June 8

If it wasn’t so hot I would have thought it snowed. The white sands of Florida beaches are definitely something. The kids were up with the sun this morning eager to hit the beach. We got breakfast and all packed up to go and then checked the clock to find that it was 9:02. The shuttle to the beach left at 9:00, we knew by the time we walked down to the stop the shuttle would have been long gone. So we all picked up a bag and started walking. It was actually quite a nice walk. A little long, but really pretty and peaceful. I love to hear the sound of the surf, that little touch of salt in the air and the seagulls calling. There was a bit of excitement when someone spotted a rattlesnake sunning itself right smack dab in the center of the trail. I was glad for fellow walkers because we would have not recognized it as a rattler and the kids would have most likely tried to catch it like they try to catch all the little critters we have seen. We steered clear of the snake and made it to the beach alive. We also made it out of the beach alive which was for some of us, was a miracle.

I love the beach, the sun, the water,and the sand. The sheer power of the surf excites me. We played on the beach and in the water till about 2:00. We sky started darkening up not long after we arrived and it just kept growing darker and darker till about 1:30 Rick looked up and said, “we better go” , we are going to get dumped on any minute. We packed up and noticed it was just minutes til shuttle time so we booked it up to the shuttle stop hoping that my some miracle we could make it in time so we didn’t have to walk again, especially if it was going to pour. We made it just minutes before the shuttle. Luckily the driver said there was a lot of bike traffic on his way up so he had to go pretty slow which made him about 10 minutes late. Yeah for us.

The water was super warm, in fact I don’t think I remember ever feeling ocean that warm, including the Caribbean and Hawaii. It was like a bathtub. Taylor jumped right in and Anna followed. Rachel searched for shells, made sand castles and ran along the beach kicking sand and water onto the sun bathers. Anna has become quite the little fish. She swam out so she was playing in the waves. She would dive under them or try to ride them. She let her self get knocked around. It scared me to death because she is such a tiny girl bobbing in the waves I wasn’t sure if she would come back up every time she went under. After a few minutes of dong that she was start crying Mom, Mom and reach for me. I would grab her and she would hold on for a few minutes and catch her breath. With a son and a husband whose main goal was to dunk me I had a hard time staying focused on Anna. I was scared she would tire out and try and grab me and I wouldn’t be there. All was well though. Anna survived and although Taylor did get me under once or twice I think it was clear who dominated the water wrestling and it wasn’t Rick or Taylor.

Before long the kids discovered there were 1000’s of tiny fish swimming around. They decided they had to catch some. They really made a valiant effort. Dallin, Ryan and Anna all spent much of the afternoon trying to catch a fish. Those little fish are amazing though. You can swim right through them and see the school move with each of your movements. They could not be caught. They also picked up shells and built sandcastles. It was a wonderful day.

After we showered and got dressed we headed out. We were hoping to make it as far north as possible that night. We set a goal to make it to Jacksonville but pushed so hard we made it there by early evening so kept right on going. We made it just North of the South Carolina boarder when we were both to tired to drive anymore. I was driving and accidentally went into the Truck area of the rest area. I didn’t want to sleep with the trucks so I tried to go back and get into the car parking lot. I got stuck at a dead end with nowhere to turn around. Rick came to my rescue though and drove up over the curb on the sidewalk and into the car lot. The parking lots were full but it was late enough that pretty much everyone was in their rigs with the lights off so I don’t think anyone noticed my little mistake. We parked , turned off the rv, folded down the beds and were all asleep in 10 minutes flat. That is the way to travel.