Santa Rosa Beach (2019) Wrap Up

(Forthy Monkey, 12south)

My week back at the office after my week out of the office, in Santa Rosa Beach, was jam packed.  Work was busy, stressful, challenging, relentless and emotionally demanding.  I grinded all week long and even had a mediation yesterday, on Saturday.

Today, a day of rest, sort of.  Soccer for JP in Murfreesboro.  Baseball practice for JP later in they day.  Soccer practice for Joe.  Divide and conquer for Jude and me.

I haven't had time until now to reflect, really, or write about our time in Santa Rosa Beach.  The highlights, if you will.  I've tried to post about our beach vacation every year and it's fun to go back and read the posts from past years and look at photographs.

Here goes.

1. Hooking up with the Allen's (Russ, Susanna, Ella, Cooper and cousin Tyler) might have been the best part of the trip for the boys.  Monday, we went to their place at the WaterSound Beach Club at St. Joe, as we have in the past.  We hung out at the pool all afternoon - resort style - and played Spike Ball.  Then, we walked down to the ocean.  That evening, dinner at Greyson Beer Brewpub, then Cooper came to our place for a sleepover.
2. Tuesday morning, Jude and I took all of the boys to the beach.  Cooper, JP and Joe played and played and played in the ocean, all morning long.  It was windy, so the waves were uncharacteristically big for the Gulf, though not out of control.  Cooper fits so well with our boys.  It's almost like he's the middle brother.  He plays with JP and he plays with Joe and they both love him dearly.  I met Susanna later in the afternoon at Sun Dog Books in Seaside, where I dropped Cooper off and picked up some books for JP and Joe.  Cooper and I had a great talk on the way down about sports, baseball, soccer and life.  As I've said and written before about the Allen's, it's so nice to have friends that fit.
   
3. Tuesday afternoon or evening, Joe told Jude that the morning at the beach was his best day yet at the beach.  "Actually," he said, "it's my best day ever at the beach."  That made Jude and me smile.
4. The waves, especially the first few days.  The weather was a bit iffy, but we got to the beach every day.  The boys loved - and I mean loved - the ocean.  We couldn't get them out of it.  We played with the Waboba ball and made up some games but mostly they just wanted to be in the waves.  It made me want to take them, soon, to a beach on the Atlantic side or on the Pacific where there are actual, real waves they could body surf in.  They would love that.  
   
   
   
5. Running on the Longleaf Greenway Trail.  I'm so glad I found this trail several years ago.  It's one street over from Old Florida Village and I love running on it, although it was very hot and humid even fairly early in the mornings.
6. Ama Vida for coffee in Seaside.  Good coffee and good coffee house, although Ama Vida (and several other merchants) changed locations at the town square in Seaside.
7. Lunch with Jude and the boys at Bud and Alley's.  JP was insistent he wanted to eat lunch there, like he and I had done two summers ago.  It was worth it, for sure.  JP loved his shrimp Po 'Boy.
8. Lots of pool time in one of the two pools at Old Florida Village.  It's a weird, nostalgic feeling to see JP and Joe swimming in the same pool we had them in when they were toddlers.  
   
9. Watching "All or Nothing:  Manchester City" on Amazon Prime.  It was almost as good as First Team Juventus on Netflix.  So well made and such an interesting inside look at the Premier League and professional soccer in England and Europe.  Yes, I'm watching documentary series about professional soccer.  Crazy.
10. Watching Joe devour Hardy Boys books.  That's close to my heart, as I was a devoted Hardy Boys fan when I was his age.  JP and I read a few of them together and Joe and I have, too, but Joe reads them on his own more than JP ever did.  Joe is an amazing reader which makes me very, very happy.
11. Reading Where the Crawdads Sing (Delia Owens) and Chances Are (Richard Russo).  If Russo writes it, I read it.  Both great books.  Perfect beach reads.  Chances Are hit home in some ways, as it involves 3 college friends reuniting for a weekend as they approach their mid-60's.  Doug, Mike and I were planning Labor Day weekend together as I was reading it.  Early 50's for us, so we're not that far off.
12. The drive down and back was so much easier than it ever has been.  One stop and JP didn't get car sick.  We played the name game for hours with professional athletes.  You know, JP says Russell Westbrooks, I say Willie Mays, JP says Marvin Hagler and so forth and so on.  Mostly, I played against Jude, JP and Joe.  At one point, Jude slid in Boris Yeltsin (and meant Boris Becker) and didn't catch it at first.  When she said Boris Becker a few minutes later, I busted her and she got tickled.  Jude doesn't laugh - I mean, really laugh uncontrollably very often - and it's a beautiful thing when it happens.  Joe remarked about it to me later, about how funny it was to see her laughing like that.  I couldn't agree more.
13. The golf cart I rented.  Top 10 vacation decision all time, in part because it kept my truck free from sand.  We drove the golf cart to the beach and to dinner a few times.  The boys loved it and JP loved driving it in the neighborhood.  
14. Throwing the baseball with JP one afternoon in one of the grassy overflow parking lots in Old Florida Village.  Nothing beats playing catch with your son, for me, anyway.
15. Watching the Dodgers rally for a win at Shunk Gulley Oyster Bar while we were eating dinner. Crazy game and crazy rally for a walk off win.  The same thing happened while we were watching the Dodgers a couple of nights later.  It's that kind of season for the Dodgers and the boys are way into it, as am I.
    
16. Hanging with Jed at Blue Mountain Beach Creamery.  We've known Jed since he opened the Creamery with his family a decade ago, at age 15 or 16.  We've watched him grow up, year to year, one our visits.  He's grown closer and closer to our family and we keep in touch in the offseason through Instagram.  He lost his dad this year and I lost my mom and we visited about that a little bit.  It's funny but seeing him is one of things our boys look forward to the most on our trips to Santa Rosa Beach.

That's about it, I think.  Next summer, it looks like we're going to Oregon with Jude's college friends, which will be fun.  We may try to get back to Santa Rosa Beach for fall break.  

It had been a minute, as the kids say, and I had forgotten how much I love going to the beach.