I realize that everyone might not want to see one’s beach vacation pictures, but I share these for me as much as I do for you all. After almost 20 years of writing this blog, I share all of our vacations, so our beach week is included. I’ve gone back so many times and looked up our beach trips, just to remember what we did and who was there that year. There have been many of them over the years. I first went to St. George with Mark and his family 10 years ago. We got married the following year and went back again and have been going most every year since then. Back then, the whole extended family went, but as his girls and the other cousins got older and got married and had families, it changed the family beach weeks a lot, so now it’s much less than it used to be. We are hoping to get Mark’s girls to all go again next year and maybe some cousins, we will see. They say they want to go, but it takes planning to get a beach trip together for a big group.
This year, it was Mark, me and Daisy, as well as brother-in-law, David (who was married to Mark’s sister Kim, who we lost to cancer 2 years ago). We miss her so much and we all wished that Kim was there with us. Mark’s daughter, Traci & her family came with us and we all stayed in this 4 bedroom house, Beach Love & Happiness. It was perfect for all of us! If you’ve never been to St. George, it’s Old Florida to the max, a secluded small island off of Apalachicola, with a few shops and restaurants and not all that much to do, which is fine by us. When you go to St. George, you go for the seafood, relaxing beach time, reading books, pool time, and watching sunsets. It’s very relaxing! I took 2 books and finished them both.
Our view of the water from our upper porch. We walked to the beach on that boardwalk to the left every day. There are no high rises on St. George, only 3 story condos and houses. Many of the houses have been renovated over the years I’ve been going with them and they all looking so cute. There are large and newer houses and smaller beach cottages, so something for everyone. It’s not cheap to go to St. George, but we sure enjoy it. Mark would go out every morning and put up our big tent for the day. It was the last week of July, so it wasn’t too crowded. School started for the kids as soon as we got back home.
Sunset view of our house the first night we were there. I love this shot that Traci took on her phone.
This is the sunset sky from our porch. Sunsets are gorgeous on St. George.
So this is what we did every day. Go to the beach and set up our chairs for beach time. I took my book and plenty of water. It was very hot, as you’d expect July to be! We definitely were a lot hotter than last year when we went in September, which is an ideal time to go. I think we’re going to shoot for that again next year, when kids are on fall break.
The beach is so natural and pretty and turtle nests all around the beach.
I love how unscathed St. George is with those picket beach fences.
Daisy went with us too which was nice. She did fine and stayed in the house all day. Someone was always coming and going so she wasn’t alone very much. She liked coming out on the porch so she could see people coming and going. There are lots of golf carts on the island. The girls had fun playing with her too.
We had a backyard pool, which was a must for the grand girls, Rose and Ivy.
Rose is 8 now and getting so big. She had her hair braided before they came so she wouldn’t have to deal with her long wet hair all the time.
The sunsets behind our house over the bay were so pretty.
Boardwalk to the beach.
Beach days
Watching the sunset with David.
Rose loves the beach and had a good time playing in the sand and getting in the water.
Sunset on the beach
So pretty
Another beach day. That’s Tony on the far end, Traci’s husband.
David and Mark walking back to the house. Did I mention it was HOT?!
The lighthouse on St. George, which you see right when you get on the island. There’s also coffee shops, ice cream shop, T-shirt shop, and candy store, as well as a pizza place, BJ’s (which we picked up one night) and several seafood restaurants. We definitely don’t starve at the beach.
Another beach day.
Our pool which was very nice to have. I got in there a lot to cool off. It must have been 90 degrees in the pool, the sun had warmed it up so much.
Little Ivy doesn’t like the beach (especially the sand on her feet), so she didn’t go there much, but loved the pool. Hopefully she grows out of that!
On the porch one morning. We only had a couple rain showers while we were there and then the sun came back out.
We celebrated our anniversary down there and went to the Owl Cafe for dinner. It’s our favorite restaurant in the area and their entrees are always delicious.
Happy Anniversary to us! 9 years now, it’s gone so fast.
I had a red snapper dish and it was soooooo good!
David told them it was our anniversary and they brought us this delicious chocolate mousse cake, which we all shared.
We went to the Blue Parrot a couple of times, which we always do, it’s where we go our first night on the island. Our only group picture we got, Miss Ivy didn’t want to show her face, but she’s a cutie. It’s hard to be 3.5.
My grilled shrimp dinner at Blue Parrot.
We also went to Up the Creek, which we discovered last year. It’s on the bay in Apalachicola and they have delicious seafood too. Not fancy, very casual and good.
I got blackened shrimp and sweet potato fries. So good!
Another night we went to the BeachPit on St. George and they have excellent seafood too. We definitely got our fill of seafood on this trip. It was so relaxing and we enjoyed being with everyone. The girls make things fun and we’re so glad they all went with us. Maybe next year, we can get more of the family to go, that’s the plan. It’s always fun with a big group of family!
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