Goin' to the Beach, Swim in da Lotion

All she could say the whole past week was "goin' to the beach, swim in the lotion" (Lilyese for ocean). Somehow she seemed to know exactly what the beach and the ocean were. Maybe from TV or something (probably Austin), but obviously, she had never been to the beach, so we were surprised at how excited she was to be going. She buckled into her car seat early on Thursday morning and said "Let's go!" Turns out she's a pretty good car rider on a lengthy trip. She played in the back seat and sang to herself when there wasn't much conversation, occasionally interrupting herself to tell each of us that she loved us - and to be told be each of us that we loved her. She told us when she needed to stop and when she was hungry. And we only had to stop twice the whole way!

When we finally arrived in Ft Walton Beach, the weather couln't have been better for her introduction to sand and sea. It had rained and was still a bit overcast, keeping the temperature down a little. Good, no sweating and searing heat to contend with - at least not yet. Lily was so excited about seeing the beach that we went straight there - even without the obligatory stop at Wal Mart to purchase all the food we never eat! "Goin' to the beach, swim in the lotion!"

Enjoy the initial pictures of Lily and Austin's Beach Vacation below. I'll post some more a little later. Right now, Austin and I have to leave to make his Tee time at Indian Bayou Country Club.


"Hurry, Austin. Hurry Mommy."


"Here we go!"


"Take sandals off, Austin!"



"So, this is it!"


"Whoa swimmin' pool, big swimmin' pool!"

Now, about those groceries? You'd think that after at least one trip a year (or maybe two) for the last, er well several, years that we'd have figured out how to economize at the grocery store when on vacation. Naaa. We haven't a clue. Tracie, help please! This time was even worse. We decided to go to the Publix because it was closer and we'd probably spend more than necessary at Wal Mart (don't we all?). So after viewing the beach, we unpacked the truck (the idea of a small moving company like 'two men and a truck' did cross my mind) and headed to the grocery store. After and hour or so and a whopping bill, we got back to the condominum and unloaded (yet again). What we discovered was that we had very little to eat and more toys than we needed. Seems Publix has figured out that Wal Mart impulse buying thing. We even had a bottle of ketchup and nothing to put it on. Not even and Oscar Meyer hot dog! So we had to go out to dinner after all. Oh well, Hog's Breath is better than no breath at all. Check out the pics from the ill advised shopping spree.