For those of you who know me, you'll know that I hate the beach (granted that I have visited Southern California and loved their beaches). Okay, hate is a strong word: dislike would be a better one. We're in Texas, right? Our beach is considered to be either South Padre Island (which I've never been to) or Galveston Island, where the beach is covered in sea weed and is surrounded by a massive sea wall to keep those pesky hurricanes out, and the water looks like lake water (And about as flat too. When you think of a beach, you want to envision massive waves!! Common!!).
But now! We've hit the Gulf-Coast mother load! Emerald waters! White beaches! Excellent shopping centers! Panera Bread magnificence! Wonderful places to run! Fishing!! (yes, I even bated my own hook)!
And by we, I mean my entire family. Which is strange, because it's been literally years since we've all been together in one place. My grandparents wanted to get all of their kids and grandkids (and now great-grandkids!!) together before we all started getting married and moving off to various locations, making it harder to all be together. So after not having seen everyone in years, serious partying occurred.
Just to give you an idea of how much fun/beautiful it was, by the time the week ended, it was unanimous (18 people voting a unanimous vote is pretty impressive!) that we would all try to make the Destin party happen annually (and help Nana and Grandaddy with the cost...they forked out a crap load for all of us to stay in a huge house and go out to eat a couple times).
But, even though vacations are great, it is really good to be back home and to be getting back to work. All play and no work, no bueno. I'd still would have liked to have spent an extra week exploring all the different nooks and crannies, looking for fun Mom-And-Pop coffee shops and whatnot. We did all of the cool tourist attractions (Parasailing, GoKarting, Deep Sea Fishing, Pier Fishing...etc), but those are only cool for so long. After doing those you want to find out where the locals love to eat and hang out and all that great stuff. Next time...neeeext time!
Okay, so, I normally don't do the whole picture thing...but...I'm sure you get tired of me talking *smile*, so here you go.
Three TogiNet Employees (who happen to be siblings if you can't tell by resemblance)! Johnny (IT Director and general "Guru of Awesome"), Me in the middle, and Keri (Producer and research coordinator for the American Top 40 Countdown, and office culinary mastermind).
And then there's little bro, Sammy. Not a TogiNet employee yet, but once he's 18, he'll man the company salesman post. Seriously, he could sell ice to an Eskimo.
And then we have the 'rents! Mom...and Dad. Dad of course is the CEO of The Owners Group, Inc, which owns TogiEntertainment, which is the hub for TogiNet Radio. In other words, he writes our checks. Mom does a lot for the company as well; recently she's been addressing all the of the book boxes for the "The Naked Truth" pre-orders that will be shipped out on the 30th of May.
The house we stayed in!
Aaand there's the whole gang. I won't introduce everyone because that would take forever.
A bunch of us at the Gulf Coast Gulfarium...
A crazy kayaking expedition...
Some Go-Karting (isn't my cousin cute? No you can't date her)
But my grandparents are way cuter. And such a great example for all of their kids and grandkids and great grandkids of what a solid, Christian marriage should be like.
Some fishing!
Some crazy wicked parasailing! (notice the looks of terror) (The parasailing company's name was "Just Chute Me". I got a kick out of it.)
Late night walks on the beach...
Favorite second cousins in the world. :)
And of course, good times with really old friends.
Thank you Nana and Grandaddy for everything. :)
Oh, and here's Viking. He chilled at the office and took care of...well...everything while we we gone. Now he's showing his butt about it.
;-)
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