100th Milestone & Memories

This is a momentous occasion! This is my 100th blog post and I'm still going strong.

This past weekend we spent with Grandma Vicki in Gulf Breeze. Monday, April 11th would have been Papa Roger's 67th birthday, as such we wanted to be with Vicki in tribute and memorial to him. Ben's brother's Kol and Josh flew in to help us celebrate Roger.

Unfortunately, Ben had to cut the trip a little short and left on Sunday night. Since Ben was out of work for two months, {I've failed to mention before now that the injured thumb is still recovering and undergoing rehab, but Ben is back at work full-time and taking limited cases while he regains strength, stability and stamina} he couldn't take Monday off to be with everyone, as he had to get back to work.

We did the usual things that we would have done with Roger. Ate blue crabs, oysters, crawfish and cold peel Royal Red shrimp, went to the beach, walked on the dock, caught crabs, played games, attended Worship @ the water {W@W is the church service that is held at Flounders on Pensacola Beach that Roger loved to attend} and enjoyed each other's company, while catching up. There were lots of laughs and a few moments of tears. We all dearly miss Papa.

On Monday, I headed back to Tallahassee during Paige's nap time. Vicki, Kol and Josh went to the crash sight to put out flowers on the cross the guys put up for Roger. Roger always bought flowers for Vicki. Usually, he'd go out for a bike ride, then stop at Publix on his way back and bring her red roses home {I can only assume he was making up for the hours that he spent away from her riding that bike :-)}.

From there, they made a little road trip down to 30-A, stopping in Seaside for drinks and appetizers at Bud & Alley's, then continuing on to Destin for the remainder of the day checking out places that Roger and Vicki would go. I'm sure it was a nice day, but somber that Roger couldn't be there to celebrate.

I dug up this photo of Kol, Josh, Ben & Roger from Easter 2006. It was the last time we were all together with Roger in Gulf Breeze, enjoying crawfish under their house {where we usually eat big messy meals like that}. I know he would have loved being there this weekend with his boys.

Here are a few more from that same trip. Bowling was a favorite family affair, they even had a bowling trophy for the winner {that somehow ended up stuck to a piece of my furniture after a drunken night on Bourbon Street one year}. Just look at baby Jack and how little Christian {Kol's son}, Caen and Nick {Josh's sons} were, too!

And at the Baytowne Wharf in Destin.

And since we are walking down memory lane, this is a favorite memory of mine with Papa and Jack walking on the dock to check on the crab traps. These were taken in August 2009. Jack still loves doing this at Grandma and Papa's house.

And this was one from about this time last year {May 2010} with Paige and Papa. Papa had to sit under the umbrella because he had shingles, but that was perfect for little Paige who was only 4-5 months old at the time. I remember that this was also right after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and people in Pensacola were on the lookout for oil washing up on the beaches. It hadn't hit yet, so we were out enjoying the pristine sand and water before they were affected. Come to think of it, it's so ironic looking over these photos now.

We love you Papa. We miss you so much. Happy Birthday!