Florida!

We just got back from the second annual Hewitt/Wann 4th of July trip. Last year, we met our friends, Dylan and Andrea, in Nashville. This year, we decided to go to St. Petersburg, FL. The Wanns live in Georgia, so they were able to drive down. Next year, we'll go somewhere near us, like Chicago.

We had a wonderful time! We stayed in a cute little beach house in a town called Pass-a-Grille. We could easily walk to the beach, and our little section wasn't crowded at all. It was a fairly rainy weekend, but that didn't stop us from swimming, looking for shells, and going on a dolphin-watching boat ride. Thankfully, the rain let up long enough for an awesome fireworks show. And, of course, playing games, eating ice cream, and chatting don't depend at all on the weather. And, as you can see from Darby's forehead in the pictures below, we got more than enough sun. :) What you can't tell from the pictures are that my legs got burned completely unevenly. I was sitting cross-legged on the beach reading a book, so only the insides of my legs burned. It looks pretty strange.

Darby and Dylan goofing off in the water. This was the beach right next to our house.

See what I mean about Darby's forehead?

Andrea and Dylan. On the 4th, we grilled out on the porch of our house. We had yummy steak, potato salad, and corn.

Dolphins! About a third of the way through our dolphin boat tour, it started pouring. The lower deck of the boat was covered, but it was easiest to see the dolphins from the uncovered part, so we stood in the pouring rain for about 30 minutes. It was worth it to see the dolphins, but...

we ended up looking like this! The funniest thing was, when we got back to our car, which was parked on the now-deserted beach, we saw two dolphins swimming maybe 30 yards from shore! Oh, well, it was an adventure.

Another year, another great trip. It was so nice to just relax and spend time with our good friends. I wish we lived closer, but living far apart is a good excuse to take mini-vacations together!