Miramar Fall '11

Our fall trip to the beach had a little twist this time. Richard's cousin Cindi was having her wedding reception in Pensacola, (about an hour away from our condo)so we were able to have a little reunion with many of his relatives down there as part of our trip. Stephen put us up at the Hilton right on the Gulf and we were able to spend a day on the beach there. The waves and current were pretty rough and while it was fun to have big waves in the gulf, I spent most of our first day poolside with Porter. He had fun in their kiddie pool. The kids were happy to be with their cousin Jordan and they had fun exploring the hotel and walking down the pier and spotting jellyfish. We didn't see any big fish, although typically you do see sharks down there. Jon and his fiancee Courtney came down as well, and it was fun getting to know her better. She is really sweet and my kids all like her. Saturday night we went to Cindi's reception and got to eat a lot of really good food and be with Richard's parents, Josh, Melissa, and some of Richard's uncles, aunts and cousins. It had been almost ten years since we had spent much time with them so it was fun to see their children and catch up. The kids loved the chocolate fountain and Cindi let the girls take home a bouquet of roses. From there we headed straight to the condo. The Boland's had been there all day and we have been so many times to this place it is starting to feel very homey to us! We spent the rest of our vacation at the beach, boogey boarding, catching fish, and crabs and digging in the sand. Our friends the Hanks and the Cluffs were all down there as well and we all got together Sunday night to go crabbing on the beach at night with flashlights. Can't we all just move down there? Unfortunately we didn't find anything. We had a little cloudy, windy, and rainy weather and on Monday after lunch it kept us in the condo. Overall, it was so relaxing to be able to get away and be with so many friends and family. I didn't bring my battery charger, so I saved what juice I had to get our typical shots of the kids enjoying the beach.