Staycation 2019 - ending

We started the day off with breakfast at one of Suz's favorite places. Not new, but delicious. From there, the rest of the day was like the others; palm trees, food, sun, pool, sun, and palm trees. Madison and a friend from high school made macaroons which we sampled poolside (hadn't done that before) before showering to hit the next restaurant for dinner.

Again, a stand-by but worth it. It was a girls' dinner with cocktails and seafood (except for my Florida born daughter #1 who refuses to eat sea creatures). Thankfully, I had checked the weather before our arrival, so when the hostess wanted to seat us outside the patio area, I declined. When I explained that a storm was coming, she told me she'd "check the radar." Like I was a big, fat liar.

Which explains my face in this picture. I still wasn't over that snub despite being seated under the covered patio and given a waitress who was the BOMB. The people behind us, however, were not so objective, and they had been seated roughly ten minutes before the storm arrived out of nowhere and poured down in sheets. My face got better with that vindication, and I ordered another drink.

As it is in the Florida summer, the storm passed quickly, and the sun came back out, and Susan asked to walk across the street to the beach. Something she'd never done before...walk across the road to the beach from our restaurant. I took a picture to capture the moment. Firsts racked up daily.

The beach was awesome. A nice breeze. Fairly uncrowded. Darcy began moaning about the end of summer and having to go back to school. Obviously, in this picture, she and Susan were not together on the sentiment.

As the sun began its descent, a POW appeared with his bugle. Susan remembered him from her last trip, and the two chatted. He comes to the beach each night to play taps at sunset. He insisted we stay, and instead of going home to welcome Darcy's man-boy who was coming for the weekend, we texted Tom who'd picked him up, and they agreed to head to the beach.

We finished the night with SueG and her kids. We played games and ate cake until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore. Susan's flight required an early wake-up call, and we were all up to enjoy our last bit of coffee and palm trees and sun with her.

We agreed the week had been a good one. A lot of firsts. Tons of fun. Good company. A relaxing, peaceful, and fabulous celebration of Susan's five years of cancer survivorship. Until next time...