Flagler Beach'n

I headed to Flagler Beach Saturday morning to enjoy some rare family beach time. But since I was in the area I wanted to try to hang with Rachelle and Matt first. We get together pretty regularly but I love it even more so when we're able to meet up during random visits. I had already eaten breakfast but we met up at The Hi Tulip Cafe so they could get some food. I ended up getting a muffin (so much like Shakers - wink wink Erin). They were also ever so kind to let me try breakfast fritters that you dip in yogurt. Sounds incredibly weird, I know, but so good! I loved getting in some Benton time!

I figured this whole beach day was the perfect reason to pop in fight with my contacts. I had picked up some new sunglasses at Statements and wanted to put them to use. 

After my second breakfast, I headed over to the beach house where my Aunt Sarah and "Aunt" Liz had been hanging out at all week. Hayley arrived only minutes before me so it was perfect timing. But my mom left a voicemail saying she had JUST left Orlando. Oy vey. 

Side story: Liz was a foreign exchange student from Australia during her and my Aunt Sarah's senior year of high school. So, she lived with my grandparents for the year and she and my aunt have been like sisters ever since. She's been family since before I was. The last time I had seen her was probably about 10+ years ago when they came to Orlando for their high school reunion. So it had been awhile! 

Liz showed me some really cool photos on her iPad of Tasmania, Australia, her children and their families, and a bunch of other adventures. Australia sounds like the coolest. One day I'm going to have to drain my savings and brave the incredibly long plane ride and get my ass over there. 

Since we all knew my mom wouldn't show up for another few hours (even though it takes only ONE) we decided to go take a walk on the beach. It was hot as balls but Flagler was as pretty as ever. We walked quite a way before turning around and heading back to the house. We were all ready for lunch at this point and they sure stocked the house with plenty of food. I ate watermelon, a turkey sandwich, chips, cookies, and leftover cinnamon roll from their breakfast. Yeah, I was STUFFED. My mom finally showed up while we were eating. Hayley and I just kind of sat next to each other while we listened to them swap stories. There was the one about my mom hiding snickers bars in a bush because my grandparents didn't allow them much sugar. (Kind of surprising since grandma was always baking but kind of not since grandpa was a dentist.) They talked about the boys they dated or wanted to date. Hayley and I laughed and laughed. It's always interesting to hear stories about your parents before you ever exited. At least I think so. 

We all made our way to the back of the house where a wood walkway leads to a dock. This house is located smack dab in a neighborhood but it felt so secluded it was unreal. Hayley tried fishing for a bit but didn't have any luck even though we kept seeing fish all over the place. Ha! I sat on the dock and watched all the crabs go in and out of their holes. I know that sounds super lame and nerdy but it was surprisingly fun. 

Hayley, my mom, and I decided to go down to the beach for awhile. We lathered ourselves in 100+ sunscreen and gathered all the necessities. On our walk we spotted our second (or maybe it was the same one?) turtle of the day. Turtles are way faster than you think! Once we got to the beach we found a spot to ourselves. Not that it was hard or anything - it was definitely a slow beach day. Hayley and I had the hardest time with my damn umbrella. Dustin and I had bought it last summer but ended up not needing it in Siesta Key. Well I wanted to get use out of it and we sort of did. It kept flying out of the ground and almost whacking us in the face until one of us would grab it real fast and push it back in the sand. This happened like 10 separate times. Annoying yet hilarious. The water was  so rough. I didn't go in past my calves. I don't mess around with nature. So I mostly sat back in my chair and enjoyed the view while talking with Hayley and my mom. Then it was time to bring out the selfie stick - yet again. Let me back up a bit. So Dustin bought me a selfie stick for Flag Day because I legit wanted one ever since Miranda showed me hers. This beach trip was the first time I actually got to use it. And use it I did. It's so embarrassingly amazing. Hayley had the genius idea to put my mom's disposable camera in it. We could barely take a photo with our phones because we were laughing so hard! 

We came back to the house to clean up and take a breather. It was my turn to show Liz some photos. (Flickr is so convenient!) Then we headed over to the Oceanside Beach Bar & Grill for dinner. We couldn't get an outside ocean view table so we settled for whatever they had available. I had never eaten there before but it was awesome. We got flaming cheese (watch the video below) to share and I ordered their stuffed shells as my main course. Delicious! The place just had a good vibe. It was a perfect ending to a really good day. Days like this used to be so frequent on both my mom and dad's side of the family but no one really gets together anymore. I like quality time spent with family (I like). I wish Leah and Aunt Barb could've made it but maybe next time. 

I headed home after dinner but the rest of the gals continued on their adventure. But thankfully Hayley kept me in the loop with video, photos, quotes, and snaps.