Pensacola *Family* Beach Party

The main reason for trekking to Florida was indeed for the beach, but more importantly, for the beach time with my family!

Since my immediate family is spread out...Texas (us + my parents), South Carolina (older sister) and England (younger sister) we all get together once a year in an annual reunion which has been dubbed Hornucopia (Horn is my maiden name). We vary the place where we meet each year and this time we picked a neutral spot in Pensacola, FL. We rented a beach house and had a fabulous time doing practically nothing! The weather was perfect. The white sand beach was unbelievable. And of course, I enjoyed being surrounded by my family.

Although, I will say, it is totally different visiting family when there are multiple small children that require constant attention. I felt like I was continuously focused on these four rather than getting to visit as much as I would have liked with my sisters and their hubbies.
Just as Jeff described, much of our time was spent hanging out at the fabulous beach across the street. The rest of the time was spent chilling out at the beach house chatting, juggling kids, watching Cars, playing Wii or planning our next meal. Oh, and did I mention much of the time was spent entertaining the kids? 6-month-olds Danielle and Christopher are 11 days apart:

3-1/2-year-olds Naomi and John are 6 weeks apart:

One day we did venture out to the National Naval Aviation Museum. It was a very nice museum with tons of interesting history and plenty of kid-friendly displays. Naomi enjoyed seeing all the planes, especially the ones she could climb inside.

It turned out that we were together for Pa's birthday. And as it goes with my family, I think we had as much fun planning the surprise as the little party was itself. (It's tough keeping the candles lit on a windy, beach-side balcony!)

This year, we took it up a notch and introduced family t-shirts. The girls (ie. the 3 sisters) loved it. The guys (ie. the brother-in-laws) endured it. Time will tell what happens next with these fashion beauties!
Thumbs up overall for a good time with the Horn clan!