A Wonderful Beach Trip -- minus an arm and a leg...

In spite of the seafood buffet that now owns one of Adam's arms and one of my legs,

 we had a wonderful time on our first trip to the east coast.
(See previous post for Chloe's reaction to seeing the ocean the first time)

 I was not anticipating taking this picture or I would have had them remove their shoes. 

 But, usually, I have to take what I can get when I can get it.  

We met Adam's aunt and uncle and cousins at the beach... kind of a spontaneous plan.. 

Adam's cousin Ryan and his wife Nikita

They're so sweet together and expecting a baby in October.

So spontaneous that the place I wanted to stay was booked. But not so spontaneous that I didn't have time to prepare for the trip.. I cooked all of our food before we went.  I like to take our own food on trips for two reasons: One being nutrition.. I hate to go on a trip and come back and feel like we've eaten junk the whole time. And two, the more obvious reason: It's way cheaper.  I made room in the budget for one moderately price meal out (and by moderate I mean your average 12-16.95 sit down meal).  Everything for me is on a budget and I can pinch a penny until it screams.. This being the case, you might  guess how frustrating it was to me that when there was a two and a half hour wait for Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett is our idol) and having two hungry children, we landed at a Seafood Buffet.. No prices were posted. But, I thought, how much can a buffet cost right? I have now made my one spontaneous purchase for the year (last years was a picture frame).  We were surprised to find that buffets can cost quite a bit.. 28.95 a person to be exact!!! Thank goodness Chloe's was free and I made Emma order off  a kids menu instead of getting the buffet because there is no way she eats 2.95 worth of food much less 28.95.. So she had an $8 hamburger.. Adam and I ended up stuffed way beyond our comfort, trying to eat our money's worth.  And we road home in a hot car because I was trying to make up the difference in the cost of gas.. Okay, I'm not that tight.. Actually, Adam donated plasma.. Okay, kidding there too but I'm sure I'll figure out a way to make up for it somehow.  Anyway, besides that one little hiccup (no pun intended) the trip was just perfect.

Adam showed off his body surfing skills..

 And for all of our college friends with your cute little comments on facebook... He's really good...I mean, I realize that typically, he's an optical illusion, only looking like an athlete.   But the body surfing is the one glaring exception to his lack of athletic coordination.

 He's not a bad teacher either and Emma has mastered the skill as well.

I spent most of my time sitting on the beach enjoying the most delightful "sand pies" served to me by the cutest little waitress I've ever seen..

And I sat back and imagined that I was "nibblin' on sponge cake, watching the sun bake".. 

And, I came home with the accomplishment of succeeding at "Operation Eat our Sunscreen".. I'll do a separate post with specific details on this soon so that I don't bore those of you that don't care.  But, we have spent the last few months stuffing ourselves with "superfoods" that provide internal sunscreen.. I did apply sunscreen the last two hours of the last day because I thought the girls cheeks were getting a little pink.  But, that was the only sunscreen we used the whole trip and we all are sporting nice golden tans without a patch of pink to be found.  

We will definitely be spending more time in the future on the east coast and we are excited to visit Hilton Head Island in a few weeks when we go down for a day or so to see our friends, George and Jay and their kids while they're vacationing there.  

And a few last highlights from the trip...

                           Blessings,