Seaside, FL

The weekend after the Maine wedding, I spent 3 way-too-short, but incredibly wonderful well-worth-the-trip days in Seaside, Florida with my family. My mom was going for a week and my sister and her family were there for 2 full weeks. Wish I could have stayed longer, but August just isn't a good time to take off work. I am, however, forced to take 1 day off in August for my birthday-day so I used that day and it was even legit because we celebrated my birthday while I was there! I spent a few hours in Seaside on a girls trip to Destin several years ago and knew it was a cute place, but after staying there for 3 days I fell completely in love with it. I highly recommend this adorable beach town to all of you for a family vacation or if anyone wants to take a girls trip with me, I am totally game!! Many of the houses drop their rental rates in half in August, so Beth was able to find us a super cute, very comfortable house just steps from the beach. Seaside is perfect, beautiful, and way too cute. It almost seemed too perfect at times...almost. I loved it. Here's a recap of my 3-day trip in pictures (by the way, when I got my computer fixed, they took off my photo editing software and put on a new one. I've noticed that my pics now look fuzzy in my blog, but you can click on most of them to enlarge them and then they look great!)

Our cute little house. You

could easily sleep 8 in beds!

Mom's favorite spot was reading in
the chair on the front porch.

The boys had fun playing out on the deck, too.

Ryder entertained us by playing his "guitar"All the houses were colorful and most had

white picket fences out frontOur street, Tupelo!

You might recognize this house from "The Truman

Show". The movie was filmed in Seaside.

This is Truman's house!The entrance to the beach, a 3

minute walk from our house Each street had a grand entrance to the beach Another beach entranceCutest post office in the middle of town
One of the alley-ways between homes
Cute Gazebo in the middle of the
street, right by our house. It is also in
a scene from "The Truman Show"
Brian enjoyed taking the boys on early
morning bike rides in their PJ's. Everyone
bikes to get around Seaside.>
Ryder's birthday was in July and I told him then that I
would bring his present to the beach. He could
not wait to get his hands on his gift!
Early morning swing with KayKay in their PJ's

Ryder is ready for the beach!! Beth is ready, too! Seven months
pregnant and biking to the beach!
Yeah, we're there!
Beau's ready, too! Pretty mama! Sweet Beau!

If you don't watch Beau, he'll run on in! Only

problem is he can't swim very well yet! Beau loves the water!

Sand Castles! Brian, the architect, also likes to build these

crazy Sand Castles with ramps

that tennis balls can roll down Family Fun!Ryder was afraid to be

buried, but Beau liked it!

So, Ryder thought it might be okay

Picnic lunch at the beach!

Beau standing on a pile of sand

yelling "I'm the king of the world"!

Running free on the sand

Beau, beach dancing Ryder, making a sand angel

Cuteness!

Having fun with my nephews at the beach!

There was one street that was lined with about

8 trailers with different types of food/drinks...I

wanted to try them all, but there just wasn't time!

Mom getting a cupcake! Pretty good, but

the shaved-ice stand was our fav!Mom & I ate at a Taco Stand for dinner the first night.

B&B had to go to dinner at a friend's house At the Taco Stand. Food was not great, but the

queso was good and you can't buy that in NYC!

Mom & I found a great spot to watch the sunset!

One day I biked over in Watercolor, the next

neighborhood over. They have great

bike trails and pretty gardens!

I ran every morning and Ryder loved

stretching with me afterwards.

Guess how many shots it took me to get this cute pic???

Our beach. Look closely and you'll see three

orange caps...Brian, Ryder, & BeauBrian went down to the beach really early one morning

and they were cleaning up all the stuff people had

left behind the day before. They told Brian to take

whatever he wanted. He scored 2 boogie boards,

among other fun beach toys. The boys loved

riding the waves on their new boards!

Swimming in the ocean with the boys was pretty

exhausting so Beth and I took turns. Here's

Brian & Ryder and Beth & BeauMe with Beau, Brian with Ryder on his shoulders Brian's twin brother owns a plot of land in Watercolor,

which means they have access to the "club" there.

We went one day for swimming and lunch. You

have to have a Watercolor ID w/ picture,

luckily Brian looks just like Robert!

Relaxing on the beach while the boys take their afternoon naps Fun photo ops at our beach entrance

We celebrated my birthday (early) one night

and took family pics before dinner. Sisters

The Fab 5

Waiting for the birthday cake! Which, in Florida,

was actually Key Lime Pie, of course!

I had no chance of blowing out my own birthday candles ;) B&B induldged me after dinner for a birthday

drink on the beach. Tony Romo & Jessica Simpson

went to this rooftop bar on the beach

3 times in July (pre-break-up).

Brian embarrassed me by telling the bar tender I

wanted to know where J Simp had sat and

then he made us move to that table!