Disney Beach

Jonathan and his brother, Austin, both told Ronda she needed to take me to Disney during our trip. I'm really an overgrown kid and I heart Belle more than any grownup should. So Wednesday was supposed to be our Disney day.

Because Silas had been sick, and because we'd been on the go so much, Megan decided she and the boys would not go to Disney, and Ronda and I could just go and do things at our own pace. But when I found out Wednesday was going to be the warmest day of the whole week, I couldn't bring myself to leave that pretty water. Ronda said that was fine, and I turned Disney day into beach day.

I know you saw this picture in the weekly recap - but this was the hammock at the cottage. It really was reserved for one of the other cottages, but no one was using it in that exact moment, so I sneaked in to try it out. I'd never been in a hammock before.
It. Did. Not. Go. Well. In this picture, I'm saying to Ronda, "Hurry before I fall out!" And I'm gripping the sides for dear life.


Mr. Cool - sporting his mom's sunglasses and raking (with the rake upside down).

I think it was about 80 degrees that day and I spent most of the day doing this. I flipped religiously - like a chicken on a rotisserie. In fact, I got identical burns on my stomach and back where my tankini blew up!

We didn't even go anywhere for lunch that day - just had sandwiches up at the cottage with the stuff we'd bought at the grocery store.

And enter Bekah story #2.

As I mentioned before, I was sick. THE ENTIRE WEEK. That cold my work neighbor tried so hard to give me before I left...worked. And don't you think I didn't bring that up first thing when he asked how my trip went. Anyway. After lunch, I decided to walk to the CVS about a block down the street to get some cold medicine. And Megan wanted Oreos. And when I got there and found out they also sold souvenirs, I found a pair of shorts to buy.

I went up to the counter, plopped down my three purchases and the cashier said to me, "Are you over 18?" I just stared at her, thinking for Oreos?? She pointed at the box of fake Day-Quil and said, "You have to have ID to buy this."

Are you stinking kidding me? This is the second time in UNDER twenty-four hours that I've needed my ID and didn't have it?

As a consolation prize, on the way home, I stopped at the fabulous donut shop I told you about:

This was the case of donuts - in the afternoon!

I, however, did not get a donut. I went for a white chocolate mocha frappe with whipped cream and caramel. Not a fat gram inside, I'm quite sure.

And of course...I took it to the beach! (Still counting the pictures??)

It was pretty windy that day (okay EVERY day) and some people down the way were flying a kite. Love!

After a while, I could tell I was getting pretty pink, so I took a break and came inside. Found my buddy. :)

After we bonded, I went back out to the beach to take a walk. This was, by far, the most populated day at the beach, but it was still a great walk - great time to be alone with my thoughts!

That evening, Chorale had another concert, and the following day was a free day for the whole choir. Jonathan planned to spend his free day with us, so Ronda went to hear the concert and to pick him up. Megan, Khi, Silas, and I stayed back at the cottage to take advantage of the warmth of the day.

Funny moment...Megan got ready to make dinner for Khi and said to him, "Do you want noodles and cheese?" He said, "Yeah, Babe." She said, "Did you just call me Babe?" He cracked up and said, "Yeah." LOL!!

After dinner, I went back to the beach to catch another sunset...

Khi's idea of catching the sunset....

I'll let you decide aboutt sunset:

Ronda returned home with Jonathan (and his mega-suitcase) in tow. While they all caught up, I found Silas again. (Not that he was lost. Just that he sorta found his way my way to be rocked to sleep...)
And that is what I call a perfectly lazy day!

Security!!

This is how my Tuesday ended. But before I tell you the story, I need to introduce a couple new players.

Remember the blog post about Kaegan's 10th birthday? I told you he was a gift from my college roommate, Christi. She bought him for me because she was moving away...to Florida. And where in Florida might she live? Just not all that far from Venice! So as soon as I knew I was going for sure, I told her I'd be in the area and I'd LOVE to see her again.

Outside of one quick 10 minute surprise visit to my office about 5 years ago, I have not seen her since she gave me Kaegan. And I hate that.

She knew I'd be in Venice that Tuesday, and just as we were all preparing to leave the fabulous salt water pool and Mr. Speedo Mullet, Christi called. She and John (her husband) were actually IN town and they could meet up with me if I had time.

Well, we were about to be ushered to the next best-kept secret local joint:
A little tweat!!

Ronda's friends wanted to take us to this little walk-up ice cream spot. No sixty flavors here. Just a handful. But mercy, was it ever a handful of goodness.

Creamsicle in a cup:

It was my fruit intake for the day, you know.

You will notice that I am still rockin' the swimsuit, and I've added to it brillo pad hair. This is what happens to me when I exit water of any kind without entering the presence of much product and flat irons. A proud moment indeed. Running around the south of Florida in my swimsuit and brillo-ey hair.

And here begins the story. John and Christi actually came to this ice cream shop to meet me, and she and I had our reunion right there in the parking lot. Swimsuit and all. She asked if there was any way they could kidnap me for a bit so she could show me where they lived and I could maybe even see her mom, who lived just a few houses away.

Ronda said that would be fine...they all planned to head back to the gated (and gatored) community to spend the evening with their friends. Ronda's sweet friend (his name is Howard, by the way) gave John his business card and directions back to their house so John and Christi could drop me off later.

With my camera bag on my shoulder, my swimsuit, brillo-ey hair and I hopped in John and Christi's car, and away we went.

I would show you the picture of Christi and me, but she's blog-anonymous. But it was so wonderful to see her again and it was as though no time had passed at all. We chattered away and I got to tour her house and see her mom - and we all caught up on each others' lives. Oh it was truly, truly wonderful. Definitely one of the sweetest moments of the whole trip for me.

But I knew Megan and the boys were probably exhausted and needed to get home, so I told Christi I needed to go. Christi's mom drove her car so we could all four go together, and we headed back to Venice. John sat in the front seat with Christi's mom, and Christi and I huddled in the back seat, continuing our yap/cry fest for every moment we had together.

Christi's mom drove up to the gate and the gate KEEPER came out. Oh yes. This isn't one of those garage door opener gates. This joint has a uniformed officer.

John leaned over Christi's mom, handed the gate keeper Howard's business card, and told him we were there to see Howard. As soon as that gate keeper turned around and started comparing Howard's card to that festive little sheet of paper you see there behind him, I knew I was in some serious trouble.

Serious.

He turned back to Christi's mom. "Can I see some photo ID, ma'am?" She pulled out her license and handed it over. He looked puzzled, compared it to the list, and turned back to the car.

"Is there a Freelan in this car?"

Only later did I realize he was thrown off because Christi's mother's name is Rebecca - but the last name wasn't matching what he expected to see. And of course Howard had no way of knowing that Christi's mom would even be IN the vehicle.

I leaned up with my swimsuit and brillo hair and said, "I'm Rebekah Freelan."

He said, "I need to see some photo ID."

Of course you do. And I can't give that to you because even though it is ALWAYS with me, right now it is in the trunk of Ronda's car, which is INSIDE the gate. Dude, I'm out in my swimsuit and my hair is growing by the minute. Do you honestly think I have an ID anywhere on my person?

Of course I kept all those things in my head and responded aloud with "Let me have them bring that to me."

I called Ronda (because HELLO! I did have my phone) and said, "Funny story. I'm at the gate and they won't let me in without an ID. Any way you could bring that to me?"

As soon as I hung up (and I would like the record to show, he SAW me on the phone) I leaned up and said, "They're bringing my ID to me."

The gate keeper said, "You talked to them? I could have done that."

What's a girl to do?? He asked if there was a Dave in the car. We said no. (Turns out Howard thought John's name was Dave.) He asked for Chris. We assumed that was supposed to be Christi. We were really batting a thousand.

Ronda sped right out with my ID, and they let me in at long last. By that time I reeked of salt water AND sweat.

Who knew airport security would be the LEAST of my problems that week??

The end of a long day - and I'm still rockin' the swimsuit. :) I said goodbye to Ronda's friends and we got BACK in the car to head home...my ID securely in my hands, thankyouverymuch.

A Day in Venice

We hit the road again on Tuesday - back to Venice, where we'd gone to church Sunday morning.

But before we did that...there was a little bit of this. We were almost directly across the street from THE MOST AMAZING donut shop. Oh my word. It's a blessed good thing I don't live there year round. I'd weigh 607 pounds. Megan walked over Tuesday morning and brought back a sampling of the delightfulness. I present to you the chocolate bavarian cream filled donut:
Then, of course, I had to go out to the beach for a minute....(if you're still playing the blog game, here's a picture for you.)

Then we got ready and went to Venice! We met up with Ronda's friends again, and they wanted to take us to one of their favorite restaurants. One of the great things about knowing people in the area...they know the best spots!

This is what the restaurant looked like. It was right there on a dock, and many of the people inside had come straight off their own boats. Pretty cool!

We actually got to eat outside! (This is me texting a picture of my view back to my co-workers who were stuck in two days of meetings!! Yes, I'm that mean.)

You know you're in Florida when...you can find a retired couple who brought their dog (dressed in pink) out to eat and she had her own chair. Khi needed to meet her.

Silas just wasn't feeling well.

The third time to eat outside in three days - is a GOOD day. Good three days.

Random fact about Bekah: I actually hate fish. I hate the smell of it, even. (Thank goodness we ate outside, huh?) So I ordered a chicken sandwich. And I present to you THE ENTIRE BLESSED CHICKEN. I got two meals out of this bad boy.

After lunch, we went back to Ronda's friends' house. They live in a gated community. (This is a very important fact to retain for tomorrow's blog post.) Their house was so lovely and they wanted to take us to the community pool to swim that afternoon. So here I am in my brand new swimsuit cover-up. (Another important fact to remember for tomorrow's blog post.)

Guess what also lives in the gated community? Apparently a bunch of these, but praise the Lord this is the only one I saw.

Just another day at the pool. What...is this not what your local pool looks like?

This was my first time to swim in a salt water pool! Pretty cool! Want to know what was NOT pretty cool? This one guy (who had to be over 60) with a uber-bleached mullet, beer belly, and SPEEDO. You have absolutely no idea how much I wanted a picture of THAT for the blog but there was no way to get it discreetly. (Sometimes having a honkin' camera backfires.)

Khi loves the pool MUCH more than the beach. (Apparently he is NOT his mother's child in that regard.)

Me in the pool! (With the purple noodle.) See the massive earrings? Lost one in the bottom of the pool. Good news was - because it's the size of an oven burner, it was easily located.

A great, relaxing day in Venice! But oh people. Tomorrow's the day. You do not want to miss that story.

Low Country Boil and Other Adventures

Monday afternoon, in the middle of our relaxing, the owner of the Arbors (told you she was a lovely woman and you'd hear more about her) knocked on our door and asked if we were busy that evening. She told us she was planning to cook for all of us who were staying in the rentals - if we wanted to come.

Isn't that so nice?

So here's how it went.

While the cooking was underway, Khi stayed entertained by playing with all the great sand toys provided at the edge of the beach. I was invited to "shooball." (Shoot the ball.) I want you to notice the LOCATION of the ball, please. IN the basket. Captured forever!!
When he could be lured away from "shooball," he meticulously cooked with the sand. Love this kid. He's meticulous and he thinks cooking is a good time. LOVE HIM!!!

He did have to check out the real cooking - which was a low country boil. My friends Chris and Trudy have told me about these things but I'd never been to one. Ours had potatoes, corn, onion, and shrimp - and then they also grilled brats and chicken.

There was SO MUCH FOOD. Tons leftover! (And this was just given to us. We didn't have to pay for it on top of what we'd paid to stay there.)

Silas was riveted by the invitation.

Oh I forgot to mention they also had garlic bread and some very tasty watermelon. There were these little foil lined baskets and we could just fill up with whatever we wanted. Here's what I wanted.

Yep. That's a vegetable in there. Please make a note of it.

This was my first time to have to dig into a shrimp. I had to take the shell off and pull the little leggies off too. I was so NOT graceful but that was some GOOD shrimp. (It was cajun, so it was a sinus cleanser too...which was good, since I was sick!)

Someone loved watermelon.

This little lady in the blue jacket is Deanna, who was our hostess with the mostest. This is the area where they set up the food. She told us she does this about once a month and we just so happened to be there for this month's festivities!

Some of the people at dinner...

Eating outside at sunset - gorgeous.

And then I watched the sunset....oh man.

I could seriously do this every night. Want to join me??

Ahhhh......

They offered Khi a treat for being a good boy that day, and he was ALL OVER that. "Tweat! Tweat!" We piled in the car and drove to a little ice cream place a few blocks down the road. They had sixty flavors. Good night nurse. How to pick?

Khi ate his tweat from a cone with a sampler spoon. Genius.

Silas actually wasn't feeling well by this point, and while we were at the ice cream store, Megan got a call from the doctor. So we left in a hurry and I ate my tweat at home - cappuccino crunch ice cream.

And as my mother said while looking at my pictures, "And the evening and the morning were the third day, and it was good." :)

Exploring the Beach

Even though it was technically my third day in Florida, Monday was the first day I had the chance to explore the beach. I was itching to get out there and spend time on that thing.

Here's a game you can play with the Florida pictures...how many times is Bekah caught with coffee in her hands?
I took said coffee and headed outside to walk over this little rise:

To this beautiful sight!

It was overcast that morning but you can see the blue sky peeking through and the day did indeed prove to be absolutely gorgeous. We had no plans for the day, so I was excited to catch up on rest after two insanely busy days!

I took this little video my first morning on the beach. I was talking really quietly so I'm not sure you'll be able to hear what I'm saying. (I guess I was trying not to bother the nearest person 400 feet away???)


Everyone emerged for a while to walk on the beach. I l-o-v-e this picture of Ronda and Khi.

And here I am - wet britches and all. (I had to get my feet wet. And unfortunately it was a long pants kinda morning.)

We took our time getting ready that morning and then drove to Largo (isn't that in a Beach Boys song?) to get lunch at a Chick-Fil-A (YUM YUM!!!!) and go grocery shopping. When we came back to the cottage, I went straight to the beach to lay out in the sand.

I'm sparing you that picture.

You're welcome.

Ronda joined me to read for a while and then we walked about a mile down the beach...

There were so many shells - and I got to see my first jellyfish! Thankfully it was dead and we didn't have to recreate that scene from Friends!

Loved watching the water....

The birds were so funny. They weren't shy...and I had a little chat with them about NOT pooping on my head. Or anything else belonging to me.

They were just as beautiful in flight.

There were a few people out on the beach, but honestly it looked much like this for most of the week:

So so beautiful and so private.

God has always talked to me more on the water than anywhere else. And aside from just loving everything about the beach, I knew God was going to do some talking that week.

And boy did He ever.