"sh-ow a-n-d t-ai-l" and no, it's not misspelled

cool brisk air

nightly lullabies sang by the summer symphony

leaves on the back porch

evidence that the shift in season is upon us yet again

fall’s agenda and rigorous routines will be here before know it

so today,  I’m savoring the sweetness of summer

reflecting on how time marches on

and though there have been moments or days of “GOSH! I can’t wait to do this or that again..”

there have been others where I have prayed for the moments of tribulation to pass

I’m finding as I age many things we experience are simply

“one timers”

****

sunblock, beach chairs, sleeping bags? check.

seat belts, shades, sand buckets? check.

sister banker, me + 5 kids under 9

sister nurse, Precious +2 more under 5

on the road again, just can’t wait to get on the road again…

beach bound

we decided we’d split the travel in half

not sure if it was more for the kids or for our sake

remember, sister nurse and I just went to the beach last weekend and stayed LOST almost 9 hours!!!!!!!!!!

but not this trip

I had my map ON and can gladly say not one turn was made in error

(which really isn’t saying a whole heck of a lot since we only traveled to Montgomery)

but a.n.y.w.a.y.s.

we got to the Best Western just after 10 pm

and having not known that Precious and sister nurse were leaving when we were

I only booked one room

I got the key, went to the parking lot and instructed the herd that we would quietly enter the building

in shifts

the hotel was full

“no room in the inn”

the sleeping arrangements for the night would be

adults double up .. 7 children on the floor- minus two

Princess Kate & Princess Scout bid on the couch

surprisingly we got 6 straight hours of sleep

the Lord must have know we would need it

the continental breakfast

also eaten in shifts

and might I add

eaten quickly as I began to sense we were on the verge of being ask to leave considering the level of noise coming from our

tiny room full of LOTS of little people who were very, very, very excited about going to the BEACH!!!!!

MAP ON

we hit the road and thankfully made it to Florida in just over 3 hours

with only 2 stops, 222 gummy shark snacks & having had to answer  the question  “are we there yet?” 972 times

the herd was hungry as we arrived in town

needing to regroup we pulled into a Pizza Hut parking lot

the sisters, Precious and I were discussing “what next?” since we weren’t going to be able to check in for a couple of hours

when we noticed an erie quiet coming from the back

as we turned around to make sure none of the kids had climbed out of the car we noticed the four boys with their noses up against the window sounding out the words

“sh-ow a-n-d t-ai-l”

and no, “tail” is not misspelled

not realizing until now Pizza Hut shared the parking lot with a gentlemens club..

note to self  “be more cognizant” “this is a G-rated trip”

after lunch still having more than an hour to kill we decided to search for public access to the beach

much to our delight (and yet another surprise) for many who may be familiar with the area

CLUB LA VELA has public access to the beach & was conveniently located just across from the gentlemens club

seriously.

“so, what’s next?”

you guessed it

we made dressing rooms with towels and car doors in the parking lot of CLUB LA VELA

sprayed the herd down with sunblock and

hit it!

the SUN, SAND & WAVES were perfect

and exactly what we needed after riding in this…..

it isn’t often (like almost never ) that ALL of us minus the men travel together

one of our goals on this particular trip was to spend as little as possible

the other was to

SAVOR every moment……

and we did.

a trip full of “CHEEEEESEs”

and way toooooo much

sunblock (bless her) & FUN with

SASS (me: “say cheese” and instead she’s like “BOOM!”)

Tuck, our trapper “of all things creepy in the sea!”

funny man Ross McCoy, the fine, fine boy

and Ro, Mr. Serious, and master skimmer boarder

and Mighty Mouse, all smiles, all the time

and Pricesss Kate…we’d be lost without her

and Ryley Louise, Lou-Lou …I feel certain held the word “cheeeeeeeeeeeeese” the whole trip

add to that some great talks by the pool

walks on the beach at night

several elevator rides (by the way… I feel that I should apologize to each and every person that attempted to ride the elevator with us (especially the two young women in the bottom left of this picture) or had to wait while we waited..or had to hear the fights, I mean the rather loud debates over whose turn it was to PRESS THE BLESSED BUTTON….. apparently our children don’t get out enough and elevators make them C-R-A-Z-E-E-EE!)

but besides that

whether we were eating

digging,  playing

sleeping or just waking up

everything was better

because

we were together

 

Making memories

to last a lifetime

<3

blessings to you,

k :O)

PS-what about you? has your summer been FAB? or DRAB?