Take a Trip with Me . . .

Well, this may be the LONGEST weekend update with photos EVER on my blog!!! So, if you have somewhere else to go . . . by all means, go do what you need to do and then come back later. But if you can indulge me for a few minutes, grab a cup of coffee (or, if you're like me, your favorite diet soda) and sit back to enjoy a Photo Recap of our weekend trip to Florida.

We headed out early Saturday morning (we were on the road at 5:30 am) and made great time to Westville, Florida (about 45 minutes north of Panama City Beach). We were there for a family reunion organized by Gary's Gan Gan (his mom's mom) at the homeplace of Mama and Daddy Bill (Gan Gan's parents). Gary often visited Westville as a child and had fond memories of their home and his great grandparents (they stopped visiting around his 10th birthday or so, after they were both passed away).

Before we attended the actual reunion (meaning=eating lots of food!!), we walked the two houses down to Mama and Daddy Bill's house. The first thing I was struck by was the gorgeous flowers in the yard (Gary said that Mama always had the most beautiful flowers!); in fact, as soon as entered this Florida county, we noticed gorgeous, bright azaleas everywhere!! I've never seen any as beautiful!

So, let's get this photographic journey started (are you ready? lol) . . .

This is the old homestead...





The azaleas (when I saw these amazing flowers, I actually thought of you Maria!) ...


We took a TON of pictures in front of these flowers (every combination of family members possible, because they were just the perfect backdrops)...


There were also camelias everywhere...


Now, these are my absolutely FAVORITE pictures at the old house and out back. The backyard was completely overgrown and run-down and provided the best photo opportunities for Gary. The girls were calling this the door to a secret garden...





I had to have Gary sit on the front porch with Delaney in his lap, because we have the most wonderful old picture of Gary when he was maybe 5 or 6 sitting with Daddy Bill on a porch swing at this exact same spot (I think I can imagine a scrapbook page coming from that! lol) ...

And then a few family photos, of us and then the cousins ...




By this point, Sydney was saying: "But I don't wan another pictchure"...


And then a few shots of the actual reunion inside the community center (starting with a pic of me with the camera! lol) ...








Once a lot of food had been consumed and we had met a whole slew of cousins that we never knew existed (I told you Delaney would be amazed by that, and she was!!), and once we had plenty of time to reminisce and to let Gan Gan know how much we appreciated everything she'd done to make the reunion special, the girls and I decided to drive down to Panama City Beach for a quick little beach trip. Gary didn't go (I think just because he was so tired of driving all the way down there, and he wanted to sit down and relax and visit with his parents), but the girls and I had a BLAST! We didn't have our bathing suits, of course (and even though it was a gorgeous day--about 85 degrees!!!--the water was still VERY cold!), so we ended up getting wet. But it didn't stop us from running into the water, walking along the beach, digging up seashells, and building castles in the sand. A truly beautiful day...






I love these next two pictures, because I usually have to "stage" the hand-holding pictures everytime we go to the beach.But this time I didn't! I just looked up and there they were, holding hands and enjoying the waves coming in on their feet! It was so sweet and just made me smile . . .




And then Scout enjoyed digging in the sand. She didn't want to leave, as you can probably imagine...






Thank you for taking that little trip with us. I hope that it gave you a nice little "escape" for a few minutes!!

Looking forward to a big week ahead full of ALL sorts of good stuff---birthdays (McKenna's having a "Food, Flicks, and Java" outing on Friday night with seven of her friends, a Scrapbook Day at church on Saturday, and a Princess Party on Sunday with Scout. Also on the weekend will be an Easter Egg hunt and a children's Easter drama performance at church that Delaney actually wrote! SO much fun stuff going on! One of those weeks that sound tiring just thinking about, BUT that I will know will be absolutely full of memories!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend yourself and that you have a lot to look forward to!