5th Annual Labor Day {with the Grooters This Year}

Our annual Labor Day trip with the Ginns and Clicks was called off. I'm not sure why exactly. Some silly excuse about Nancy having to go to her middle sister, Kathy's wedding in Boston in September. Actually, I can't blame her. Given the choice of risking another potentially soggy Labor Day at the beach or getting to see your sister's once-in-a-lifetime chance of marrying the man of her dreams, I would pick the sis' wedding, too.

A few months after that was decided, Ben's brothers reached out with a request to come for a visit over Labor Day. Since our Ginn-Click-Grooters trip was looking like it was getting the kibosh, we thought, heck yeah that would be awesome! They all decided to come despite our fair warning about hurricanes and tropical storms potentially ruining the weekend.

We booked a house in Grayton Beach this year. The week prior, doom set in as The Weather Channel was predicting a 9th named storm, Isaac to hit the Gulf Coast some time during the week prior. We watched and waited. We made Plan B's. Then Plan B got changed to Plan C. The Plan C back to Plan A-2. In the end the storm went much farther west than the storm track was originally predicting. These storms sometimes have a mind of their own. However, flights were all set for Wednesday into Pensacola and it was looking like they may hit some airport closings or at least significant delays, so everyone decided to re-route their flights to steer clear of the storm's path. Kol and Agi flew into Tallahassee. And Josh and Stacia flew into Panama City. Wednesday and Thursday were dreary...okay torrential at times.

But the weather cleared in time for a gorgeous Labor Day weekend. Whew! Proverbial bullet dodged. Our house, the Casa Sombra, was just perfect...

With two outdoor fireplaces and a perfectly size splash pool {that could be heated in the cooler months}...

And plenty of porches for relaxing.

The beach was great, as usual for 30-A, but be forewarned, at Grayton Beach they allow cars with a special permit to drive on the beach. Great convenience for those with permits, but really sucks when a car pulls up next to your beach chair and ruins your view!

Aunt Stacia pulling the little girls, Paige and Lillian.

We rented a pontoon in Destin on Saturday and took it out to Crab Island for a bit of swimming, paddleboarding and kayaking on the sandbar.

Caen getting used to the paddle board.

Cousin Maya was a big help with the little girls.

Caen and Lillian take the kayak for a spin.

Kol, Stacia, Agi and Josh working the flotilla.

This is called sit-down paddleboarding.

And kneeling paddleboard.

And nearly falling off paddleboarding.

Everyone got a turn driving the boat with Uncle Kol. 

Josh and Ben.

The we headed over to an island we dubbed Hermit Crab Beach for some sand time.

Grooters Boys. Sure wish Roger was here.

Sandy fanny.

We found tons of these hermit crabs on along the water line, hence the name Hermit Crab Beach.

The Grooters were here!

The girls got a night out on Saturday and ate dinner at Bud & Alley's in Seaside, shopped a bit, then we walked to V at Seagrove for martinis.

On our last night the families headed into Seaside for some more shopping, walking, pizza dinner, playing in the sand and watching the sunset.

Sometimes I wish I just lived on 30-A. But would it be the same if I lived there?

It was hard to return from beach life, but I brought back my new favorite drink, a cranberry spritzer to remind me of our time at the beach. Half cranberry-pomegranate juice, half sparkling water (my favorite is the Orange La Croix brand). Thanks to the Grooters clan for turning me on to this!

Check out the rest of the family fun, here. We so enjoyed spending time with the Grooters and we are extremely thankful to God for giving us a sunny Labor Day this year!