Seagrove on the Fourth

It was great to have a whole week away from work and our usual routine! Relaxing at the beach was a drastic improvement! We Whitfields left e-a-r-l-y on Saturday morning, and made it to Seagrove around 12:30. We were splashing in the pool when Mom and Dad arrived later on. James managed to acquire an excellent sunburn in those first few hours, and was the man with the magenta back for the rest of the week.

Leah worked on her swimming all week, and made great progress! Elise enjoyed the water, and spent most of her time playing on the steps with toys, or floating her boat while resting in Mom's arms. Although the pool was almost everyone's favorite place to be, we spent time playing at the beach every day.
On one of our last days, we all worked together and made an elaborate landscape surrounding and including a little stream of runoff from higher ground. A large dam eventually formed a small wading pool, then became structurally unsound as it got saturated, so we had to create a spillway in order to prevent the primeval forest and yurt village of indigenous peoples from being decimated. The adjacent cropland appreciated the periodic flooding and benefited from the alluvial soil deposits though. Once the Army Corps of Engineers and BLM got involved, it turned into a big mess. And when Leah and Grandaddy rammed the dam, it was all over.

While the grown-ups preferred walking in the surf, Leah loved jumping in the waves, while Elise was offended by the ocean's sneak-attack on her ankles and yelled and spit at the ocean the whole week despite her parents' best efforts to condition her to relax and enjoy it.

One night, we took the girls over to Seaside for a treat and a concert. It was really crowded, so we split and walked across the street to the beach, which was nearly deserted.

One night we ventured out to Santa Rosa and Grayton Beach for dinner and to see the sights. We stopped at "Monet Monet," a neat little open garden place in Grayton Beach, and took lots of pictures for future inspiration.

The morning of the 4th, we got up early and walked down to 30-A for the annual parade. It was HUGE! Tons of people lined the streets, and the floats were constant for an hour! The girls got a bucket full of beads and candy.

That night, we walked down to the beach around 8pm with a blanket and were amazed at what we saw when we reached the end of the boardwalk. Each time an exploding firework lit the sky, it illuminated the hundreds of people set up on the beach. We watched fireworks from Seaside, Destin, and Panama City, plus all the individual displays surrounding us. It was the best firewords experience ever for James and I, but the girls quickly got tired and were ready to go to bed. We are already looking forward to our next trip!