Meghan and Brendon got the great idea to rent a big house and spend a week on the beach. My friend Victor and I were invited, and a few others dropped by as well!

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Day 1: Arrival and Shopping!

: Meggie looks happy to be driving the group to our destination! (I was crammed in the back seat with my knees up to my chest, with Katelyn, because we had lots of luggage with us.)

: Here is the big five-bedroom house we rented. It had a lot of decks!

: Once we got to the house, we had to do a grocery run, so Victor and Meggie and I ran out to BJ's and Publix. I found this huge can of tuna and needed a picture.

: Here we are back at the house, laughing.

: Benjamin likes to make this weird winky face when you attempt to photograph him.

: I think I was ready for an early retirement because I was in my pajamas.

: I don't know what he was pointing at.

: Happy kids sated after dessert!

: Doesn't Benny look like he just got told the world's most hilarious joke?

: Happy family.

: And now it's time for relaxation.

Day 2: Fred and pool!

: Victor was up before everyone else, and he took pictures of the sun coming up.

: Ben's ready for action, too.

: It's morning and time for breakfast!

: Here's V using the kitchen. It was a pretty badass kitchen.

And after breakfast . . . IT WAS TIME TO HIT THE POOL! Here are a bunch of fun action shots, with no real descriptions necessary.

Eventually it was time to get out and behave like land creatures.

: Benjamin clearly achieves this by running around coated in chocolate.

: And then our special guest arrived: Fred came just in time for lunch! (You can see me taking his picture in the mirror behind the table.)

: Fred had to get a quick taste of the pool as well.

: Later, Fred and Katelyn got to play with Benjamin. He likes to run around and try to get people to catch him.

: The ladies of the house decided it was time to prepare banana cake.

: Benjamin had made some chocolate drips, so I was cleaning them. Victor decided there aren't enough pictures out there of my bottom, and he snapped this.

: And then there was some relaxing, watching Dude, Where's My Car? on TV.

: I didn't really want to watch the movie, so I did some reading on one of the lovely decks.

: It had a really nice view.

: As I was coming in, Victor decided another picture of my bum would be good. Sensing a theme here?

: At least it wasn't always MY butt that got photographed! Before the movie was over, some of us decided to walk down to a little tiny beach around the time of the sunset, and Benjamin went in the water with his full diaper on, so . . . it was kind of a lost cause. His sister took it off him and they let him swim bottomless.

: Katelyn is very good at watching her brother. She's an amazingly responsible young lady.

: On the way back, Meg found a cool flower for her hair.

At the end of that night, some folks just fell asleep in front of the TV. :) Long day!

Day 3: More swimming, card games, and relaxation!

: In the morning, we homemade breakfast. (I made the biscuits!)

: A big group of Crazy Eights players! We also played some other games, and eventually it was just me and Victor playing Texas Hold 'Em with Brendon dealing. (Our game usually featured me as the underdog, but I never did go under, and the game was upended when we paused for a while and Benjamin messed up the chips while trying to eat them.)

: Mommy and son got tuckered out.

And later there was MORE SWIMMING!

: After the swimming, I hung out on the porch with Fred for a little while, having one of our introspective chats. Fred was having a snack here.

: We watched a really groovy sunset.

Day 4: Beach, swimming, silly!

: We decided to go to the beach in the morning, and on the way I asked Katelyn to pose with these lovely flowers.

: Here are Fred and Victor in the ocean, testing it out.

: I actually wore my suit and went in the water.

And then after that . . . you guessed it! More pool!

: Brendon proceeded to make lunch on the grill. (I ate a Boca burger while everyone else ate real hamburgers.)

: I changed my clothes and chilled in the room I was sharing with Katelyn.

: Ben decided to squidge around in the porch cushions.

: Fred took a picture of this pier.

Day 5: Trolley, beach, swimming, and drawing!

: Meg and Fred on the way back.

: When we got back, everyone else went swimming, but I took a shower, and then I made a gigantor cookie.

: Also took some down time and checked my e-mail.

: It was very hard to keep Victor out of that pool. He loved it. This is his dainty foot composed with a floating flower.

Later that night Fred, Victor, and I went into my room and drew pictures. It was cool.

Day 6: Reading, Jeaux, Pizza!

: I spent the whole morning and part of the afternoon lounging on one of the decks, reading Children of the Star.

: Later, Jeaux actually drove out to see us for a day. (Sadly, he missed Fred, because Fred had left that morning.) Here he is of course playing video games while Victor behaves geekily on the laptop next to him. Ahhh my nerd friends.

: Yes! Homemade pizza! I made four pies and we had plenty for all.

Day 7: Mall exploration and night swimming!

: Jeaux had to leave that morning, but he still got some gaming in.

: Benjamin played his cushions rolling game again.

: V and I decided to go exploring around the area, so we took a bus out to a local mall. Here I am waiting for the trolley.

: Here we are once we got on the bus.

: My feet generally don't touch the floor on buses, so I make adjustments.

: Once we got to the mall, one of the cool things was glow-in-the-dark golf. We didn't play, but we hung out in the room!

: V had never had Pocky, so I made sure he got to try it!

: We tried to meet the others for mini-golf, but it rained, so we just hid under the shelter until we gave up. Ben got to stuff his face with ice cream, though.

: Later, babe got to hang out in his mommy's lap.

: I was hanging out on one of the decks in my bikini for a photo shoot.

: Enjoying the wind on the porch!

: Here are Katelyn and Victor swimming in the pool at night. I swam too, but I got cold sooner and fled to the hot shower.

The trip home: Squished in the car!

Coming back wasn't fun, and neither was cleaning/packing up the house, but we made it despite the squish issues. Here is the family piling into my house to drop off me and V and take a breather.

Victor stayed with me for a few more days before he could fly back to Philly, but we didn't do a lot that was worthy of photography. We did go to Olive Garden with my mom:

: Yum!

And I played with cereal boxes for entertainment:

: That's a lot of Cheerios.

And we even hung out drawing for a night:

: Though sometimes I need a nap.

I assure you I did not want to go back to work after that vacation, but . . . well, no good thing lasts forever!