Florida- a TBT treat

 Once again, I'm linking up with Jessica's Throwback Thursday Stories!  I had good intentions to do this again last week, even had my picture and story all ready in my head, but by the time I got out of the shower, I got distracted and completely forgot.  I'm good at that!

When we were kids, Christmas meant more than Christmas Eve service and a visit from Santa.  It meant that after we went to our Me-maw and Pa-pa's house Christmas morning, we'd head to our Granny and Pa's, load into their car and make the 17 hour trip to their vacation house in Boynton Beach, FL.  This was exciting for us- we got several weeks off of school, away from our parents, enjoying time with our grandparents (and getting away with way more than we would at home)!

Those trips meant daily trips to the beach (even when it was too cold to swim) and stopping at the 7-11 beforehand to get an ice cream sandwich.  It meant walking along the jetty and seeing the manatees, Pa building us ocean liners (because any grandpa can build a castle, who else builds ocean liners?), and our very own tide pool.  It meant picking oranges and grapefruits in the backyard and Granny juicing them.  It meant seeing all of Pa's family.

Near the end of our trip, our parents would drive down, spend a few days and then take us home while Granny and Pa stayed behind until March when Illinois winters weren't too unbearable.  We did this every year until I was in 5th grade and my mom decided that I would have too much work to catch up on (she always arranged with our teachers to send our homework along on our trip so we wouldn't be behind).  I can tell you that those trips hold some of my most precious memories.  Granny and Pa no longer have that house, but still go down every year after Christmas and stay with my uncle.  I know Florida holds a special place in all of our hearts!