3 H’s at the beach…..

about a week ago, Marty, Jack and I went to the beach sans Garrett. The former H’s are beach fanatics. We can put in a full 8 hour beach day riding the waves, laying out, playing ball and building sandcastles. Garrett, not so much. The beach is hot. And sandy. And bright. Anyway, he wanted to stay behind in climate control paradise at my parent’s house. He had them at their beck and call all to himself for 5 days. He kicked it pool side at Pop and Gran Gran’s and had fun with visits from his cousins, trips to Target for new toys and everything his little heart could desire. The first thing he said when we picked him up was, “I’ve had lots of candy!”

I am completely surprised at how relaxing and wonderful this quick little trip to the beach turned out to be. I know having just one kiddo to ourselves really helped to make it very memorable and sweet for everyone. Now that we have done that, we’re looking forward to a special trip with just Garrett at some point.

Here are a couple of point and shoot snaps as a recap……..

We went to eat at this place one day for lunch. I grew up going here and it was fun to take Jack. Did any of you guys ever go to the Santa Maria? You can feed the fish from a hatch at your table. It’s still exactly the same…….

It was high tide and dolphins were swimming and jumping all around while we ate lunch that day…….

We also went to the Castillo de San Marcos. It was so hot. Just as hot as I remembered it from when I was last there as a kid.

Dang it was hot. See those folks behind us wearing the Spanish Soldier uniforms? Those uniforms are wool. True story, a tourist keeled over from the heat right in front of me. The paramedics came. We left in search of air conditioning.

We fell in love with an area of the Atlantic called Matanzas Inlet. Growing up, my family used to vacation every year at a house in Ponte Vedra. This area reminded me of that. Empty beach for miles, lots of shells, beach critters and waves. It was heaven! Huh, I’m just now seeing a vintage type theme here, maybe that’s why it was such a fun trip……getting to revisit places that were so special to me while growing up. Our school calendar is changing this year and we have a week long break in September. We’re heading back there for that week. I found a place that will let us bring Lulu. And we’re bringing Garrett this time too. We really did miss his ornery little self.

We chose some pet Hermit Crabs from this here bunch……..

In Old St. Augustine, we stopped into a newly opened place that makes homemade gourmet popsicles. They’re called Paletas. Deelish! The shop was called the Hyppo. Way cool place. I hear paletas are going to be the new cupcake……