185/365...Near Sunset

We ended up with a REALLY busy 4th of July this year. First, we spent some time at a friend's house watching the Nathan's hot dog eating contest and then we were off to Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island to spend time at the beach and then to watch the fireworks. All the pictures of the fireworks stunk, but I did catch this shot just before sunset.

Son of a beach!

Update: I'm linking up with Live Every Moment's photo challenge with this link.

The Long family went to the beach. Twice. In one week. Somewhat Willingly. Shocking, right?

In case you don't know, the Longs aren't too fond of Florida beaches. I should rephrase: Mom and dad Long aren't too fond of Florida beaches. Son and son Long are just fine with the beach. All of my northern or bad weather readers should put down their rotten vegetables and hear me out on this.

Florida (more specifically, gulf coast) beaches suck. It's that simple. Codos or motels or other ugly concrete monstrosities are built nearly right up to the water. The water pushes 90 degrees in the summer and the sand is very rocky and sticky. And the water is a weird brownish-green-gray color, preventing you from seeing anything past 6 inches deep. The upside...you don't get to experience the terror of seeing when a shark/stingray/jellyfish attacks you. It's a total surprise! I'm sorta kidding.

Back to this past week. Last Wednesday, we we went to the sweet 16 of the coolest teenager we know. At the beach. Ugh! But, we love her and her family dearly and did it. We went to the beach. Pics or it didn't happen? Here's the proof:

In all honesty, we had a great time and were happy to hang with great friends and family and would gladly do it again for our friends. The only downside was the stormy weather that rolled in and stuck around for a day utterly drenching the bay area.

Fast forward to this past Sunday. We're done. We got our obligatory beach visit out of the way, right? Right? If you read any of my recent ramblings (here or here, for instance), you know that the family Long has been keen on post-(mom and dad) nap Sunday afternoon outings. 

This week, no different. We headed to our favorite kid (and dog) energy releaser park (Crescent Lake) for some get-out-of-the-house-away-from-the-Wii-and-TV-family-together-time. Fun. Easy. Simple. 

I'm snapping away, thinking I'll snag a pic of the day here. Power lines? OK...but not great.

Lakeside pic? Eh...alright, but not quite.

The dad-in-law even tagged along since mom-in-law had other stuff to do. And that's where it starts to get interesting. 

Dad-in-law likes sunsets and riding his Harley to the beach and being outdoors and other crap like that. So, as we're pretty much done with the park (and dog park) he says, "Hey, I'd really like to torture you and your lovely wife (my own flesh and blood, incidentally) by dragging you to the beach to participate in one of your least favorite activities. You down?" OK...maybe I'm exaggerating a tad. But, in a rare moment of weakness, we were down. And to the beach we went. Again. For the second time. In a week. Ugh.

But...there was this...

And this...

This...

Also, this...

And, eventually, this...

In the end, another great day in another great week. Even at the beach. Twice. And *sigh* delightfully, willingly. Ah...

093/365...Ethan, after sunset

Another Sunday, another excursion. This time, to Pass-a-grille beach in St. Pete. This was taken just after the sunset.

074/365...Sunset

We had to take a little trip to Tampa today and I caught this sunset on the way back home.