Soak up the Sun

Two weeks ago, I was able to spend a little time at the beach with the Hardin side of my family. As tradition goes, we had a huge steamed shrimp dinner one night! It really is one of my favorite meals, and sadly the only photos I took of my PCB stop are of this delicious spread...
...and the kids enjoying peeling their shrimp on the balcony! We pair locally steamed shrimp with steamed potatoes, corn, the amazing salad from Sweet Basil's, and garlic bread.

Later in the week, we celebrated my Mom's birthday in Hawkinsville. Abbye, David and I cooked this delicious, healthy, summer meal and topped it off with a good ol' Dairy Queen ice cream cake!
Salmon, asparagus, melon, and tomato-celery salad
Happy Birthday to my best friend and Mom!
After our little stay-cation in Hawkinsville, David and I headed south to Mexico Beach to be with his family for the annual Griffin Beach Week. We love being there with his family, cousins, and to play with the little ones. I had to snap the above picture of Mr. Benjy's traveling desk. He amazes me with his technology skills, and was able to work fluidly from this incredible set-up!

This is Christie with her Lizzy and Rodney, and Amanda's Ben on the left. Scalloping is a fun activity that the Fullers do every summer, and I have been lucky enough to tag along a few times. Christie is a seasoned pro when it comes to hunting those little guys, and I love my time in the water with a netted bag, a snorkel and some flippers.

Christie, Jeff, Carrie, Amanda, Mish, and I all grabbed a total of about 100. Its the funniest thing to see their tiny blue eyes before you grab them! Later that night, we had an amazing dinner with freshly shelled scallops (Thanks, Mish!) as an appetizer!
Ben and Rodney are clearly best buds, and they keep us all busy and laughing. Someday when David and I have children of our own we can only hope to have kids that are as smart, funny, and sweet as Ben, Rodney, Lizzy, and Carrie & Jeremy's Baby Wyatt!
The last night of the trip, the Griffins gathered on the sleeping porch that's off of my and David's bedroom. It has beautiful views of the bay and the pier all along the gorgeous beaches of Mexico Beach.

I thought this picture was neat with the reflection in the mirror!


We are so lucky to have spent the week with family - we love yall!
After the photo shoot, David, Amanda, Jeff, Christie, and I headed to the WindMark Beach development for some "young adult time." This is the precious village that has shops, an amphitheater, a bar/restaurant, and a beautiful pier overlooking the bay.
Inside the School of Fish restaurant, the cooks all wore fedoras - love it!
Afterward, the Griffin Beach Week ended with Amanda and Jeff participating in local karaoke at Toucan's. Their rendition of Islands in the Stream was the perfect way to end our vacation!