Life's a Beach!

......or at least I like to think so. Every now and then, I get the opportunity to stay in my broker's beach house on Alligator Point. It's one of our most popular beach rentals, so it's very rare that it's available on weekends. I always look forward to infrequent stays there- mostly secluded and bordering the State Park, it's as if no one else exists. Well, except for the idiots who get stuck in the driveway but I'll explain later.

My husband was unable to join me the first night, but my dear friend Cathi and her children Olivia and Thomas were able to. Fall weather has come a bit early for us this year and while I'm not complaining in the least, the water has definitely cooled off and is a bit too chilly for me to enjoy. That's when lounging on the deck with a cup of coffee and the latest celebrity trash mag comes in handy. Ahhhh...... r-e-l-a-x-a-t-i-o-n. The kids occupied themselves by building sand castles and hunting shells while we observed them from the deck and reminisced about our childhood together and our many trips to this very beach.

It's amazing what washes up on the beach. Coral in nearly every color of the rainbow, an occasional starfish, shell up on shell upon shell and one of my personal faves- horseshoe crabs. They look like aliens but they're fun to play with and during mating season you'll find hundreds along the shoreline getting past third base with their date. As kids, Cathi and I would go with our families to collect coquina clams.

They're tiny- teeny tiny. Itsby bitsy. They're small if you haven't picked up on that by now. (These clams were atually a vital part in the building of St. Augustine- the oldest city in the nation. Should you get a chance to visit, check out the Castillo de San Marcos.) When digging for coquina, we would plow into the wet sand with old, hole-filled pickle buckets my father made, and scoop up mounds of sand, water and clams. While holding the bucket, you submerge it halfway into the water and give it a few twists and turns and voila... you have hundreds (hopefully) of clams. We used to collect coolers full of these muddy mollusks and take them home to cook and clean. That's NOT the fun part. After getting them home, you give them a freshwater bath and in small batches, boil them until the shells burst open and the pinky-nail sized meat is exposed. Really??? Really. Can you see how this would quickly become burdensome? Getting back to our fabulous weekend...

We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather- nice and cool in the mornings, warm during the day and cool once again in the evening. We also witnessed thousands of monarch butterflies on their annual migration to Mexico. It was as if they came out of nowhere and blanketed every available flower bloom in view. What a sight to see! Cathi took some great photos of the event! If you think these are awesome, you should see my bumper.

Fernando was able to join us late Saturday and brought our kiddies- Chewy and Lola. It has been a couple years since Chewy's been to the beach, and it was the first time for Lola. Sunday morning, it was so funny to watch each time a wave would lap onto the shore, they'd run from it. It didn't take Chewy very long before he remembered that he loves to swim and much to my amaze, jumped right in and did a few doggie paddles for us. It must have been too cold even for him because his session didn't last very long. and off he went chasing birds and exploring with Lola on his trail. Tuckered out, we all returned to the house for a little R & R. The dogs enjoyed the screened in porch while we enjoyed our ice cream goodies.


I can't think of anything quite as relaxing as the sound of water whether it be waves washing upon the shore, the trickling of a stream or a thunderstorm in the distance. I dozed off on the couch that afternoon with none of the above in my ear. I can't blame anyone- there were 5 of us and only 1 of us was trying to get a nap. That's when it happened. I don't remember the entire event, only that I heard the shuffling of feet, snickering and hushed laughs just as I got "antiqued." Since we're 5 again, it was hilarious having a handful of all-purpose flour thrown in my face as I slept. I went to bed a lamb and awoke a lion. I'm still planning my counter-attack on Fernando and have come up with a PERFECT prank and promise to blog all about it once I carry it out. I promise it will be worth reading. But until then, here are some embarrassing photos of him- enjoy!

No Cathi, I will not post the video of my ruined nap time on here. It's hideous. But...... for those of you who don't know, Cathi does a wicked impression of an Ooompa Loompa call and after much coercing, she gave us an example. Since I'm such a devoted friend, I won't post that video on here either. It's killing me and I'm starting to chuckle just thinking about her reaction when she realizes I got it on camera, but I'm a damn good friend. Yes, I just had second thoughts....

<---When am I going to have someone else take a picture?!!

The house, as I mentioned earlier is very private. Unfortunately, some beach goers don't respect a private driveway and continue to journey down until they come up to our cars and decide to turn around. There's one problem though- there's about a 30' radius of safe driveway, meaning the ground is hard and you don't have to worry about soft sand. Pull off the edge of the driveway and you're going to be waiting a while which is exactly what this nosy couple did. It crossed our minds to help them, but it was more fun watching them just stand there. The gold star of the day goes to a gentleman that works for the water company. He was kind enough to pull them out with his vehicle. After he drove away feeling rewarded for doing his good deed for the day, the idiot couple got stuck once again. Yes, really.

Shortly after a long, hot, outdoor shower, it was most definitely time to make some afternoon chocolate chip cookies. Who knew 15 minutes of patience could bring so much pleasure to one's palate! Pictured right is- errrr, was our plate of freshly baked cookies. Pillsbury rocks.

Sunday evening approached much too quickly and it was time to gather our skim beach necessities and head home. We said our goodbyes and drove off in the sunset. Not really, but it sounded like the right thing to say. Until our next beach adventure....