#296 - Crescent Beach

For more than 10 years, the Garces/Worth (and more) families travelled to Crescent Beach, Florida for an annual vacation at the beach.  Some of my earliest memories take place there, playing with Jenifer and Heidi and Joey and Holly and Alex and Becky all my other cousins and friends-that-are-so-close-they-might-as-well-be-cousins.  I don't know when we started going, but there are pictures of Jenifer in diapers on the beach, so it was at least the early 80s.  I think I was 14 the last year we went.  And, for the past 20 years, my cousins and I have often reminisced about those weeks at the beach, and promised that one of these days, we were going to restart the tradition.  I think this was the year.

It's tough to describe how meaningful it was to return to the Crescent Sandpiper with my husband and two children.  The Sandpiper looked the same, just newer.  The beach was bigger than my mind remembered, the pool smaller, and the beauty of the area more magnificent.  It exceeded my expectations.  And, to make it even more special, we celebrated Owen's 5th birthday while we were there!

Our unit was fantastic, and so conveniently located to the pool and beach.  Really nice with two small kids.  Although we were the only ones that rented a unit, I think the rest of the family was as eager to return as we were.  Over the course of the week, we had 19 different people in our condo!  (Jenifer, Kaylin, Aunt Kay, Uncle Joe, Little Joe, Maria, Baby Joey, Papa, Dad, Catherine, Mom, Leighton, Aunt Christy, Uncle Bobbie and Aunt Debbie, and the four of us)

I'm pretty sure the tradition has been restarted!

I've uploaded 75+ pictures, so I'll probably need to break this up into two posts, so here goes the picture recap:

This was our view out of our condo the first morning we woke up in Crescent Beach.  Just beautiful!

We had a great location - second unit from the end, on the ground floor.  It's the condo on the left in this picture.  Literally just steps from the pools and the beach.

Looking back at the condo from the beach on our first night there.  The setting sun was so pretty.

The evenings proved to be the very best time to be on the beach.  We had the entire beach to ourselves, and the weather was just perfect.  

Benjamin being goofy.  You'll notice that in many of the pictures he is not wearing pants.  It's because his bathing suits were giving him horrible rashes where they rubbed on his thighs, so we eventually just left them off him.

The two boys being boys

If there was a sand castle around, Benjamin insisted on stomping on it.

Me and the boys!

Our first day of visitors - Maria, Joe, Joey, Uncle Joe, Owen, Katie, Kaylin and Aunt Kay

The whole family after a day at the beach and in the pool with our sun-kissed cheeks

Benjamin (2), Joey (11 months), Owen (5) and Kaylin (5)

Grandmother and Grandfather flew down late Sunday night and stayed through Wednesday

Grandmother and Benjamin playing in the sand

Nothing beats a walk on the beach at sunset

Heather and Mike got the boys kites for their birthdays, and they were a huge hit!  We flew them most nights.

Stopping for a picture while flying the kite

Our handsome little 5 year old

Just beautiful

Hopping from hill to hill - being a boy

The pantless kite flyer

Goofing off in the pool

One of our traditions is to eat at O'Steen's restaurant.  Literally.... the best fried shrimp in the world.

At dinner

Papa came down from Jacksonville to help eat the shrimp.

Waiting on the bench.  Look at those squints - think they are related?  :-)

Lou, Katie, Benjamin, Papa, Owen, Grandfather, Jenifer, Kaylin and Grandmother

Papa with two of his grandchildren and three of his great-grandchildren

Benjamin being a stinker

Kaylin and Aunt Jenifer

Grandfather and Grandmother

Grandfather and Grandmother with Kaylin

Cousins....  seeing them play together this week reminded me so much of how little Joe and I used to play when we were their ages

An attempt to get a picture of the three of them.  It was harder than you could imagine.

My little guy

He caught the tail of the kite!

Takes my breath away

More to come....

#230 - End of the School Year

Owen's last day of school was on Friday, and we got to see him sing all the songs they learned throughout the school year during the 3-year old program.  It was a little unsettling to see him with his classmates because he's so very shy at school.  He's truly a different child there - quiet and reserved, yet extremely well-mannered and kind to everyone (that part is not different!).  It kind of makes us sad.  But, part of it is our fault, I think.  He only went to school two days a week for half days.  And, he was in a class with mostly full-timers, so I just don't think he ever really fit in.  I would not choose that schedule again.  

Now, next year, he'll be in Pre-K, and will be in school from 8-3 every day of the week.  He'll get more than enough school time!  And fortunately, despite his shyness, he exceeded every milestone and educational goal for his age group this year, and in most cases, is ahead of the Pre-K goal! (Okay, I'll stop bragging.... I just can't help it!)

Can you spot Owen?  I purposely dressed him in the neon shirt!

Owen with his teacher, Mrs. Cheryl, and his buddy Braxton.  Mrs. Cheryl really loves Owen, and took our shy little boy under her wing to keep him engaged at school.  She's a really good teacher.

Friday afternoon, we went to Jacksonville for Kaylin's birthday party.  More about that later, but for now, a few pictures from Friday night.

Owen helped Aunt Kay in the kitchen all night! 

Owen and Kaylin playing with Aunt Heidi.

Papa with his great-grandson, Benjamin...

and other great-grandson, Owen!

#187 - Happy Birthday and Anniversary!

This weekend, we celebrated Lou's 40th birthday and our 5th wedding anniversary.  We decided to take some time off work and spend the weekend in Atlanta, and we had a wonderful time!  

On Friday, we drove by Lou's old loft in Cabbagetown.  The area has changed so much.  There are shops and stores and restaurants everywhere.  It has very little resemblance to the borderline ghetto in which we used to hang out.  Then, we drove by the house we bought right before we got married in Briarcliff.  Surprisingly, the neighborhood has changed very little.  We ate at the same Fellini's at which we used to always eat.  The houses looked the same, and some of our neighbors were still there.  It was fun reminiscing!

Then, we headed to my dad and Catherine's house.  Papa was in town too, and it was awesome to have all four generations together and spending quality time with each other.  We got to enjoy the pool in the backyard and Catherine put together a fabulous dinner to celebrate Lou's birthday and our anniversary.  

One of our favorite parts of our wedding was our fabulous wedding cake.  It was actually a tower of cheesecakes in three different flavors.  We froze the top layer and ate it on our one-year anniversary and it was still delicious!  So, I decided to surprise Lou and get a cheesecake from that bakery this weekend.  Well, as the weekend got closer, I realized he had planned the same surprise for me!  We clearly know each other well.  And..... it was as yummy as we had remembered it.

 The Saez Family

 Four generations

 Owen having fun with Johnny

Benjamin and Grandmother

 

Johnny, Robbie and O

 Papa and Owen - Seeing them play together is a memory I will never, ever forget.

Grandfather and Owen

One of the highlights of the weekend was Catherine and Dad volunteering to keep the boys Sunday night so that Lou and I could have a night out on the town.  It was such a treat!!!  We got a room at the InterContinental hotel in Buckhead, which is the hotel we stayed in on our wedding night five years ago, although this time we were not in the Presidential Suite.  However, having two little ones at home, any night alone in a hotel without kids is better than any suite!  We met some good friends of ours for dinner at Ecco, a wonderful restaurant in Midtown.  We ate delicious food and emptied many, many wine glasses and then cabbed it back to the hotel for a night of uninterrupted sleep. Happy Anniversary to us!

On Monday, after picking up the boys at Grandfather's house, we met the Flemings at the Georgia Aquarium.  It was Owen's first time and as you can imagine, he loved all the sea life.  It was a great way to end a really nice weekend!

Owen and Daddy "under water"

The girls and the kids

 Owen and Lou in the penguin exhibit.  Owen got up close and personal.