Home From The Coast

We left for the coast on April 3rd, the day before Easter Sunday. Unable to find a traditional Latin Mass, we went to Easter Mass at the closest Catholic church. The church was filled with happy, joyful people, and the Mass was very nice.

It seemed strange to be away from home for Easter. Josh grilled raspberry chicken for Easter dinner, which was out of this world delicious. The boys grilled nearly every evening, and people at the hotel were asking about what they were cooking, the aroma was so wonderful.

All of us went out for dinner on Thursday. At the first restaurant we tried, a waitress had died and the staff had not returned from the funeral, so the wait would have been about an hour. We didn't want to wait that long with seven kids, so we tried another seafood place. That one was closed, even though it should have been open according to their sign. Maybe they were attending the same funeral. We finally wound up at The Boiling Pot, and everyone had fun eating there. Even Aubrey enjoyed the spicy Cajun food. :o)

On Friday we all went our separate ways for dinner. Ron, Mom and I went to a little seafood place because I wanted fried oysters. They were the best oysters I've ever had, and came with sweet potato fries and hush puppies--yum!

The guys enjoyed their fishing trips, and night time fishing from the pier. Ron was dubbed "the fish whisperer" by Cyrise. :o) He usually caught the first fish. Jason fished with his kids on Friday, and Jake was so proud to tell me that he caught two perch! We brought the fish they caught (only the keepers) home and will have a fish fry tomorrow. Jason, sorry we forgot to give you your filets!

Cyrise has been going to the coast every summer since she was a little girl, so she knew her way around, knew the people who owned the hotel, taught us how to catch crab, and fished every night with the guys. Kelly fished, too, and I went out one night. Most nights I was the designated baby watcher. :o)

Mike brought his crawfish boiling pot, and boiled the crabs one evening. They were blue crabs, and had to be bigger than your closed fist to be keepers. I'm not a crab fan, but I liked the little potatoes and mushrooms he put in the pot.

I didn't get pictures of the guys in their fishing hats! They all looked so cute. Caelen had an Indiana Jones looking hat, and Josh's hat made him look like an island guy or a young Earnest Hemingway. :o)

We had mixed feelings when we left this morning. On one hand, we were looking forward to going home, but on the other, it was hard to leave. We all enjoyed our stay so much, and loved spending time together. I'm sure we will do it again.

Here is Mom on the beach. She is such a cutie! Can you believe she is 83 years old? She enjoyed her vacation, but I think she was happy to get back home. It must seem very quiet to her after being surrounded by so many people for a week.