Beach Baby

We have been back home from our lovely week at the beach for nearly as long as we were away. We returned last Saturday evening from St. George Island, Florida, where we rented the House with the Horrendous Name, "Daddy's Money." Let's just say Daddy must not be the richest man on Earth. It was a nice enough house -- definitely what is to be expected of a beach house -- but nothing too, too fancy, and really a quite humble abode. The house did have both a screened porch and a back deck that had a decent view of the ocean for being in the third row back from the beach, and we spent most meals and evenings on the screened porch, and -- when the mosquitoes were not biting quite as fiercely -- did some fantastic stargazing on the back deck. We cooked all but three of our meals, grilling quite a lot and throwing in some vacation splurges, such as yeasted waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and homemade cake doughnuts (plain and cinnamon-sugared). Kate, Elsa, and I ate at The Owl Cafe in Apalachicola twice (the boys joined us the second time) and had fabulous lunches on both occasions. Jarrett and I were daydreaming about the sandwiches even days after being back home. We also ate one dinner out at the Blue Parrot there on the island, and Jarrett and I both had some yummy local grouper. Oh -- and of course we consumed (well, all of us except the pregnant Kate) many tasty beachy-sort-of cocktails, including banana daiquiris and mojitos. Tim made quite the excellent bartender the entire week, always having a drink waiting for me when I emerged from Elsa's room after putting her down for the night.


Speaking of Elsa, she did really well in the car, seeing as it was an eight-hour trip after factoring in all of the stops, and meaning that most of her entire day was spent strapped in the car seat. She did cry some, but who could blame her? I was ready to cry by about hour six myself... especially on the way home. After arriving on the island and unpacking the cars, we did not waste much time before taking the first walk down to the beach, which was not a long one at all. I of course had to dip Elsa's toes into the ocean, but she rejected my excitement surrounding the introduction of baby and ocean. She never really warmed up to it either -- that big expanse of sea was just a little too frightening. She did, however, really enjoy the sand. On Thursday morning before Elsa's nap, we all went down to the beach, beach toys in tow, and played for awhile. Tim fished in his kayak while the rest of us hung out on the sand. Elsa enjoyed playing with her sand bucket, shovel, rake, and car, but really took much more interest in grabbing fists of sand and letting it filter through the spaces between her fingers, as well as picking up dried pieces of seaweed and chomping on them as if they were the most delicious morning snack. It was also Merckx's first encounter with the ocean, and when his feet first hit the water and a wave came at him, he did kind of backward skipping jig, and did this a few times before he decided the water was quite fabulous. Our house had a private pool, which proved to be really nice for those times when we wanted to take a swim but didn't necessarily want to face the sand, and we even ended up setting up an awning Jarrett and I purchased prior to the trip, making for some nice shade over parts of the pool. Elsa was also quite terrified of this smaller expanse of water at first, but warmed up to it fairly quickly while her daddy carried her around in it. Once she and the pool made friends, they were nearly inseparable, and she loved floating around in her floatie and playing with her water toys (as you can see from the photos, the squirty water toys also provided much amusement for the adults). This proved to be invaluable, especially for the afternoon or two she refused to take an afternoon nap.


Elsa's sleep on the whole was not too terrible. There was one night -- Sunday night, I think -- where she woke up screaming right as we were going to bed, and it proved to be a bit of a struggle for me to get her back down. But we made it, and all was well the rest of the night. She also had some napping issues, but overall did as well as can probably be expected being in the portable crib in a strange place.

Aside from water/sand fun, Kate and I knitted some and the boys fished a lot. They took the kayaks (Jarrett rented one on the island for the week) out nearly every day, and sometimes twice in one day, usually setting sail from St. George Island State Park. Tim even treated Jarrett to an early birthday gift on Tuesday and they both spent the better part of the day out on a boat with a guide and fished for tarpon. They unfortunately came up empty handed as far as the tarpon went, but Jarrett did catch a sizable red fish, and their infamous captain, Nate Dog, served us much amusement in conversation for the remainder of the week. After hearing stories and hearing the captain's voice just briefly on the video below, I really wished I could have met the guy in person. He seems like a real character. Which reminds me -- please note that the video is not intended for little ears. As short as it is, a curse word (or two) is involved.

Overall, it was a very fun week, and it was such a nice change of pace from the everday grind. Jarrett, Elsa, Merckx, and I took one last walk down to the beach before we hit the road Saturday morning, and Jarrett and I were lamenting about how sad we were to be headed home. Vacations are just like that. You look forward to them for so long, counting down the days until it gets there, and then it flashes by in a seeming instant and leaves you feeling fairly bummed that it is over all too soon. But we had good conversation in the car on the way home, dreaming up our future and planning upcoming vacations, so all was well in the end, and it was nice to get home and sleep in our own beds.