Florida Fun!

When John came down a week ago, we had a great time together! On Saturday we got to go down to Pensacola for the day. It was a wonderful day, and we packed into it as much as possible, leaving Deatsville around 8am and not getting home until around 11pm.

The drive down to Pensacola is just about 3 hours. It's a drive I've taken with friends or family many times on the way too and from college. This trip was special since John was with me! We brought my sisters Jubilee and Anna along too. On the way through Millbrook, we took a short detour into the library to pick up some wedding planning books.

John and Anna looked through a couple of the books while I drove, telling me interesting wedding trivia and things we should think about in planning our wedding. Of course once Odyssey was on at 9am, we had to take a break from wedding stuff to tune in! A Saturday morning trip in my family always means to get time for Odysee and Car talk!

We drove down as the rain cleared up, picked up my college friend Gemma who still lives in Pensacola, and then took the short drive from her house to PCC. I enjoyed showing John around the campus. Seeing all the girls in skirts, the guys in their khakis and collored shirts, and the buildings that were my home for my four years of college was a lot of fun.

It was fun to think back to those years of spending time with my good friends. But you know I am glad that those days are over. They were fun while they lasted, but I'm looking forward to the future. It's strange to think of those days and to realize all that has occured in my life in the six years since graduation. What's even more odd is to realize that it has actually been six years! I guess all those people who say that time flies the older you get (not that I'm getting old yet!) are right.

We spent a little time walking around campus, then played a game of bowling at the Sports Center. Nowhere else that I know of can people bowl for $1.25 a person!

We enjoyed bowling and talking and eating chocolate to tide us over until lunch. After finishing our game of bowling which I won and John got second place :), we headed off to the beach.

First we had a late lunch and then Jubilee convinced us to try out the water. Though the day felt a little cold, the water was great.

Eventually we all joined her in the water where we all tried our best to catch some waves. There were some small waves, so we were able to catch a few. As time went on, we realized that the undertow was strong in places so we decided to have more fun on the shore.

I had borrowed a sandcastle book from Rob, so we got busy! Creating a sturdy sand castle base is hard work. You have to pack down the sand and then add water and pack for a long long time. Using a shovel handle to poke holes in the sand and adding water that way worked pretty good.

Soon, we got tired and decided to get on to the fun part of carving. If (like me) you've never made a sandcastle unless you're playing with young children, you may be surprised that making stairs, little buildings and tunnels can still be a lot of fun! The finished product wasn't as impressive as the castles in the book, but it was a lot of fun and definitely more cool than other sand castles I've built in the past.

Of course the best part was being there with John! We don't get to spend a lot of time together yet since I'm still in Alabama and he's in Ohio. I guess that makes the time we do have together that much more fun. We often pack a lot into a weekend!


Overall it was a great day at the beach. The cloudy cool weather was great since we (for once) avoided a sun burn!

It's taken a while to get this posted and I need to write a little bit about my trip to look at cloth and patterns this past Saturday. But I guess that post will have to wait (or may just get forgotten). The short story is that Anna, Jubilee and I did a lot of looking, but haven't bought anything yet. If any of you have or know of good wedding dress or bridesmaid patterns, decorating ideas or other useful things to know when planning a wedding do let me know!

Bodysurfing at the Beach!

Saturday was a perfect day to be at Pensacola Beach! The yellow flag was out and the waves were great for bodysurfing! Gemma and I spent almost four hours at the beach and I probably spent at least three of those hours in the water. You know the waves are good if occasionally when you jump into the wave wrong and it smashes you into the sand! To feel the warmth of the sun and hear the sound of the waves is like nothing else. I was able to catch several great waves.

It's interesting being out there watching the waves and deciding which one to ride. I spend most of the time watching and deciding to wait for the next wave until suddenly I decide this is the one and jump in. I guess it can be compared in some ways to riding roller coasters. For roller coasters, you wait often for an hour for a ride that lasts only a minute or two. When body surfing, you try out many disappointing waves, but sometimes you catch one that pushes you along like nothing else and it's definitely worth the wait!

I wish every day at the beach was as perfect as that one was!