around the world lately: Rosemary Beach

Just as Peter and I yearly congratulate ourselves on the forethought of having a winter anniversary so we have a great excuse for a warm weather vacation in February, I congratulate myself every March for having younger brothers and thus an excuse to still have a spring break... Hendrik and I are just back from enjoying a week in Florida with my family at the same great house we stayed in last year.

Our big rental house was just a couple of blocks from the lovely Rosemary Beach area, which we accessed regularly - it's gorgeous just to walk through, with all of the unique homes that have such charming details, and the shops and restaurants are great. We call it an "alpine village" even though that descriptor really doesn't fit the Southern style of all the houses around there, but it does suit the charm and feel of the whole place.

We absolutely love the farmer's market and the bookstore, and we again spent tons of time walking and jogging on the miles-long bike path on the old 30A highway. My sister and brother-in-law and I rented bikes one of the days too, which was fun for tooling around. And we walked down to the beach for the sunset almost every night which was just lovely.

Otherwise we spent plenty of time at our own house, with 4 generations of family members (plus a bunch of college boys, friends of my brother's), and got in lots of poolside reading, pool swimming, walks/runs, drinks of the day, happy hours on the porch, March Madness watching, movie nights, and more.

Our weather was amazing - upper 70s and sunny - and by the end of the week Hendrik turned into a regular fish, frequently asking to be brought into the pool. He'd often be in for an hour or more after his nap, emerge to eat an enormous dinner (plus about 4 slices of his new favorite: watermelon!) and then beg to go to bed by about 7:30. Sign of a good vacation, I say.