Beach arrival

When the mad dash to the beach trip was over and we arrived at our houses, the first things to do was unload cars, assign rooms and then make a beeline to the beach. Feet met sand between 3 and 4, and then the only thing to do was soak in as much of the rest of the day as possible. It's a good feeling knowing you are as far from leaving as you can be on that first day. And this year we had 8 new people joining us for the first time. Here's hoping we didn't scare them off. Let's see if anyone was happy to be there.

Carlie continued her streak of goofy faces for the camera.


Emma and Olivia decided to go boogie.


This was a dry run for the first full day on the beach.


Randy looks beach ready doesn't he?


Taking all the sights and sounds in.


The book club meeting.


Caitlin B will love this when she sees it.


Looking good J Dub.


Mom and Wills came for a little bitty.


And he was tickled to be there.


Peeps hanging by the sea.


The Willster with the Dalester. William almost looks like he's flashing the peace sign, must be an optical illusion since I don't think he's very political.


Me trying to get a smile out of Mr. stone face.


ALL the Williams....including Bill. In case Lindsey forgot her husband was also a William.


Getting a sugar from the Gee.


Sewing circle....I don't think any of these people can sew. Which means I should be welcomed in this group!


Some of the boys.


Mary joined us on the beach.


Sunset time is coming.


But Willie D wasn't the least bit interested.


He was just taking it all in.


Then he blew an Olympic worthy bubble. Well done William!


But he wasn't impressed with himself because he felt he could do better.


Whitney and the wee babe.


Checking out the surf to see if he was gonna go get his board and do some waves. He decided to wait til next year.


It was Mom's idea to make him wait. He was a little bummed.


But by that time, John had trudged back to the house to get his fishing stuff. And I do mean trudged. It was a trudge all week for me. Trudging is a very weird word when used this many times.


Maggie and Olivia were anxiously awaiting a caught fish.


As were Carrie and I.


He caught a ladyfish for bait. It's a brutal process, one fish giving its life so someone can catch a bigger fish. I'm not a tree hugger, although I love trees, but I don't want to see a fish give its life in vain. But it makes other people, namely John, happy.


This is staged and fake.


And then as the setting sun prevented more picture taking, John settled in for an attempt to catch a shark in the night. This night he was unsuccessful. But stay tuned to see if he prevailed.


Then peeps headed to the house to shower, relax and hang with the Gmaw.


For some crossword puzzle time.


It was a good first day and by the end of it, all 30 of us had arrived safely with Liz and Ila flying in as the last arrivers.

So now for the numbered car and whose was what. Keep up people.

Car number 1: Swanders because they left Friday night to get a head start with William. We were told he made it a VERY loud and interesting ride.

Car number 2: Herrocks because we said we were leaving second.

Car number 3: Walkers because they said they were leaving third, but they actually left second but we didn't stop, erase and renumber.

Car number 4: Turners because they had Billie and felt she might slow them down. No offense Billie.

Car number 5: West Texas Walkers, who aren't west Texas people anymore, but are easily identifiable as west Texas Walkers. West Texas Walkers include Gallaways in this car. It takes too much time to say west Texas Walkers and Gallaways, so I shortened it on our travel day so I could tell my peeps who I was talking about. This explanation has now moved on from not only confusing, but also ridiculous.

Car number 6: Fords and Carrie. They were number 6 for obvious reasons that I won't go into here. But Carrie would attest to the numbering of this car to be correct.

Lauren and Austin, coming from Lafayette, weren't included in the numbering. Sorry guys.

So here's the order of arrival.....exactly as the cars were numbered.

Suspenseful and riveting wasn't it?

Next up, a fish tale.

You'll see.

But first, high 5 for USA swimming and Olympic Gold!

Woo hoo!