Dust: White Sand and Grandpa

Sun. Beach. Waves. Lobster. Family. Ice cream. Sunburn. Florida.

Around 22 years after my parents were married, we are finally enjoying our first real family vacation. We've done short weekend trips before... and we've had plenty of time together moving from state to state, but its nice to be able to take time to go to the beach, and just hang out as a family.

We got in Tuesday evening and met my Aunt Judy for dinner. I hadn't really met her before... she met me when I was 2 years old, but had never met my sister or brother in person. It was really nice to get to know her some. After dinner, we stopped by the cemetery where my Aunt Barbara is buried. She died in a car accident 11 years before I was born. It sounds like it was really somber... but it wasn't really. This was the conversation in my aunts car:
Aunt Judy: This is where Barbara is buried.
Mom: Is your father here too?
Aunt Judy: haha, um, no. He's in the back seat.
Adam: What?
Becca: Nothing.

My grandfather died in 2006 I think. I only met him when I was a baby. My siblings never did. He wanted to be cremated after his death and have his remains sprinkled over my Aunt Barbara's grave, but had told Judy that it was something you werent really supposed to do at that cemetery. So, Judy waited with his bag of ashes in the backseat of her car, until she had some conspirators to be there to sprinkle the ashes with her. Those conspirators were us.

My dad did the official sprinkling. It was nice that we could be there to do that with Judy. By the way, my aunt is hilarious. When my dad was getting the bag of ashes out of her car she said, "He’s been in the closet for so long, and now he’s finally come out…. And he didn’t even know it." It was in this manner that the sprinkling continued.

Dad: Here Adam, meet your grandpa. -holds out bag of ashes-
Adam: Hi grandpa!
Dad: -sprinkels ashes in the shape of a stick figure, then the wind picks up and the ashes spread-
Adam: Ah! I've got Grandpa in my eye!

All that to say, it was an experience I will never forget.

Yesterday we went to Clearwater Beach. It was amazing. We amused ourselves for hours by jumping waves and lounging on the sand. The sand at this beach is the best sand I have ever experienced. White and fine- it almost felt like flour. There were also lots of beautiful little shells throughout the beach for us to collect. The downside to the beach is that my back and shoulders are as red as the lobster tail my brother ate for dinner Tuesday night. Even though I reapplied sunscreen twice that day.

Today we plan on staying indoors :)

And tomorrow. Why that is THE DAY I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR MY WHOLE LIFE! Because... I get to go see MERMAIDS. Yep. Mermaids. Weekiwatchi (I think thats how its spelled) is a place where they have people who dress up like mermaids and swim in this pond that has glass walls, so they can put on shows and eat apples and whatnot and we can watch them! My dad told me about the mermaids at weekiwatchi when I was a little girl and it has been my dream to see the mermaids. It has also been a dream of mine to be a mermaid... but I dont think that will ever happen... especially since I don't like opening my eyes under water or getting water up my nose.

On the agenda for the rest of the trip: family beach photos, visiting my mami's Tio and Tia (and hopefully eating some really good cuban food) and spending more time in the water (with much much much more sunscreen!).