For the first part of the weekend Gia, Uncle Chris, Aunt Nicole and our cousins, Addison and Christopher, joined us at the beach house. We kicked off with a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY celebration for Gia, who had a milestone birthday. We hauled a delicious cake all the way from Dublin, and the kids (and Gia) loved eating on it all weekend.
Cousin-time is such magical time. It's so fun that this crew is close in age and gets along so well! They played and swam and got into mischief.
There was a wonderful community center right down the road that had, fortunately, just reopened their fantastic playground. Even though it was a million degrees by 10AM, the kids asked to go nearly every single day.
One night we had family pictures taken on the beach. The sunsets in Boca Grande (which rests on the gulf side of Florida) are absolutely beautiful. We love how the professional pics turned out, and we'll all cherish them! Especially Gia, as we can never seem to get a candid snapshot of all her grandchildren without one of them falling apart...
One of our favorite things about Florida is our Florida Family!! Another set of Sassers (married into Pivaceks) live in Florida, and most all of them were there for most all of our trip. We had a blast with them, as did the kids. They play more than we do, haha.
JB particularly enjoyed his Aunt Candy showing him pictures of his grandfather (the original JB Sasser) from his younger days. Such a special treasured memory for him (and us!)
When we weren't lounging and swimming, there was lots of fishing. We rented a house right on the water, and James and JB would frequently drop a line to see what was biting. Late one night we went fishing for snook off of James' uncles' dock. (JB had a blast!)
JB, James and cousin Evan went out during the day, catching snook, sharks, and salt water catfish.
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| Never can be too careful in the sun :) |
Ms. Therlon has now traveled with us for three beach vacations, and we wouldn't leave home without her. We love having her with us (and hopefully she says the same!) I know one little blondie who simply could not go 10 days without her :)
Our last night there we headed to the South end of the island for dinner, and ended up catching the best view for another beautiful sunset.
And (because, yes, I still have more pictures!) a couple of randoms to remember this wonderful trip.
How I started most of my days...
And then how we spent a lot of our days...
Searching for shells (and enjoying the beautifully clear water!)
Just because, he's so stinking cute.
Golf-carting around town
Visiting the pigs and chicken next door to our rental house. They were so large and smelly, but fascinated the littler ones!
Mama got into the puzzles and then neglected her family for many, many hours of the trip. :) James reminded me that this is why we don't do puzzles at home, haha. (And, after all this, one dang piece was missing! So frustrating!!!)
Goodness, these three goobers. Love them.
The sight of all 5 of these kiddos eating each day brought a lot of laughter and joy.
My loves, enjoying the sun together - and lots of ice cream nearly every day!
And then, after all this fun, we drove 9 hours home, all 7 of us (if you count the dog, which we do) in a Suburban, fortunately carrying home lots of good memories to make it all worth it!
We had such a FANTASTIC trip to Boca Grande. We certainly played it safe and didn't venture out as much as we normally would, plus fortunately arrived home just before the pandemic brought a new wave of infections to Florida and Georgia. With so much uncertainty and turmoil going on in the world right now, we appreciated so much the quiet time with our family and loved ones, in a rather idyllic place to relax and refresh. Can't wait for the next trip!!
