The Rhea / Lane Families: The Family Blog Might Survive!

Well, I promised my mom I'd post about our beach trip.... yesterday.

Just so we're prepared, I might be migrating the blog to a different site. But don't hold your breath. I've put in 0 seconds of research so that's probably a long way off! Truth is, blogger makes it too hard to blog! They don't have an app anymore so I can't do it on the go, and getting your pictures in the right order takes so long I have to take 'rage breaks' and just periodically walk away! Plus, I have to use a wonky way of importing my pictures to my computer if I want to save the edits. TECHNOLOGY!! GRRRR!!

Let's reverse back 4 days ago when normal life was turned on it's head, I stuck my nose in a book and my toes in the sand and nothing could've distracted our straight maxin' relaxin'.

(^^ Get it? Corny picture input for life being turned on it's head?! I did like their shadows in the surf so I was trying to make them noticeable!)

The Rhea's joined us on our trip down to Perdido for the long weekend. The kids had so much fun playing with each other at the beach! The weather was mostly nice enough to be in a bathing suit but the water was a taaaaaaaad chilly. Kids don't seem to have an internal termperature gauge though so they played in the ocean like it was mid-July. Crazy heads.

The shore was shallow so the kids had this great sandbar (??) to play in everyday and could walk out for a long way without ever getting more than waist deep.

The water was crystal clear! Like what ocean dreams are made of! Glory be!!

I was reading a really interesting biography about a woman who was trying to figure out if her marriage was worth saving. I was sitting behind the below picture, with tears welled in my eyes, grateful for the path the Lord has given us. It hasn't always been great or happy, but it's been held together and protected by my precious family.

"I will let myself be a child at the beach who digs in the sand and lifts her sieve out in front of her, watching the sand fall away and hoping that treasure will be left."

-Glennon Melton

The imagery of this was so powerful to me. I remember helplessly laying on my bedroom floor begging God to please just help us make it out of this ok. It was overwhelming to look out into infinite ocean and watch these wondrous treasures play happily together at my feet.

I realized that He's still healing me. Maybe he's healing more than divorce. Maybe it's actual, physical pain. I couldn't put my finger on the wound, but it didn't matter. He rocks the waves gently and steady on, like a reminder that He's not ever going to stop reaching out and allowing me to let go of things that still sting a little. He washes my hurt to the depths of the sea.

And then, I rest.

He is a good father.

I'm so thankful He sees fit to care for me tenderly.

"surfboarding' :)

A friend caught a crab and saved it for us to play with!

I loved this! Lizzy wanted to walk in her Daddy's footsteps. She's young, but she's wise. He's a good one to follow behind, peanut. I've been chasing behind him my whole life too!

Short trunks stretching long to match her uncles! :)

Thank you, sunbeam!

The first day ended up cloudy and windy so we came in to let the kids get in the hot tub. Barry and I were both reading and he looked up and said, 'have you seen the kids?' We stood up and saw these three turtles at the very bottom of the hot tub! The water wasn't filling up so they took advantage of the little water at the bottom for a bit!

We went for a hike at Big Lagoon state park one afternoon. It was really unusual but beautiful. The trees were short to the ground, sprawling, and different than anything we have here. There were lots of dead pine trees. It was a bit desolate, but in an intriguing way. I'm glad we went to check it out!

Strange tree

That's the lagoon in the back ground. The water looked jet black. Odd.

This plaque reminded of us something Dad would say.

Us: What kind of tree is that?

Dad: What you have here, kids, is a DEAD TREE.

We love you, Dad!

Awkward family photo by a dead tree.

Look! I came on the trip too! But don't zoom. This was a no make up day and I promised Lala we wouldn't take any pictures of each other!

Hermit crabs that we're right on the shore of the park. The girls had fun organizing them! :)

Here's my snapchat story from the day! Little video clips and some pictures. Be patient through the pictures, the video will keep playing!

Booper's beach is always getting that thumbs up review!

This old man napping by the pool was adorable.

The kids put on an art show for us! The sign said 'Do not enter. Staff only.'

Lizzy with some of her super affordable art at only $10 per picture!

We were able to haggle with the price a bit. Hence the quarters and dimes.

They all wanted a picture with their name tags!

I was going to bed and found a ticket London had made me to participate in her favorite thing on earth. A tickle fest. Or Tikol fest. I put it in a baggy to save for all of time.