Let's Hit the Beach!

I never knew my mother in law was a beach bum. We've never been near the water together until this year. How crazy is that? Very I say! (that I didn't know)

I knew that they always went to Long Beach when they lived in Washington. Dad fished, and dug for razor clams. They had a boat back in the old days. I just didn't know that my very proper mom in law enjoyed the beach. And boating. And shelling! WooHoo!

Right before they came to Florida, they had been in Mexico, and mom had her feet in the Pacific ocean. Her goal was all 3 bodies of salt water this year....and I helped her accomplish that goal :)

I took them over to Daytona, cause you HAVE to go to the world's most famous beach while in Florida. It's only 69 miles from my house! Mom was disappointed that this wasn't the beach where I found my shells, but we did find a few, and I found some pieces of angel wings and a tulip. I have never found anything like that at Daytona before. So, this is when I learned of mom's desire to get her feet in the Atlantic....and the Gulf. So I promised her a trip to the Gulf again before they left. So she could find some shells. She wanted to find her OWN shells. We know just how she feels, huh?

Dad's a pretty beachy fella, too!

I missed getting pics of mom walking in the water  :(

It was overcast that day, and the tide was coming IN, so after a couple of hours, we loaded up and headed for home. It sure was fun to hear about their trips to Long Beach, and dad deep see fishing off the coast of Washington.

On their last day here, before we took them to the airport, we headed down just past Belleair, to Indian Rocks Beach.

I brought my sand toys, and shelling tools :)

Mom found the most perfect BIG Scotch Bonnet!

FROM HER CHAIR!!!! I wish I had thought to take a pic of it.

See mom's cool shoes? They are called Skeletoes by Fila. She loved mine and tried them on, so we went and bought her a pair....and she wore them everywhere everyday! They are really comfortable.

Simple (and old) gardening tools make great shelling implements!

I found a few pieces of Junonia! They aren't all brown and white, but some are more of a rusty orange dotted white/cream.

It sure was a beautiful day on the Gulf Coast!

And I have some new photos to make frames for!

I love this pic of mom and dad....

It looks like they are tee hee'ing over a shared secret :D
I can tell mom is grinning!

I think they had a pretty good vacation...

Sundays Are Fun Days

An early morning on Daytona Beach

watching the sunrise.

A day of playing on the beach....it's only 70 miles from home!

Lifeguards gone from their post to do their job.

Strong rip currents = 20 rescues!

Tide line is high

No driving on the beach til low tide

When the lifeguard is away

Beach goers will play

Sundays really are fun days! 

Daytona!

I love going over to Daytona once in awhile, and since The Cannibals had a bout over there this past weekend, Papa and Mama Bulstrode (hubby and I) took off for the east coast.

This is the bridge that goes over the Oklawaha that I mentioned in my last post. See the little side road over there? That goes over to the boat basin, or Ray Wayside Park where we launch our boat to cruise the Silver River.

 A road trip to the beach isn't complete without a fresh bag of hot boiled peanuts! MMMMMMM!

We travel state road 40E all the way to the beach. It ends right at A1A in Ormond Beach.

A right turn and a couple of miles and we are in Daytona!

On the way to the bout, I saw this sign....

Beach St. is NOT near the beach!

The bout was intense and my daughter Shae Militant Bulstrode was a Jammer a few times, did some blocking, and was also Pivot.

Here's my girl in the green tights!

and here!

Blocking here...

and Pivot here.

You don't even want to see ALL of my derby pics of her. There are a bunch!

Erin Go Brawl, Militant Bulstrode, and Lil Looney

Shae Militant was awarded MVP for best Pivot, Loony for best Jammer, and Erin for best Blocker!
See the sign behind them that says "Sin Bin"? That is the penalty box. Sintral Florida Derby Demons call their penalty box the Sin Bin lol. It was a tough bout, and Sintral won with a score of 148 to 68. Those chicks are fast, and they start in a junior roller derby league when they are little girls! It was FUN though!

After the bout, we skipped the after party and went to dinner :)

There are hotels in Daytona that are still under construction several years after the hurricanes wiped them out.

Like this one....

I'm amazed these buildings are still in shambles, but some have been completely torn down the damage was so severe.

We decided to just stay the night.....

and enjoyed sunrise along with our morning coffee.

I love how the buildings are reflected in the wet sand. I remember when there weren't any high rises on Daytona Beach.

 Now it's time for Dave -N- Del to get back to work!