Cape San Blas '26

 We have made it home from our family vacation to Cape San Blas. This will be the 4th time since 2020 that we have made it over to the Cape. I have mentioned before, we used to go in the 1990's all the time, and then Hurricane Michael hit and it made me think it could really change it over there, so we decided to get back to make this a tradition for the little ones. I don't know if we will go every single year, but this unique location is a hit with our family.

My children took so many good pictures. I promise not to share all of them, but I am going to use some photos just to tell the story and document our family time. There was of course the crazy stuff happening which I suppose makes for interesting blog fodder.

We arrived in Indian Pass on Thursday afternoon and ate together while waiting for the house to be open for us. There is a place over there where you can take the dogs and we had Gus and my daughter's dog too.  While sitting on the screen porch and perspiring I say, "I do hope my chocolate frosting is not melting in the truck." This trip just like last year coordinated with Jeff and Paul Allen's birthday which are on the 10th and the 12th. Paul Allen offers to go out and check on it and maybe bring it in out of the truck. He calls me and asks where is the cake? He can't find it. ---- Oh and I am sure you are already guessing. Sandy left here beautiful delicious tradition cake at home on the counter. It was going to be my last thing to put in the truck. Something happened and distracted me right as I should have been picking it up off the counter.

It was sitting right there on the counter where I left upon returning today. Still delicious!

At least there were cookies that Lindsay had been in charge of. Since Jeff was turning 65, we decided to do a 1970's theme so that is what the decorations are all about. Don't worry, we didn't forget Paul Allen. We will get to that.

We did have them blow out a candle more for the little ones and ate pizza the first night.

But.....before we got to the pizza and birthday stuff, I took the boys out on the dock of the house. We were on the bay side again this year in the same house as last year. Lindsay had walked out to the end of the dock. The boys and I were going to go down from the dock walkway to look at the fiddler crabs that are literally everywhere.

Here is a picture of the dock so you can get a feel for the next story. Do you spy the stairs on the right going down to the grass?

Well, we went down those stairs and under the walkway to the area to the left. It was there that my story begins...

We were walking single file with Tucker in the lead, followed by Miles, then me and Palmer. Tucker steps into an area and says it is mushy. I then said, well we probably shouldn't do this. We should wait for the tide to go down more and then go in from the water rather than the grass.

Tides in the bay are extremely pronounced in St. Joe Bay. In the morning, you can not walk in many of these places because the water is way up. By evening, you can walk way out beyond the deck to a sandbar out there. There are grasses teaming with so much sea life in them too. Not scary ----

Because trust me, I am a very prissy girl and scared of my shadow.

Back to the story. Miles who is scared of nothing goes ahead of Tucker and ignores my saying we should go back. He really wanted to see the fiddler crabs up close. 

He gets out there and sinks into the mud. I didn't have time to be scared or anything, I just did what a grandmother would do. I went after him. I also sank. He began to cry and I am so glad he did because I was just in robot mode. His Mama heard him from the screened porch and came running. Just as she reached us, I was able to reach out and grab his hand and pull him out. Honestly adrenaline helped me pull him out. She gathered him up and put him on from ground and then had to pull me out. I was in above my knees and could not do a thing. It was like quicksand, only mud. My flip flops are deep in the mud and will never be found. I think they are a good 2 feet down based on the mud lines on my legs. 

The scene --- 

I took this the next day and you can see our sinking spots had filled in.

BTW, dishwashing soap gets mud out of white shorts

Lindsay finally heard us and was making it up the walk way. She said she thought I was doing a science experiment with the boys and sitting down. It would have been a likely explanation if it had not been a disaster. Paul Allen walked Miles back around all the places so he would not be overly fearful. 

It was quite a story. I promise other than all the things that happened to Tyler like flat tires, phone dying, etc. it was the most delightful vacation. 

On with the rest.

Friday was a day of boating. We always think we have the bay to ourselves. It is much less crowed than our area. 

We found all our usual sea life. 

Tucker with a sponge. Don't worry. We put it all back in the water.

Paul Allen was our captain.

Jeff enjoying Lindsay as we boated around.

The 3 Musketeers.

We picnicked. Valerie had a blast.

Large sand dollar find.

Valerie inspecting the finds.

Katie and I with starfish and a sea urchin.

Saturday we all did different things. Jeff and I went in to Port St. Joe for lunch. If you ever go there and you love seafood, you must eat at the Uptown Raw Bar and Grill. They make the most delicious steamed seafood anywhere.

I forgot to mention there were multiple trips to the Gulf side to enjoy the beach too. 

It was a full trip with lots of activities.

Tyler cooked for us on Saturday evening. He makes some fantastic Italian food which is my favorite and when you combine it with seafood...oh wow!

There were trips to get ice cream, card games after the little ones went to sleep and such good discussions with our children. 

The kind that leave you feeling so blessed.

Oh and Katie changed out the 1970's decor for Paul Allen's birthday. It has something to do with The Office (old TV show). Katie has learned about things she never could have dreamt with Paul Allen's TV shows. 

Oh on the boating day, we dropped Tyler back at the house before we took the boat back so he could go get the fish for his Italian dinner. He snapped this pick of the pups. They were being good dogs while we were gone.

It was such a good trip. I am refreshed and tired all at the same time.

One more cool thing about the Cape. It is mostly old Florida and only beach houses, no condos. Port St. Joe is an old Florida town too. I happened to walk Gus out in the middle of the night one night and looked up. The stars were amazing. There are no street lights or light pollution. It was incredible. I could see the Milky Way. That was a treat for me.

The trip is documented and I will be back soon with some stitching updates and other stuff. 

Sandy

Trip to Cape San Blas

Since my last post, our family made it back to Cape San Blas for a weekend. After one trip was canceled and trying to find a house for another weekend, Lindsay said why not just go sooner than we had planned. I feel like it was a fast decision, but we were lucky enough to find a house. We just planned and packed quickly. This time we stayed on the bay side rather than the Gulf side. 

One thing is for certain, the bay will win out for future trips. We always went to the bay when the kids were little, but when we went in 2020 we got a Gulf side house. Hands down all loved the bay side, so Sandy will just have to walk over to put her toes in the Gulf side. Now, the bay is actually just trapped Gulf water so really I am getting my salty experience on either side. If I am honest, I liked the bay side too. The one who didn't or maybe he did was Gus. Gus was a bad dog though. He couldn't relax because he could see everything from the window so no one was leaving out that back door without him. He didn't understand the salty taste of the water. He threw up all the salt water that he ingested despite my best efforts. Next time, he will stay home with a sitter.

Other than that we had a marvelous time together soaking up the quiet life the Cape holds.

Here are a few photos of the trip.

Sunrise and you can see low tide. The tides are very prominent in the bay and bring with them loads of sea life. We didn't keep any of it...just enjoyed seeing it. All of the sanddollars and starfish are alive.

Tucker did reel in a small shark. He was quite proud and asked if anyone his age had ever caught a shark before? HA!

View from the porch. The water you see is wonderful for swimming. Shallow and clear. Pure Gulf water. Lots of patches of grass for finding starfish and sand dollars and other things too.

Jeff and Paul Allen's birthdays were last week but we waited until we got to the Cape to celebrate. I felt like I rushed their birthday a bit, but I think they would have chosen the trip over the regular day we usually have.

The boys put each one of those candles in the cake. I also felt he cake was rushed. It is the fudge frosting that I know is popular in the south. Not sure about other parts. It is time consuming and I didn't even clean up the cake pan. I was making it the night before we left.

I failed to get a better picture of the birthday boys. When you have 3 little boys around, the mind doesn't work as well as it once did. They did however get the candles blown out and the cake was delicious! All that icing was cleaned up off the pan before we left for home. Paul Allen is 33 and Jeff is 64. I have 9 months on him.

I am back worn out and spent most of yesterday moving slowly. Grateful that we got to go and now there will be a knee replacement for Jeff in July and of course the usual with Mom. I am still planning a day a week for tutoring Tucker. I am also doing something each week with the kids. It is a busy season, but I am grateful to be able to share time with them. 

In my next post I will share more about what I have been stitching on and a book I read. I have 2 new books sitting in my stack ---deciding which I will start today. Both look like they will be great.

The stitch is a gift for a family friend that graduated from high school this year. I had no idea she would like a stitch, but I got word she would.  I am just trying to finish it by the end of June. More details later on it.

 

Tired, but oh so grateful for time with family making good memories. 

Sandy

Family Vacation

 How do I even begin this post as my heart is so full?

I have had a hard year since last June. The events of the last 12 months have taken a toll on me, and I am sure it is obvious even here on the blog where I try to post my happiest of days and thoughts. I certainly got my cup filled and my body and mind recharged this week. I am so grateful, so indulge me while I post tons of pictures for my family to relive our vacation.

We went to our favorite place to recharge on the beach and bay of Cape San Blas. It is a unique place left in a state that looks so different even from my 60+ years. The bay is not fed by a river, but is actually Gulf of Mexico waters so it makes for a unique ecosystem and such amazing beauty. Over the years we have stayed on the bay and gulf side of the cape. This year we actually stayed at the bottom of the U which is shown in red on the following picture. This area was breached by Michael which is coming up on its 6th year anniversary in October. It will always be easy to remember its date due to Tucker being born a week later, but honestly, here in the south we know our storms by name.

We arrived to the rental on Wednesday about 4:00 and immediately the boys wanted to go to the water, but the adults were thinking what a view we had. We really didn't know we were going to be that lucky.

The screened in porch was across the back and became a hot spot of activity when we were at the house. You could hear the waves and soak up that salty air. I only needed a bed out there and I would have slept there each night.

One only had to walk down the boardwalk and then sandy trail to the beach. Even Gus got to see the beach for the first time. He only gets to go by boat to our bay, but dogs are not allowed on beaches here.

The vibe and the amount of people is nothing like our beach. It is not prettier, just a whole lot less crowded. More about that in a bit.

As soon as the word was given after unpacking and getting supper on the table, the family headed down and although the boys were in shorts from the drive they were in the water despite any objections from parents.

Now, Jeff did not try to walk that path to the beach, but he was able to do so much. He just didn't want to try and wade through the sand with his foot which is a story too.

In this next picture, you may notice Palmer's head is under water. I am not sure if he meant to do that, but he never said a word. Katie noticed it after the pictures were made. He is right in front of Tucker. 

Gus got to go down 2 days and swim and walk. He behaved very well and was very good at the house. I think he had a good time too. He didn't particularly like getting left for the boat rides, but he and Hallie (Lindsay's elder dog) did well.

The next 2 days we got up and after breakfast headed out for a boat ride on St. Joe Bay. All we had to do was drive to the state park which on the map is the northern third of the cape. We loaded on our pontoon boat and on the first day went to multiple spots on the bay. Paul Allen and Tyler handled everything so Jeff got to sit back and enjoy the ride. I truly can't say enough about how grateful I am for my children. They have helped me so much and made this trip one for my history book.

The second day we pretty much anchored at one location that was shallow enough for swimming and near the grasses for snorkeling. The darker water in the pictures has grass with tons of life in it. Scallops, sand dollars, starfish, and sea urchins to name a few.

The pictures of our boating are in no particular order...

When we left on the first day out on the boat, the guy at the launch kept talking about how crowded it would be. We smiled and were polite. I know he thinks it is crowded. He just has no idea. We go there to see the old real Florida; the Florida that Jeff and I remember. We may have seen 40 boats over the course of the day. Fort Walton Beach and Destin have exploded. That is nothing like what we have here. 

We boated from 9:30 to 1:30 and actually less the second day. Children are supposed to take naps. Not a lot of that happened but truthfully, they were amazing and so happy.

Each of the kids and their family took a night to cook supper, so no one had a ton to do. We ate sandwiches for lunch. I started breakfast each morning, but everyone chipped in with clean up, so it was not too much on anyone. That is the thing about the cape, if you go there you will not be going out for meals. There is one restaurant on the cape and a store for beach gear. It is full of houses to rent and camping grounds. 

We put puzzles together and played Phase 9, a card game. The kids played some game outside Paul Allen brought, used bubbles, and made up lots of fun activities led by Tucker.

                                     

Lindsay brought sparklers for the 4th. Since, CSB is on Eastern time, no child could wait until dark. Even the adults didn't wait up after a day on the water.

Much fun was had by all of us. The boys played hard, the kids relaxed and much more than I am sharing occurred, but I think enough is here to remember that it was a wonderful family vacation. I hold all plans these days loosely and this is one that I will be forever grateful that we got to do together.

The biggest news came on the first evening, with this being found first by Jeff and Lindsay. It didn't take me as long this time to catch on....

Paul Allen and Katie are blessing us with grandchild #4 in January. Truly blessed!!!!!!!!!!!

A few individual family shots to end up this post.

Palmer had worn himself out but he was doing his best to hang on for the grandparent picture.

I can't take credit for the cute pajamas. Lindsay got them.

I did get the cute shirts though. 

That is a wrap on a family vacation. We arrived home today and leave for Jacksonville on Monday to go to Mayo. I am hoping for lots, but at the same time I don't know what to expect if anything. We just have to find a way to move forward with hope that there are still good days left for Jeff. I won't go into more than that at the moment. For now, I am just thankful for the family time we had.