So my sister (Amy) got married this past Friday.  Dad, Grandma, and I got in a rental car and traveled down to Destin Florida to be there for the festive occasion . . . and it was actually quite fun.  The car was a nice size, but still . . . after 8 hours any vehicle is gonna feel cramped. 

On our way down, we stopped at what must be the COLDEST Captain D’s in existence !  I kept wiping the lens on my phone clean and it keps fogging up before I could snap the picture (all the pictures are from my phone . . . I was more concerned about having fun then documenting the whole thing). 

We finally made it to our destination, the Sea Oats Motel / Hotel right on the beach in Destin.  And I mean, ON-THE-BEACH . . . as in the back deck has steps leading down to the sand.   Took a picture of the sunset to show how white the sand is . . . as in it looks blue from the reflection of the sky it’s so white !  Not only is it white, it’s sugar sand . . . a fine almost powder that squeaks as you walk . . . which is cute for all of 30 seconds until you start to get annoyed by every step of yours and the people around you making noise . . . not to mention it’s like walking in snow (it gives more then normal sand as you walk).

Here’s the obligatory sunset down the street shot . . . just because.

You find out strange things about your parents as you get older.  Like the fact that my father apparently has had in his possesion (for quite some time) the ashes of one of his friends from many years ago.  This guy, who apparently was some kind of ‘I’d tell you what I do but then I’d not only have to kill you but everyone in ear shot of us . . . let’s just say I’m in the military and leave it at that’ guy.  His last wishes were to be sprinkled out at sea, which we certainly did not do one night about 30 feet off shore because that’s illegal (you’re suppose to go like 2 miles off shore or something).

It’s kind of difficult to tell in this picture, but the waters here go from green to deep green to blue green to deep blue here.  It’s very cool.  It was also cloudy this morning (of the second day) but it was still nice.  This was the day of the wedding (Friday 09-04-09) and Amy was getting ready and Tom (the groom) was getting ready and . . . well there was nothing for me to do for the next few hours until 6pm when the wedding was going to start.  So I went to exchange a pair of pants that didnt fit quite right, then came back to try them on with the shirt to make sure they fit.

The wedding garb was simple, just nice but not formal cloths . . . the wedding was on the beach with no shoes after all.  Sounds strange, but when you’re there it’s super cool.  After trying on the cloths, I decided to do a little snorkeling.  I almost got an underwater disposable camera, but decided not to . . . and after snorkeling for a bit I was glad. 

Where I grew up in Florida (on the East coast, near Cocoa Beach) there was all kinds of life on the beach, in fact it usually stunk due to seaweed washing up on shore.  If you snorkeled there, you were sure to see all kinds of fish, crabs, little sharks, etc all in this large grained yellow sand.  Jelly fish were a slight problem, but not too bad.  There were lines of reefs (mostly dead near the shore) all over the place, live coral out a bit further.

In Destin, it’s like a desert underwater.  The sand is as white as can be . . . but other then a few pieces of trash and some Jacks that kept following me around EVERYWHERE I went . . . there was nothing.  Jacks, at least that’s what my dad thinks they were, are silver fish (almost white, not shiny) with yellow tipped tails.  They literally followed me everywhere I went checking the sand as my feet stirred it up, or just staying under me as I floated face down watching them watch me.  I looked up and down the shore for about 2 or 2 and a half hours.  I saw a few tiny hermit crabs . . . but that was it.  Until . . . I saw a small conch shell (about the length of my palm, not including fingers).  I though this to be a wonderful gift for a coworker of mine so I went to grab it. 

I should mention at this point that the moon was full and the surf was not only picking up due to the tide . . . but from the strong wind that was coming form a storm several miles off shore . . . so the waves were throwing me back and forth (part of the fun of being out there).  Every time I went to grab the shell, a wave would throw me a few feet away from it and half bury it in sand again.  On, literally, about the 9th or 10th try a rather larger pair of waves grabbed me at just the right angle and folded me in half.  My back popped and my head was, in all actuality, in between my knees. 

Strangely my back didnt hurt as I got out of the water, nor did it hurt later that day or the next day.  Sunday, however, it started to get stiff.  Monday I helped some friends do some yard work and it knotted up a bit.  Later that evening it locked up so that I could not stand and my dad had to bring some Tiger Balm and heading pads to me lol. 

Here I am waiting to escort G-ma and Mom down to the bench.  There was a family who had children, like in the 7 or 8 year range, who were . . . for whatever reason, running around with out any pants on.  Finally their mother saw all the nice people dressed up and decided to have them put swimming trunks on before they got in all the pictures. 

Here Dad walks Amy down the isle.

And here you can see Mr and Mrs Tom Weeks (Weaks ?  . . . I dont know how to spell his last name . . . how sad).  He’s not short, she’s just very tall.

Yah, I know . . . enough with the sunset pictures you say . . . if it looks this nice on a camera phone . . . imagine how nice it was in person !

Same time as the first picture, just with out the Sun in the shot.  You can see how the water changes color better in this picture.

Here we have Tom, Amy, and Uncle Pat on the bottom, Mom and Aunt Mary on the top, and part of Uncle Chucks head there at the bottom.  It was good to see everyone on Moms side of the family (not that Tom’s side of the family isn’t nice, they’re super cool) but it’s been a while since I’ve seen everyone else . . . and I was much younger then (and a total spaz) so it was kind of nice to see eveyone again in an adult setting.  I plan on (hopefully) taking my last week of vacation in Florida toward the end of the year and see most everyone again (except the few people who live in New York state . . . which is a bit of a drive for me). 

Instead of throwing rice or bird seed . . . we had sparklers to send the Bride and Groom on their way . . . which was very cool I though !

Well that’s it for Amy’s wedding.  Dad, G-ma, and I got on our way back to Tennessee early the next morning (we had to get the dogs from the vet where they were staying by 4pm that afternoon or we’d get charged for three more days as it was a holiday weekend).  The drive back was fine, though it did rain a good chunk of the drive back.

My vacation lasts until Friday (well until Saturday actually).  The day we got back I checked in on our volunteers covering a memorial service (I would have just left them to it, since I was on vacation, but funerals tent to be tense and you dont want ANYTHING to go wrong . . . seeing that they had everything in hand I went home).

Sunday I watched TV and sat on the couch (realizing my back was getting stiff).

Monday I helped some friends with yardwork (a mistake as it turns out) and by the end of the day couldn’t stand up strait.  Being 30 strikes again !

Tuesday I went to staff lunch . . . just because I could.  I ended up heading back to work to talk with our new Youth Pastor (P. Nick as we cal him) just because we were chit chatting and I didnt have anything else to do.  No, I didnt do any WORK while there . . . I just hung out and chatted.  It was nice knowing that I didnt have anything to do . . . just to talk with people.  After making a slight modification to a coworkers phone (to read EVIL instead of VERONICA on the extension that shows up when someone calls) I headed home and did nothing much of anything.

Today (Wednesday) I’ve nursed my back, done some laundry, done more laundry, and worked on this post.  That’s it. 

Tomorrow I plan on maybe cleaning the carpets, if my back cooperates. 

Friday I have no plans for . . . we’ll see what happens.

Saturday I’m, sadly, back to work to run sound for Hope on the Horizion . . . a benefit concert put on by our local hospital to help families pay their medical bills.  It’s a Gospel concert . . . not my favorite style of music but, you know, we are in Tennessee.