I wish I’d have done this sooner, but we’re lagging a little from the drive home!  We spent the past week on the beautiful white sands of Crescent Beach in Siesta Key (a few miles south of Sarasota).  My Aunt Sue actually owns a condo on the beach, and my family has vacationed there on numerous occasions since I was 8 years old.  Thanks Aunt Sue for letting us use it!

The time to ourselves and away from home was a welcome respite, to be sure.  There isn’t a whole to tell, actually.  Most of our days were spent lounging at the beach, reading, and swimming in the Gulf.  We didn’t really do anything too adventurous the entire week!  It was nice to be able to just relax without any outside pressures.

If you’ve never been to the Gulf coast of Florida, I encourage you to do so if you find the time.  Crescent Beach itself has some of the whitest, most powdery sand you will ever feel between your toes!  And once again, the vast expanse of the ocean, with the persistent sound of the waves, is so peaceful to the senses.  The only thing better would have been if the entire beach was empty except for us (with Evan in the stroller), but I suppose that’s asking an awful lot!

Certainly, it still wore on our minds that Evan was physically absent from us as we watched numerous other parents carrying their infants and toddlers into the water.  Evan’s dwelling is surely so much more beautiful even than the most beautiful beach, and his contentment is never our concern.  Nonetheless, our own selfish impulses will always desire him to be with us, and we miss him immensely, especially as we watch so many other families enjoying themselves without care or concern.  Amy had an especially hard time with this toward the end of the week, and I think we were both anxious to start the return journey on Sunday morning.

Of course, Evan’s spirit continued to be with us the entire time.  On the way down, we saw a beautiful rainbow as we neared Columbia, SC.  It stayed with us for about 15 minutes.  Then, when we arrived in Siesta Key 2 Saturdays ago, it started to rain heavily, so much so that we couldn’t even get to the beach until almost sundown.  But at 8 PM, the rain let up, and wouldn’t you know that as we started for an evening walk on the beach, another rainbow appeared right outside our door!  To top things off, on either Sunday or Monday evening (sorry, I can’t remember which exactly), we were treated to an absolutely perfect sunset over the Gulf of Mexico.  We have pictures of all these things, and more, which will soon be posted to our pictures page.  Evan also left us a wonderful surprise in the car as we packed to leave for Florida…a card and a gift certificate to Turtles Restaurant.  We enjoyed our one dinner out last Wednesday night, with crab bisque, lobster tail, and crab legs!  Thanks Bubba Lubba!

The trip home was long and uneventful.  We decided to go 200 miles out of the way to come up I-75 through Tennessee and Kentucky, just for a change of scenery.  And it was nice, but we were ready to be home when we finally arrived around 8:30 on Monday.  Just in time for the unofficial start of the JH soccer season with conditioning camp this evening.  We’ll look forward to seeing you all soon.  Take care and God bless!