Iki Express: Withers Gone Wild 2011: Part 2

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Let me just preface this WGW2K11 post by telling that I promise eventually I’ll get back into the swing of blogging about Weight Watchin’ (5 lbs down so far!) and, well, actually running in the Delta (St. Jude training is officially ON!).

But right now I just want to document these fun days with my family in this little cyber-scrapbook so I’ll never forget what a fun and funny week we had together! I wasn’t in a big picture-taking mood for this trip, so these pics might be kinda lame to some, but I love them because they are of my heart and soul…my family!!

So if you’re not okay with seeing pics of my family and hearing about our thrilling, action-packed vacation on the Gulf Coast, just check back in a couple of days. I promise I’ll be all business by then. ;)

Oh, and I know I had originally said I’d do two parts of WGW2K11, but it looks like it’s gonna be more like four. heh heh.

So we left off yesterday with our visit with Christina and sweet Linnie Grace. Mom and I were up and at ‘em and on the road on Saturday, and made a pit-stop in Foley, AL at the awesome outlet malls.

Well, if you can call it a pit stop. Four hours, 36 stores, 7 dressing rooms, and 12 shopping bags full later we were on the road to Seaside! All of our shopping extravaganza went un-photographed because 1.) it was raining cats and dogs and 2.) we looked like drowned rats because of said rain.

So we rolled into our sweet little house on Lyonia Lane in Watercolor around 6pm…after a day of shopping, rain, and TRAFFIC we were a little worse for wear!!

I don’t know about your family, but with us Withers, we have a strict tradition we stick to while on vacation. It goes a little something like this:

Night #1: Laura, Sara Whit, and Myra go to the grocery store to stock up for the week and spend approximately $3,201,482.00 (although this year we spend a little less because the boys were not with us so we didn’t need copious amounts of red meat and beer). Pick up pizza for the group.

Night #2: Laura makes Frogmore Stew (an East Coast favorite!) for dinner!

This trip was no different. Our first two nights were spent at home, catching up over pizza, then nursing a few sunburns over a fresh shrimp boil!

Myra and Lilly supervised and shucked corn over some hummus and pita chips while I boiled the sausage and potatoes.

Lilly asked Aunt My to crank up the ‘ole iPod so we could have a little happy-hour dancing. In the picture above, doesn’t it look like Lilly’s saying “Yo. Word to ‘yo motha.” Helen and Lilly rocked it out while we finished up dinner in the kitchen.

I love this picture below of Lilly…she looks so OLD!!! Stress me out….

And I do think she looks like an ATWOOD in this picture!

As you might remember from WGW2K10, Frogmore Stew is best served thrown out on brown paper grocery bags or newspaper and gobbled up right away! Easy, casual, and beachy…

Dinner was followed by a little more dancing for good measure.

I am embarrassed…this is the only picture I took of my mom and I while she was with us! We definitely should have gotten a better one but like I said…I just wasn’t in the picture takin’ mood. I have a feeling that now that I know how easy it is to blog with lots of pictures, I’ll start taking more! Last year at the beach, Myra made up a ‘signature drink’ for the week. Last year’s drink was called a Pelican Spritzer (our house was called ‘Pelican’s Perch’) and included Sprite, pineapple juice, maybe some rum….I can’t remember but it was GOOD (<---maybe that’s why I don’t remember all the ingredients?!?!)!!!

This year I requested she come up with another signature drink for our nightly cocktail time and she created a delicious Berry Mint Champagne Punch!

This is how Withers Gone Wild got it’s name….this is about as “wild” as we get…

Painting a two-year-old’s fingernails. Wild and Crazy bunch around here I tell ya.

Our house came with four bikes, which we took full advantage of! We loved being able to just wheel around town, go into Seaside for lunch and shopping…it was sooooooo great to get a little exercise while on vacay!

Myra and I pedaled over to Seaside’s Sqaure one afternoon. Here’s the view from the book store of the precious town:

Myra and I mozied around downtown Seaside for lunch and shopping.

We need a sign at this at our local grocery store!! :)

In case you’re wondering, I had Pina Colada Ice Cream in a waffle cone for lunch that day. And I don’t care who knows it!

Love this picturesque post office!

Myra and I also made daily pit stops at this sno-cone bus! A perfect afternoon snack! It was a nice break from my usual three o’clock snack of Diet Coke and Starburst. :)