the Beach: then and now

The joy of traditions... big and small. That is what this past week in St. George Island, Florida was about for me. My Dad's immediate family has been going to the beach for a week every summer since he was small. In fact, I think my Grandmother's family went to the beach every summer too. I have countless memories that bring me joy recalling these vacations. For most of my growing up years, my sister, brother and I were the only grandkids. You can see from the first picture there... we had the undivided attention of our aunts, uncles and grandparents. Things have changed! Now there are 16 grandchildren among us... and probably soon there will be great-grandkids. It is quite entertaining at moments watching my aunts and uncles parent their children. My Dad's siblings are outrageously different from one another, therefore their parenting styles couldn't be anymore dissimilar. As you can imagine everyone staying in one house together gets a little tense at moments... but the wonderful thing is that there is enough commonality and love to cushion those times and to bring us back together laughing and enjoying one another. I don't really like to think about what will happen when this tradition will come to an end, but I know it is a reality. Eventually, all my little cousins will be adults with their own families. I truly hope I will be able to stay engaged with each set of siblings somehow. They are fantastic people and fortunately these vacations have given us a way to stay connected. I can't tell you how many times this past week I had a little person throw their arms around my neck and tell me they love me. I hope that love will continue as they grow up into fantastic adults.

Some of my highlights of this week were:

Playing the rhythm game with my aunts, uncles and cousins. You know the game where you sit in a circle and everyone keeps a beat by clapping and slapping their knees. Each person has a number and you have to say your number and someone else's without messing up the rhythm? Try playing it with people ranging from 8 years old to 55; it is a lot of fun!

The crazy lightning storm on our second night. Kelly, Ben, Lance and I sat at our sliding glass door trying to capture on our digital camera the crazy sound of the thunder. It got so close that once it shook our whole condo and we saw a bright orange light flash in the sky once... we ended up losing power for several hours. I was getting worried, as the air conditioning obviously needs power. Luckily it came back on before the sun came up.

Singing our prayers. My family loves to sing--anytime, anyplace. So after every prayer before dinner, someone would start in on a rousing "Aaamen". The next thing we'd all be singing the "Amen" song in 4 part harmony.. and it would go into two and three times of it... sometimes turning into a round with someone singing "pick a bale of cotton" too. There would always be my uncle John adding in lines like, "early in the morning" and "late in the evening". I love it!

Fantastic dinners... to celebrate Kelly's birthday we had stuffed mushrooms, fresh sea scallops and it was sooo good!

Playing Guitar Hero: this video game was a hit of the week. Everyone took a turn playing old songs like "Smoke on the water" and "I love rock n roll".


ICE CREAM! We visited our traditional spot: Aunt Ebby's Ice Cream Shop. We squeezed Kelly, Ben, Lance, Peggy, Steph, Melissa and I all into our little rental car and snuck away for ice cream. Of course uncle Chip, aunt Laurie, Ashton and Caroline had the same idea, so we were all at the ice cream shop together. We sat around the table taking turns making up a story... it ended up being about unicorns, Aunt Ebby, a magical seashell and ferrets (don't ask).



Here are some of my favorite pictures from this week: