This year, the "Phillips" side of the family decided to take a group vacation to Cape San Blas. This is near Pt. St. Joe, where we all used to vacation together for many years as kids. This year, to form memories with all the new family members, we decided to head back. We had 22 people, which is a big jump from the last time we all vacationed together. We had more of a house this time though, so that helped! A lot of planning went into the trip, so we wouldn't have to spend any more time than necessary, shopping for, planning, and cooking meals. Thank goodness my aunts and my mom are retired, so they had time to put it all together!
The first day we were there, we went on a kayak tour to go scalloping. We all wondered how the kids would do, especially Melanie, since she's the youngest. Her cousin Travis, is 3 1/2 and her cousin Harrison is almost 3, and they all did great. We had a little float with a canopy on it for Melanie to ride in while we snorkled around looking for scallops. That day, we got more scallops than we've ever seen all at one time. We had heard that this was going to be the best season for scallops in several years, but this was ridiculous. Later that day, it took 4-5 people at a time shucking for 5 hours to get them all cleaned up. It was worth it, though to get to taste "real" scallops again.
The next day, we took out Drew's boat and Uncle Bobby's boat (the "Miss Jean"), and we rented a pontoon boat so we could go out scalloping again, and look for Sand Dollars this time. We did find several Sand Dollars, and we found more scallops too. After spending half the day on the boat, Mark and Barney left to go and try out the local golf course. It wasn't exactly the best course, but they had fun anyway.
The next day, we decided to take a break from the Sun and go to Apalachacola to do some shopping and eat lunch. There was more there than we expected, but we actually couldn't get to as much as we would have liked, because Melanie had had it. She got really overheated and was ready to go, so we went back to the beach house.
The next morning, half the boys had a fishing trip planned. So, some of the rest of us spent the morning at the beach. It turns out, that Brent caught a shark, and pulled it in almost the whole way on his own. Jay stepped in at the end to help, but it was a pretty big catch. So, it was understandable!
The next day, the other half of the boys went on their fishing trip. Then, in the afternoon, some of us went back out in Drew and Uncle Bobby's boats. That night, was the most fun, because we went down to the beach to cook hotdogs, hamburgers, and s'mores. We flew kites, plated Bocce Ball, and the kids played in the sand. There's just something great about the beach at night. And I know we all really loved that.
The last day, we hung out at the beach and the pool, and just took it easy. It was such a great vacation, that Elaine went ahead and booked the same house for next year, around the 4th of July. We will have a new baby at that time, so I'm sure our activities will be a little more limited. But, it would be great to join everyone again for such a great trip!
