Kevin and I started our trip in San Antonio for my grandmother's 80th birthday party. We had a great turnout and I saw lots of people I haven't seen since our wedding. It was great talking to everyone and eating some great food, made by my Uncle Chris. Although it added another 5 hours to our trip, we were both very happy that we made it to the party!
Once we left the party, we got on I-10 east and began our 12 hour drive. Kevin started the drive, but I really wanted to drive over a state border. We stopped, changed drivers, and I continued to drive east towards the Louisiana/Texas line. I was so excited to get there, until I realized we had another 9 hours to go!! Kevin took over for most of the trip until he got tired (around 5:00 am). I couldn't believe he drove that long!! Finally, after I drove a few more hours, we made it to the beach around 7:00 in the morning. We were crazy tired...but we were there!!
Once we got to the beach, we were ready to have fun! The house was amazing. It is the same vacation home Kevin visited as a child. He's always told me about his family trips to Blue Mountain Beach, so it was great to put pictures to his stories.
I could go on and on and on about our trip, but I think it would be best to do a list of our overall favorite things!! These aren't in any order...that would be too hard!
1. Spending time with the family. This is the first Claborn vacation with everyone together. There have been others, but not everyone could make them. We were very glad to have everyone there. One night, we took pictures along the beach. Here are a few of my favorites.
2. This goes along with spending time with family, but we loved watching our niece Ella experience the beach for the first time! I have no idea what we would have done without here there to entertain us!! She was so much fun!! We played in the sand, swam, sang songs and laughed non-stop. I love being an aunt(Rah-Rah...we're working on her calling me that!!), and Kevin loves being an uncle!!
3. Parasailing in Panama City. Unfortunately, we do not have a picture of that. We couldn't bring the camera with us! My favorite memory of that was getting dipped in the water. As we were coming down, Kevin was yelling, "Shark, Shark". There was a large fish under us, but I don't think it was a shark...
4. Crab catching at night. One night we decided to go walking along the beach. There were crabs all around us and the boys started to pick them up! My very brave sister-in-law Courtney wanted to hold one! At first I thought she was nuts...but then I wanted to!! It was so scary at first, but then was really cool!! I wasn't brave enough to pick it up out of the water, but Courtney was! You go girl!!
5. Kayaking with dolphins. Wow...this was hard work! We rented a kayak and went out a few times to catch up with the dolphins. The first time, they were way too fast! We saw them from a distance, but could never catch up. The second time we went out, we got closer, but not close enough. But the third time we went out we caught up good!! I swear we were paddling for 30 minutes before we caught up with them. They were so amazing! They got close enough to our kayak that I could touch them with the paddle. The first 2 times we went out, we had our camera. The last time we went out, when we needed the camera, we didn't have it. I will share some pictures Cory and Courtney got though! I hope they don't mind!!
6. Eating seafood...and liking it! I've always hated seafood!! As a kid, my parents would make me chicken nuggets at the family fish fry because I refused to eat fish. I've never, never, never liked it!! However, on our honeymoon, I tried a kind of fish and actually liked it! While at the beach, Kevin made it his mission to get me to eat seafood....and he succeeded!! I ate mahi-mahi, fried popcorn shrimp, tuna steak, swordfish (I did not like that), trigger fish and crab! It was all so yummy!! I even ordered my own plate of seafood....and ate it with NO KETCHUP!!! Kevin was super proud of me!!!
7. Our date night in Seaside. Seaside is the town from The Truman show. It is so beautiful and I fell in love with all the pastel home colors. Every house had a white picket fence around it with fun names. It was such a perfect place! We walked around Seaside, grabbed some drinks at a restaurant overlooking the water, and enjoyed some alone time. It was so nice spending time together and having a night of our own. When we win the lottery, we will have a house in Seaside!
Overall, we had a great trip!! I was sad to leave the beach, but happy to get back home!! I cannot wait to head back to the crystal-clear waters of Florida!! Let's pray that the oil doesn't mess anything up!!! Here a a few final pictures from a great vacation!!
No comments:
Post a Comment