To the Beach!!

Since we are so far away from our family this year, we got to go to Florida for Thanksgiving, and visit Joel's Aunt Barbara and Uncle Herb and cute little Grandma....

All along the way it was pretty drizzly
which made the drive kind of cozy......
About half way there somewhere in the middle of Mississippi, Joel wanted to get out to stretch for a bit, so we pulled over into a parking lot and saw this store, and decided to check it out....... And this is what we found....I had never seen anything quite like it!! Things were piled and thrown EVERYWHERE!! Everyone was trying to push their "buggy"(as they say here in the south...) through this mess, one lady had a wig tangled up under her front wheels...things were jumping off the shelves as you walked by.....we somehow actually ended up buying 2 "great deals" and got back on the road.... By the time we got to Gulf Breeze it was pitch black, we met his aunt and uncle, had some yummy pot roast for dinner and went to bed. The next morning we were super excited to get out and sight see. We spent Thanksgiving morning at the beach..... All the soft white sand looked like snow drifts along the roads.....
We drove around and looked at all the neat beach houses..... We saw a Florida national forest "camping ground", not quite sure what happened to all the trees?? We stopped and walked around an old fort where Geronimo was captured for awhile.... We went to the beach again.....We saw a Jellyish......We saw a little tree frog...... Then we went back home to a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner...... and I got to meet Joel's grandma....she was so cute. She told us several times how much she loved having Barbara read biographies to her and that her favorite one was of Elenore Roosevelt.....she tried to give me a pair of warm winter boots she thought she may have an extra pair of laying around somewhere, but my feet were too little.....after a moment of silence she randomly asked loudly during dinner if I'd ever milked cows :) I actually have milked one before and she was quite impressed.....she loved my long hair.....she loved how tall Joel had gotten....we heard several times how wonderful aunt Barbara was to her everyday and how much she wished Joel's dad could be there....
Little did she know....he flew in late Thanksgiving night to surprise her the next day...
She was beyond excited to see him....she laughed and cried and gave him hug after hug....they talked and laughed and remembered the good ol days..... We went to the Pensacola Air Museum..... If you let your husband have the camera, you end up with several pictures like these..... :) We went out for dinner and had the most AMAZING Key Lime Pie for dessert......We went to the beach......AGAIN!
We saw a little crab, who was not alive.....
And then.....came the little sting rays!! They were so cool! They swam right up to the shore!

We got to visit with grandma some more in the Gazebo...
We went to a great little Irish pub for dinner....the food was DELICIOUS!!

And their ENTIRE ceiling throughout the WHOLE restaurant and down every hallway is covered in $1.....there are over a million of them!! So we added one of our own......
We got to go to church and hear Uncle Herb's sermon...he is a retired preacher of 30 years...but luckily the very Sunday we were there he was filling in for someone who was out of town, so we got to see him!
Then it seemed almost as soon as it had begun it was all over....and sadly it was time to say goodbye.....
Barbara packed us some treats for the ride home....we hugged and said our goodbyes, and we were off....
We got stuck in horrible traffic because of some road work....it was pretty much stand still for an hour!
So we just made the best of it.....we watched the last half of The Little Mermaid(without sound) from the DVD player in the car ahead of us.....sang Christmas songs....and took lots and lots of pictures of the clouds and beautiful sunset....
We had a great time.....we really needed it! We are sad its already come and gone...but we will just look forward to next time!