Beach Bound

all images via the completely delightful jorg and olif site... love those bikes���sigh

To mix things up a bit and fully get us in vacation mode, we've been eating dinner on the little table in our backyard (also because the weather has been so insanely pretty, and Audrey can't bear to be out of eyeshot of the new play gym for fear that it will somehow heft its own tonnage over our fence and meander down the street into another kid's yard...)

Another dinner time ritual leading up to vacation has been to go around the table and talk about the things we're most excited about doing upon our arrival in Florida. For Audrey, it's all about the sand -- the sand castles, the digging in the sand, the act of getting buried in the sand...that and the idea that she'll somehow have access to unlimited Shirley Temples. I'm not entirely certain where she got that notion, but I'm rolling with it. (ok maybe I mentioned this in a moment of desperation...)

For Bryan and I, it's all about the bicycles. One of the best aspects of this particular vacation spot is that upon our arrival, we park the car and don't use it again for the entire trip (save a jaunt or two to the neighboring town for dinner.) Instead, we hop on our bikes and pedal to the beach, the market, the bookstore...what have you.

Dallas isn't exactly the most "bike-friendly" town...Texans LOVE their cars, so this snubbing of the auto in favor of cruising around town on two wheels seems to me like the best way to have an experience that is the starkest contrast to our daily lives. That and of course the unplugging, which I will most certainly be doing, despite the fact that several other members of our vacation party (including my own traitorous husband) are hatching a plan to rig the center of our calm -- our vacation rental -- with wifi.

I'll be back to posting in a couple of weeks, eager to share pictures and highlights from our big trip, and I can't wait to see what all of you have been up to!