Sweethearts on the Hill

You know what I say about game time decisions... they always turn into our best adventures. On the last day of our trip, Charlie had the idea of going on a dolphin cruise.  We found a cool catamaran with sails up and seats open, so we made it happen. They even had "Hatcher Family" posted at our table when we arrived on the boat... and a server immediately greeted us with a drink and snack menu. It was the most lovely way to spend our last day. It was actually the first, and only, time the whole week that I pulled out my big girl camera...  which is quite remarkable and a little sad (for me anyway). Our cruise ended up being cut a bit short due to a storm that was closing in on us... It was pretty cool to see it form though. We were still fortunate to see many dolphins out playing in the water around us (side note: I refuse to put much energy into taking dolphin pictures... I've learned over the years that the pictures do a terrible job of capturing how amazing these creat

It is a Hatcher family tradition to go out to the beach after sunset to catch ghost crabs... It is a family fave activity for sure.   All of our kids LoVe catching creepy crawly things... I can understand being fascinated by them and wanting to see  them... but at no point do I have the urge to pick up creepy crawly things, including ghost crabs.  I just hold the flashlight and the bucket, and occasionally yell "I see one!"  That's what I call teamwork, folks. This was pretty early in the evening. We typically fill up at least two of these buckets on each night's adventure.   Aren't they cute? 🙈 Richie and Charlie were in character as badass crab hunters this time. I'm thinking the ghost crabs of Perdido Key were pretty happy to see the Hatcher's family vacation come to an end!

  Since Perdido Key doesn't allow dogs on the beach (though I know  I recognized some little paw prints in the sand a few times!) we decided to drive to a dog beach in Pensacola to let Sara run silly for a little while.  I mean, it was her  vacation too! Charlie and Richie were golfing, so it was just Sam, Luke, and I... and of course our best girl.  Unfortunately she is not a big fan of the water... The unpredictable waves are a bit too much for this one. But she does love the sand... And Lord knows she loves going on adventures with her people. You could tell she knew this was a special day just for her. That smile says it all :)

I mean, where do I even begin? You can probably imagine Richie is in pretty high demand wherever we may be. And that's no different in Perdido Key. He is our fisherman, our golfer, our sandcastle master, our athlete and sports trivia master, our problem solver, our knower-and-fixer-of-all-things, our drinking buddy, and our comedic relief.  He is our rock. Whether it is planned and intentional, or a spur of the moment decision, Richie makes it a priority to have one-on-one time with each of the boys... and even me too... when we are on vacation.  There is at least one thing he has with each of us that creates a space for making memories... Sand castles, seashells, and sports with Luke Golfing with Charlie Fishing with Sam Putt putt with everyone And I guess just drinking with me 😂 We had the best time this day....  The kids apparently had enough beach time and left us alone lounging under an umbrella for the afternoon. We drank ourselves into silliness and just talked and laughed