn shrimp.
As you can see, it was much prettier out now.
Daddy caught a little pout-pout fish and Stella gave him a smooch-smooch.
But then the sky turned dark again. Stella helped Daddy with his fishing poles and we gathered up our things to head back. Lightning and thunder were out and to the left of us.
Wednesday: Our usual walk around the neighborhood with B, then Stella played on the playground. We thought it was supposed to rain all day so we decided to go into Panama City. I needed to return some clocks to Bed, Bath and Beyond and D wanted to look at some diving stuff.
We got stopped by a train near a train yard for close to 10 minutes. It was pretty cool to watch. They were moving cars, switching tracks and stuff. We had no idea how long we were going to be stuck there, but it turned out to be pretty interesting to watch as it was something we'd never witnessed before.
We had lunch at Peppers and considered going to see Beauty and the Beast, but the movie didn't start until a few hours later and we just didn't feel like killing that much time. So we headed back to MB and walked B down at the doggy beach. Turns out it never even rained there. At all. It wasn't pretty and sunny out, but kids don't care as long as they are near sand or water. So we basically wasted a day which could have been spent down at the water.
The water was super rough and it was very windy, but Stella enjoyed hopping over this...whatever this is.
At some point she got sand in her swimsuit top so she wanted to wash it out. This cracked me up because I've been there too.
Donald walked over to Lookout while Stella played on the beach with me. Afterwards we picked him back up before Stella went to bed.
Thursday we had a morning walk as a family. Then we rode out to Captain Bobby's to fish. We visited again with Marx and Claire and Stella was actually clothed appropriately for this visit.
Donald picked up Crazy Beach Pizza for supper then we rode up to Hwy 98 on the golf cart to watch the sun set.
Never gets old.
Friday: We rode into Port St. Joe to have lunch at Mr. G's newest location. Then we visited the St. Joseph's Cemetery which was in use from 1835-1841.
St. Joseph was founded in 1835 and it was the largest city in Florida at one point, having over 12,000 inhabitants. It dropped to 6,000 due to competition from close by Apalachicola and their shipping community and lumber draw from the river and nearby forests. Then the population dropped to 400 due to an outbreak of yellow fever. In 1844, a hurricane killed and destroyed what little remained of St. Joe. In less than 10 years it went from nothing, to the biggest to nothing again. There was nothing here for a very long time. This cemetery is pretty much all that remains of the area.
We got back to the house to see Nini and Grandaddy. They'd came down to visit for a few days.
We went down to the beach for about an hour since it was so gorgeous out, but it was too cold and windy to be down any longer. Donald and Stella built another sand castle though.
Wanda picked up some Royal Reds shrimp on her last trip back from Biloxi and froze them at the house. We thawed them out and had them for supper. They are really big shrimp and sweet like lobster.
Then I made homemade cinnamon rolls for us to have for breakfast the next morning.
The cinnamon rolls were really good Saturday morning. I didn't have any powdered sugar to make an icing with, but I preferred that they were not too sweet. They were good and yeasty which I liked.
I put up the welcome flag and set up the flamingos for the spring/summer season.
I took B for a walk by myself which was nice to have a few moments of quiet.
We set up down at the beach just before lunch. The water was perfectly clear and calm.
Wanda picked up Paul Gants BBQ for lunch, then we headed back down to the water.
Stella loves making sea turtles and decorating their shells with seashells.
Donald went fishing with Don and we stayed on the beach the rest of the afternoon. It was still cold(ish) and really windy. I have no idea how these girls were able to play in the water, but Stella was glad they did. She enjoyed being pulled around on the unicorn float.
I found myself on the beach by myself for a bit which was so nice.
The only pictures I have of just the two us without me holding the camera courtesy of the self timer!
Stella and I walked B at sunset. This is mine and Donald's favorite time to be out and on the beach.
Loved that I got this cool shot of a VW Beetle with the sunset behind it and palm trees. Classic beach photo!
Everyday we were at the beach Stella would wake up and ask if it was the day we had to leave. On Sunday, she asked and we told her "Yes" and the waterworks burst!
We walked B one last time before leaving and said "Goodbye" to the beach like we always do. We said "Bye" to Jerry and Jay on the corner and "Bye" to our house.
We drove to Sylvester and when we arrived, Lolli and Pop had set up an Easter egg hunt in their yard for Stella. She really enjoyed this and it was nice for her to get some energy out between stops.
We had lunch with them, then visited with Grandpa for a bit. We drove out to Mema and Papa's but they were at church for the evening so we couldn't visit.
Stella finally fell asleep in the truck around 8:45.
This was a great trip. I loved not having too many real responsibilities for the week and truly enjoyed just the three of us for a few days. Stella really got a lot of Daddy time which I know was needed for her. Looking forward to more family togetherness this summer at the beach.
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