Fun on the Fourth

Every 4th of July weekend you can find most, if not all of our (DW’s side) immediate family at my in-laws’ beach condo. This year was no exception. We headed down on Friday with about 200 pounds of luggage in tow, 195 of which, belonged to the youngest member of the family. I have to brag on her just a little and say that she slept the entire 2 hour drive over to the beach, and the trip home went equally as good.

Once we arrived and unloaded all 87 bags of baby gear, we sat around and watched Annabelle. After a while, she decided she’d had enough of us and wanted to go to bed.

Since the focus of our attention had retired for the evening, we sat around and stared at each other. Not really.... It wasn’t long after dark that we heard that all familiar sound…people shooting fireworks on the beach. We went on the balcony to watch and of course, rate them.

These fireworks were definitely not out of your standard value-pack from the local Winn-Dixie...these guys had some really good ones...

Saturday we woke up and DW and his Daddy took a vehicle to the speedway to park for later that night. After sitting around watching all the infomercials that are on TV on a Saturday morning, particularly the one for the P-90X exercise videos, I was real excited to put on my bathing suit and head for the beach. No sarcasm here.
Little Miss in her 4th of July bathing suit…

“Pappy” decided since he’d never rented a “beach buggy” (a golf cart with big tires) and driven it down the beach, that Saturday was the perfect day to do so, and Annabelle was the perfect girl to do it with! How cute is this thing?!?!?

"Hot Rod Woodie" was it's name

I loved the surf boards on top… Annabelle with her Daddy & Pappy

We totally looked like tourists. Especially when we pulled over to take some pictures. It was fun and Annabelle loved it. I've been wanting a golf cart for a while, but this totally sealed the deal. I think that Annabelle and I definately need one for riding around the farm. We just can't decide what color we'd want....a pink one or a red one....

The rental was for the hour, but her Pappy told the man, that we weren’t sure how long she’d like it, and we’d probably only be gone about 30 minutes.
Since she loved it, we rode the whole hour and toward the end, it even put her to sleep.

It was a beautiful afternoon. So sunny and hot…

We cooled off with Strawberry-Lime slushies from a stand on the beach. Definitely NOT from the man who drives the ice cream truck. Every time we see him, my Father-in-law always points him out to me and reminds me of how nice he was to me before. Let me just say, the man is a cross between Oscar the Grouch (he kind of looks like him, too, minus the whole green hair/trash can thing) and the mean man from Dennis the Menace. He’s a real ray of sunshine and should not be selling anything that appeals to children. Not to mention the fact that he’s beyond over priced. We were at the beach one time with my BFF, Carrie and her husband, when Carrie and I decided that we needed a cool treat and next time he passed by our way, we’d get one. I walked up to the truck to be greeted with, “What do ya want?” (in a real fast, raspy voice, and those kind of eyebrows that go every which way (like Oscar the grouch). I ordered my one scoop of ice cream--in a cup, in which he huffed and puffed as he dipped it, acting as if I had asked him to give me his left kidney. He came back over to the window, looked down to see how much money I had in my hand, and told me it would be $5.00, which happened to be the exact bill I had in my hand. FIVE dollars?!?!? For one scoop of ice cream so old there were ice crystals on it---served in a Styrofoam cup, with a spoon so cheap and flimsy it broke at the third attempt to break the ice crystal off the top?!?!? I wasn’t about the say anything or refuse it, for fear that he’d throw it at me. Carrie on the other hand, after witnessing my whole ordeal, changed her mind. Needless to say, that’s the LAST time hateful ice cream man has gotten $5.00 out of this girl…

Later that afternoon, DW’s 2 brothers and one of our nephews got to the condo. They came for the biggest event of the weekend....It was just the boys, because Lauren is in Michigan with her family and my other S-I-L was home taking care of her sick kids (our niece and nephew).

We ate an early dinner and got back to the condo about 6:00.

At 6:30, we all (minus Annabelle & her Granny) headed to the lobby to meet our taxi….

Our "taxi"

We were headed here…

Yes, WE, included ME. I attended my very first NASCAR Race on Saturday night. I took lots of pictures to document such a big day; including pictures of the crowd and the people that sat in front of us…. That deserves a post of it’s own, which I fully intend to do after my house is in some kind of order again and all 87 bags are unpacked and put away….

Hope your 4th was just as fun as ours…

~annie~