…an eye opening experience and a family vacation we will not soon forget J The best part was getting everyone's schedule on the same game plan, Ray was able to take some time off from work, Emma was on spring break (she attends pre-k in Hall County, which has a different school year calendar), Rob & I were on spring break and lil Ray was able to get some time off from work too. Heather was even on spring break and was able to join us as well.
For those of you who know use well, know we are spontaneous kind of folks, we never plan, when we do things don't always work out, however this time was a little different, the Cheatham's wanted to go to the beach and in order to do this Stacy was all over the internet finding the best deals possible. She found a great deal that was hard to pass up, so we were on board and booked our rooms. I'm still trying to determine if we were being frugal or cheap, but as Megan said "you can deal with anything for four days" and in the end that's what we did, made the best of our vacation and enjoyed our time with each other.
When it was all said and done, you had the entire Contreras clan (5) + 2, Heather and Cole joined us, the Cheatham's (4) – 1, Celia had school and couldn't join us, Megan and Lindsey + Courtney joined in the fun as well. This would turn out to be the 5th beach trip that Stacy & I have taken together, with either all of our families or part of them which made it that much more fun. The only prayer I had was that we returned with as many people as we left with and God was good and watched over all of us while we were there.
The other fun part of this trip was that our oldest was on the verge from no longer being a teen, lil Raymond turned 20 while we were down there. There was no better place to be when I took time to reflect that my first born was no longer a teen, there is something about being able to look into the ocean and see one of God's wonders to know that is all is okay in the world and we have been blessed with so much and a great son! It's been tradition for the last several years or longer to have a big family/friend dinner at "Frontera", however this year we traded it in for a big family/friend dinner at "Margaritaville", we were not disappointed even with the 2 hour wait.
Here are some pics from our time @ the beach:
sand + water = happy little girl
taking it all in and planning the rest of her time @ the beach
yeah, he loves the sand too
an awesome big bruder...she really loves him
brandon and rob creating mermaids with Linds & Courtney
ray & heather catching some rays
the finished product
i want to buried in the sand too...oh yeah, don't forget to make me into a mermaid too
@ pineapple willies for ray's b-day lunch ;)
@ Margaritaville getting ready to celebrate our 1st borns 20th b-day :)
best friends
not Frontera's traditional sombero, but it will do
Brandon and Linds joined in the hat fun
I want one too
well there no question, only a pirate hat would do
heather & ray
rob, linds, & brandon, I love these kids, just seeing them puts a smile on my face :)
my tough guyz
the whole gang
.2.jpg)
