Elizabeth and I got up early and visited the Publix where we loaded up on groceries for the week. We even stumbled upon fresh sushi being made, so we grabbed a dragon roll for lunch (which was great, by the way). We zipped home and made bagels and oatmeal for the clan.
Then we suited up and crossed the bridge over Route 98 to hit the beach. We didn't receive a complementary beach setup with our condo(s) this year, so we just laid on towels and endured the searing sun.
The red flags were flying (which, in case you aren't a beach goer, means that the sea was too dangerous to swim). The wind was blowing in strong from the gulf, and the surf was vicious. The entire gulf looked as if it had been agitated to boiling, with whitecaps as far as one could see. The waves pounded the shore relentlessly.
But that didn't stop the girls from wanting to go in for a swim, and they looked at their dad as if he were the biggest stick-in-the-mud on record when I told them that they couldn't. The girls sat in the sand near the water line, letting the violent waves crash over their feet. They kept "furtively" scooting further and further into the surf, until we would yell at them to come back to safety.Elizabeth and I spent a long time making a sand mountain with the kids' beach toys. We probably managed a 4 foot high mound of sugar-white sand.
Katie started collecting shellfish as they were washed up on shore. The waves would wash in, and as they ebbed away, the displaced crustaceans would dig themselves into the protection of the sand, leaving telltale bubbles and craters in the beach. Katie would swoop in and grab the little critters and add them to her newly formed, miniature menagerie. (She later returned them to the sea - subscribing to the "catch and release" philosophy.)
Julianna, for the most part, simply sat in the water and let the waves wash over her. She was starting to take on the appearance of a drowned rodent.
It took every mote of energy in their bodies to keep from frolicking in the surf. At one point, the three girls joined hands (carefully, with Elizabeth's left wrist, which had been fractured playing soccer just a week or so earlier), and jumped in unison over the incoming waves.
Without a beach umbrella, we were beginning to crisp under the sun, so we gathered our gear and headed back across the highway to our condo for a late lunch. We each had a quick shower, and then ate sandwiches and sushi, enjoyed iced tea, and watched the pool area from our lanai.
After a short rest, we put on our "pool suits" and ventured downstairs to the water park. On the bay side of the highway, Destin West has an extensive network of aquatic activities. Two or three pools, two hot tubs, a waterfall, and a lazy river. The hot tubs were all crammed with LSU college kids. It seemed like 30 or 40 were soaking in each whirlpool, most with a canned beverage and a cigarette.
We grabbed innertubes and launched ourselves into the lazy river. The river was also crowded with rowdy students, as well as other families. The river "banks" were lined with discarded cans of Bud Light and Red Bull. At one point, a couple of mischievous kids (guys, of course) stood on the side of the river, near the building that housed the restrooms. As the kids and I drifted by, the two young men splashed copious amounts of water from the river into the louvered window which vented the men's room. From behind this window, a voice with a southern drawl shouted, "Oh, you dirty sons of b****es!". Having been in this room, I knew that he had been standing at the urinal as this attack occurred. I imagined myself covering the eyes and ears of my very proper young ladies as we floated away from the high jinks.
We were sort of confused about the fact that the LSU crew were still hanging around, this late on a Sunday. Then we realized that Monday was Columbus Day, and they all must have the day off. Once again, the east-coast dedication to this holiday (which means almost nothing to us, since my company doesn't recognize it) caught us off guard - just as it did in '05 when we unwisely chose to visit Disney World on Columbus Day, along with every other family within 500 miles.
We stayed at the pool quite late, and as the sun began to set, the students finally started to thin out. Once we had some elbow room, we explored the various other facilities (although I wasn't about to get in either of those hot tubs until they received a good shock of chemicals). We spent some time swimming in the pool with the waterfall, then finally decided to pack it in for dinner.
Back in the condo, we made spaghetti with sazizza, a family favorite, along with salad and garlic bread. A Publix key lime pie provided a welcome, Floridian finish to our meal. The pie was outstanding, which was surprising considering that it came from a grocery store bakery.
Lorie enjoyed the relative quiet of the pool area from the lanai, while painting her and the girls' toenails with the special "beach polish" supplied by Aunt Sarah. Once we managed to get the girls in bed (with Julianna in the living room on the couch), their mother and I retired to our bedroom, which remember, overlooked the parking lot on the Highway 98 side of the building. We were reading for a bit before turning in, when we heard a bit of a row on in the parking lot outside our window. I went out onto the lanai to determine the cause of the ruckus. A presumably inebriated woman was sitting in the passenger seat of one of the parked automobiles, honking the horn and repeatedly SCREAMING someone's name (Dan, as I recall) through the open car window. Dan was doing his best to avoid the entire situation, as near as I could tell, because this went on for at least 20 minutes. Finally some guy came out to the car and began a loud discussion with this woman. It was fairly amusing to observe, although I think I would have preferred the sound of the crashing surf. Anyway, they eventually shut up, went inside, or drove off to a secluded area and beat each other to death - I don't know, but at least the shouting stopped.
The next day was Monday, and we were looking forward to having much more of the condo complex, including the pool area, to ourselves after the hordes of LSU kids checked out and went back to school.
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