We are back and a new adventure begins

Today around 2:00 we got back home from St. George Island after a seven hour leg today.

John unloaded the car, repacked the suitcase, and took off for a four hour trip to Iron Mountain, Michigan where he will be training for his new job.

He will spend at least four weeks up there.

This is the first time we have ever been apart except for the birth of my babies and surgery on my eye, a total of 10 nights total.

I am excited for John to be able to start this new journey in his work life.

I can only imagine how nervous/anxious he must be, but I feel this is a very good move for him and for us.

I will miss him especially at bedtime. 

Our big king bed will be lonely without him.

 

On a different note, I want to document a few of my favorite moments from our vacation on St. George Island.

It was so wonderful to have four generations together (ages 2 - 84) and spend so much making happy memories as a family.

So here are some of those memories:

On our first night, Tizita had a photo shoot with all of us in different positions with different people.

I bought her a $5.00 Fisher Price camera at a rummage sale and she had so much fun with it.

The pictures are not great, but the fun and laughs were fantastic.

John happened to take this one so Tiz could be on it with us.

Best $5.00 I ever spent.

I love all the beach walks.  There is nothing like walking the beach and letting all your stresses go out with the waves.

John and I had lots of good walks together.

Our beautiful Coppertone House.

The view was spectacular from the decks even though we were second tier from the beach.  The walk was easy to the beach, too.

There were three huge bedroom/bathroom suites in this home, plus a room with bunk bed/double bed for Tiz and Gigi.

It was perfect for all of us.

Our dinner at the Blue Parrot which is on of our favorite places on the Island.

The food is so yummy!

The pool and hot tub at this house were awesome.

Soli enjoyed the hot tub which was really like her own personal pool.

Tiz loved the pool and her swimming skills are so good.

Enjoying many of our home made meals around the table.

We especially loved Paul's shrimp.

Good company, good food, great memories.

We all had fun posing in this big red chair.

Lots of laughs as we attempted to climb up there and sit.

I am sure we were quite the site.

We all enjoyed our Aunt Ebby's ice cream.

This is a must stop place for us whenever we visit the Island.

It was pouring rain when we came to the ice cream shop.

Tiz and I enjoying our peel and eat shrimp.

The shrimp we get up north is nothing like this shrimp on the Island.

John and I enjoyed these yummy rum runners on our last day on the Island when we went out by ourselves.

There are so many things we miss about the Island, but life goes on and we have to embrace this next adventure and embrace it, we do!

Keep posted to see how it all goes for John and I.

Our Last Day on the Island

Today is our last full day on the Island.

Tomorrow we will leave very early to start our drive back home to Wisconsin.

As with all vacation weeks, this one has gone by quickly.

In ways it seems like just yesterday that we drove over the bridge leading us to this magical place, but in other ways it seems like a long time ago.

We filled each day with fun and memory making.

 

This is our sixteenth visit to St. George, (Well, one year, we did end up unexpectedly at Cape San Blas due to Hurricane Dennis and some last minute scrambling on my part.)

Our desires in a house have changed over these years.

At first, we just wanted a house on the ocean, so the sea would be right out our back door.  We only needed one or two TV's. one bathroom, and two bedrooms.  Our needs were simple back then.

One year we had a house with a pool and there was no turning back.

There is nothing better than jumping in the pool right after a bike ride, walk, dip in the sea, or even a hot car ride.

With our granddaughters along, a pool is a must.

We no longer need to be right on the ocean.  Now that we need a bigger house with more amenities, we could not afford the ones right on the beach, so we go a tier or two back.  As long as we can see and hear the waves and have easy access to the beach, we are fine.

 

We have made many  memories on this Island over the years.

Many family members have joined us on the Island over the years.

John and I have celebrated New Year's Eve on this Island.

Courtney and Paul were married on this Island.

Four generations joined us on this trip to the Island.

 

Yep,, St. George we love you and we are going to miss you, but leave you, we must.

Home and new adventures await us.

 

I will leave you with just a few of our favorite memories from this trip:

Little girls playing with water on their very own deck.  It was like a giant play pen for them and they loved it.  We heard lots of laughing coming from here.

Renting a surrey bike for the first time on the Island.

 The community hat

 Great times in our pool

 The hot tub

Spending time with those you love the most

 Here are our four generations on the beach

 Teamwork to fill up our many hot tubs made on the beach

Soli and Tiz in their homemade hot tubs

 Tiz eating her prize dessert won at a Trivia contest she took part in

 Great food and company at the many restaurants

Eddy Teach's for beers and a live band and a visit from Marge's friend, Sheila

 Walks on the beach and big waves

 Quiet moments

 Fun with Aunt Lissa

 Our beautiful home, Coppertone House

So, with all these memories stored safely away in our hearts and minds, we will enjoy our last day and move on.

God willing, we will be back.

 



Our Day at the St. George Island State Park

 We discovered the beautiful gem of St. George State Park the very first time we were ever on the Island and a visit here would not be complete without a trip to this park.

 We packed up the beach supplies we would need and took off on Monday Morning for the park.

 One thing that I really like about the park, is that the beach is always deserted.  No other people as far as the eye can see in either direction.

The beautiful sand just goes on and on and on.

 It was the perfect day for hot tub building and

 Playing in the very wild sea.

 The girls worked very hard on their "hot tub."

It required a lot of digging.

 This is Soli motioning to us to, "Come here."

 Soli is enjoying the sand and sea much more than her first day.

As long as she approaches it on her terms, she is fine.

And really, aren't we all like that.  I know I like to have control over the situation.

 Tiz's hair gives the term, "blowing in the breeze," a whole new meaning.

 Alissa joined in when it was time to fill the hot tub.

 But since it is such a hard job to keep that hole fixed, we all helped out with the filling process.

 Finally, it was complete and both girls were able to enjoy their hot tub by the sea.

 When a big wave washed it away, it was time to rebuild.

Good lessons are learned at the sea everyday.

 I thought a pickture of the Van Auken family and the sea would be a fine idea.

 At one point I asked them to jump on the count of three, but something went terribly wrong here.

In all honesty, it may have been the fault of the photographer.

We laughed so hard at this picture.

Sp

 Soli and Bumpa took a nice walk up the beach together.

There is a special bonding that only can take place next to the sea.

 Soli enjoyed jumping in the waves with grandma and grandpa, too.

Soon, it was time to pack up our things and go back to our vacation home to see what other adventures awaited us on the Island that day.