Birthday and Beach: PART 1

I actually skipped town for my BIG Birthday this year! YEP! A couple of months ago, I told Big T, "I want to be GONE for my birthday this year!" And he said, "OK! but WHERE?"! OF course I said the BEACH. I'm a beach girl, always have been. I love it. And I have missed it ! Except for Cancun, of course. And that was the Gulf of Mexcio, too!!! We went to Santa Rosa Beach this time, right outside of Destin.  We left on Saturday, July 16th and arrived around  4 o'clock. It was spic and span and such a beautiful place!! The neighborhood is a lot like Seaside, just down the road. The clapboard houses are painted different pastel colors and ours was light beige. They all have nice porches and we spent a lot of time on it, too!!! Even though it was HOT, there is always a breeze around the water so most times it was fine. The beach house had 4 full floors. On the bottom floor was the den/kitchen and a bedroom and bath. That was Katie/Jon and Carter's space! Next floor were the main bedrooms: Our master bedroom and bath and our own private balcony. Natalie/Brad had a bedroom and then there was a room with twin beds for Daisy and Kemp. Go up another flight of stairs and there was the Tower Room, which had a couch/T.V. and a place for anyone that wanted some space to go!!!......On July 17th (the greatest day of the year, BTW!), I woke up to hear Katie /Jon singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! Katie and I had already planned that we would go shopping for awhile and so we did. Jon even went and walked Carter around in his stroller. AFter shopping awhile, we went by Publix (felt right at home!) and Jon and Katie sent me off in another direction while they bought stuff to make me a chocolate c hip cookie cake--complete with candles and decorations. GUESS WHO MADE IT???? Jon did!!!! It was delish!!!!! We had the best time and it was a great birthday. I had taken all my b'day cards down to decorate my table!!!! LOTS OF CARDS!!! ANyway, later on that night, Natalie/Brad and Daisy arrived. (Kemp went down early with us). Daisy was sooo sleepy that she went right to bed and sound asleep!!!!....One VERY FUN thing that happened every night was that the BEACH FAIRY would come and bring gifts!!!! Yes, indeed, there is such a thing called the BEACH FAIRY(From the mind of GranJan HAHA) and every night, IF THEY WERE GOOD and ATE GOOD, she would leave some little gift. The SAND ELVES would report to the BEACH FAIRY! And they were so good that she came every single night!!!!! (I think GranJan enjoyed it more than the kids!).The kids loved the pool, just down a short pathway from our front porch as well as , of course, the beach. Carter only went to the beach twice. Once , early evening, so I could make pictures and then on Friday he went and we set up the Beach Hut. WE stayed about 2 1/2 hours and took a tired Daisy back with us. That gave Kemp time with his mom/dad! Natalie/kids and I went to Seaside one day and Katie and I went back shopping again (Carter slept the entire 4 hours we were gone!). On Saturday night we all did our OWN THING---Terry and I went to dinner and Katie/Jon ordered pizza and Nat/Brad/kids went to Busters and The Track! Terry and I went to "the Vue"--one of the best meals I have had in a long time! I ate the ENTIRE Steak, every single bite! The VIEW at the VUE was amazing. (hence the name!). Very calming and relaxing!!!! We got up early on Saturday/cleaned up and left. It was a great week and one I will always cherish and remember!!!!!!

*Oh, the day before we left, I went and had lunch with Mimi at Hearthstone. AND, Meghan (MaeMae) also came to Natalie's and BROUGHT ME A STRAWBERRY CAKE FROM EDGARS! AND plates/napkins/balloon and wine glasses! AND Kathy came and brought a gift for me from THE BEACH FAIRY to take with me as well as a b'day gift! Had lots of fun even BEFORE my birthday began!!!! I am also going to post pix from those too!


AND, more pix from the beach coming in the next couple of days!

Tank's video

ARMADILLOS! EEEEKS!

For the past couple of weeks we have been under attack. Yes. We. Have. The attack of the ARMADILLOS!!!!! OMG, I almost had a complete come apart when I saw a small HERD of those creatures running past my window. Somehow I had the withall to grab my camera and shoot pix of them as they scurried past!!!! I got TWO Of them on film! Well, that sent me almost into a frenzy. I was terrified of the horrible looking creatures. If you are reading this blog and are not from ALABAMA (or TEXAS haha), then you might never have seen one of these (gross) creatures. Surely cousins to our other UN-popular O-Possum, these animals are nocturnal as well. Yes, the sneaky things rumble about in the gardens of unsuspecting folks wreaking havoc on flowers and bulbs--anything with long roots! It was just brought to my attention (KRISTI! LOL) that they are also BLIND!!!! So, loud noises scare them. (almost as much as their presence scare ME!). Well, on Friday, Laura was here and I heard her scream---she called to me and I ran outside and there, out in DAYLIGHT were 2 armadillos in my FLOWERS!!!! I SCREAMED MY HEAD OFF but did run and COURAGEOUSLY got my camera and made PICTURES! UGH!!! I was screaming the whole time!! I have followed these creepy creatures on FaceBook and have had fun with all the comments. I have even NAMED them (if you can't kill 'em, name 'em!) and so here they are:
ARTHUR (yes, it was brought to my attention that is a famous Aardvark's name but so be it)/Annabelle/Armando/Karl and a new one, BEEZUS. Ok, so there they are. Nasty little fellas/girls but as someone pointed out, God did create them! HAHAHA! ANd, they DO eat slugs/scrubs. (what is a scrub?). ANyway, add to that, my  next door neighbor, Don, saw me at the mailbox yesterday and said, "Jan, I just thought I'd warn you WHAT I FOUND IN MY GARAGE..."!!!!!!!!! OH YES! He found THREE (wonder who it was? Annabelle? Arthur? Karl?), and he chased them out. BUT, he said he kept (ok, this will give you chills but here goes.....) "I heard SCRATCHING SOUNDS for TWO DAYS". Finally, he found out why. Three guesses. BEEZUS was in there! OMG!!!!!!!!! He kicked her with his shoe (He freaked when I told him they can carry leprosy!) and said he scurried off. UGH!!!!!!!! SO NOW I AM HAVING A  STROKE THINKING ABOUT ONE GOING IN MY GARAGE! OMG!!!!!!!!   Yes, I am a freak about ANYTHING that crawls or moves. And I WON'T be walking in my backyard anymore WITHOUT A FLASH LIGHT!