After 10 years of Talking About It {Girls’ Beach Trip}

I still can’t believe we pulled this off.  We’ve talked around it for years and sort of like Kindergarten sneaks up on you-- or puberty, this trip did.  We were like “It’s time!  We can do this!”  All of our boys were old enough to leave behind and not be a huge burden on the dads.  And the girls were old enough not to be a huge burden on the vacationing moms! : )  Seriously.  You have to take those things into major consideration.  Since we couldn’t find a free place to stay on 30A, TJ found us a great place in Seagrove that met our 3 criteria- clean, affordable and on the beach.  Other than that, we didn’t really care.  

And we were on our way.  We crammed 2 cars full of all things beach and road trip snacks that represented well all of fun grocery stores in Fort Worth.  Who needs lunch with the best of Trader Joes, Sprouts and Central Market riding beside our feet? Or dinner?

And you’ll see in every picture-- this pretty much sums up their week together.

Well, sure we did.

See?

Don’t let these headphones fool you.  They hear EVERYTHING you say.  TJ was trying to remember some detail of a story she was telling me and Basden piped up from the back seat and filled in for her WHILE WATCHING A MOVIE.  Needless to say, it cut our conversation topics by at least 75%..... but we made it fine on the 25 left.

{At seems to be the only one enjoying the movie.}

 We couldn’t find the condo.  It was dark and I made the mistake of rolling down my window to say something to Sarah and Nikki as I was making a u-turn on a narrow road and a layer of condensation so thick you could ski on it covered the front wind shield and no defroster would be powerful enough to remove it-- only napkins from the glove compartment gave us a few seconds of relief.  Humidity is powerful, people.  I was driving at that point and truly, just hoped for the best.  Between the humidity fogging up the windows and tears in my eyes from laughing, it’s a wonder I didn’t drive us into the ocean.

After driving FOREVER it seemed, surprise!!! The next morning, we were all sort of stunned by this-- like a swimming pool.  The water was clear forever it seemed.  The girls snorkeled all day this first day.

This is something I have NEVER wanted to do.  EVER.

We stayed late every night we could.  As the day went on the more glorious it felt.

Ready for movie night

This was SO fun and delicious to go get doughnuts but you cannot imagine how HOT it was in here as their A/C had quit working.

Sarah treated everyone to whatever they wanted and more.

These night skies were jaw dropping.

The stark line was fascinating-- to watch it roll in like that.  We watched this one from balcony.  Lightening potential here. ; )

But we let our girls down there..... ?!?!?!?

More late nights....  we never wanted to go up.

Guessing this was lunch one day but I’m not seeing the “main dish”. Queso beside a raw veggie plate--- hmm... maybe never seen that before.  That's raw evidence of TJ and Krista traveling with Nik.

24 hours into the trip, I remember texting Jeff saying that I could not "out serve" these friends.  Every time I turned around, something was being done for me, for us, for Julia.  I couldn't think of something fast enough before it was already done.  {I picked the right people to vacay with, right?}

Humming House concert in Seaside

It was fun to watch these girls dance the night away.

All week long-- the hair train.  Fancy braids every day.

Wits and Wagers and Nutty Bars.  TJ read all the cards before we played so none of us had much of a chance of winning.  She just wanted to do the victory dance.

Creative photo credit to the fabulous Sarah Wolfe --

Creative party decor by TJ Wilson-- the birthday girl's mom- We loved spending your birthday with you, Essie!!

The girls worked on a skit all week and performed it for us Friday night.  It was very creative and we LOVED that they worked on something TOGETHER-- bigs and littles.

Maybe our favorite night-- only missing Sarah, this night-- Pizza by the Sea-- really, that was the name of the pizza shop and it was DE-LISH.  And so very convenient since TJ went and picked it up for us.  {How did we decide that was your job, anyway?}

The sunset did NOT disappoint.

These are my grown- up friends, not from my childhood, high school or college-- I met one right before Julia was born and a couple just after.  And I am really not sure how I would have survived parenting without them.  We all think we have the best group of friends {and all my amazing ones are NOT pictured here} but I do feel SO DOUBLY BLESSED by these women in my life-- and their sweet daughters.  You girls-- bigs and littles-- are truly phenomenal.  I think I'd have fun with you in a mud hole.  But I'd rather do Seagrove.