Back to PCB, I turned 25, and we aerated our lawn...

Weekend trips to Panama City Beach have turned into bit a summer tradition for Sean and I, so it was only right for us to celebrate my birthday/Memorial weekend in PCB with Karen. The drive went smooth, the weather was out of this world, and I'm now a quarter of a century old! After a little work around the house on Saturday morning, it was time to pack the bags and head to the beach. After a glorious day under the sun, we went out to dinner Saturday night to a restaurant down in the swamps of PC called, Boon Docks. And oh what an appropriate name that was. I mean, the place offered airboat tours around the swamp while you waited for your table (unfortunately we didn't get to participate... but next time will be a different story!) The wait was crazy long (2 hours), the service was mediocre, but the food was pretty darn good.

Sunday we took the kayaks out into the bay, and just paddled around for a while. We got to see some incredible mansions and then just some flat out bizarre homes. (ie. Pirate ship/tiki bar/dock/deck....???) It was so nice to just hang out in the water for a while with the warm salt air, just chattin' it up and enjoying the beautiful scenery, that was until Karen jumped out of the water for the second time saying there was something nibbling on her toes. I've learned to love the ocean, but I don't do well with unknowns nibbling on my toes. NO THANKS!

Since Sunday was my birthday, we decided on a home cooked meal which began with a stop by a local seafood market called Cardenas. We picked up what would become my birthday dinner: fresh caught shrimp and smoked crab dip. Coming from a family that's more than 50% allergic to shell fish (only learning a few years back that I myself am not allergic), it goes without saying that I didn't eat much shrimp growing up, but oh how I love fresh grilled shrimp now. I definitely could have done without the de-veining part... (pssst. it's not really a vein, its their digestive track...if you get my drift?!) GROSS! It's a dang good thing they're tasty little buggers! Karen went with sparklers instead of candles this year, totally diggin' that! My 25th birthday was so wonderful, thank you Sean and Karen!

Now that you've endured the boring details, here's the pictures...

Crazy how the millions of bugs didn't show up in these pictures cause they felt like a blanket out there

Sean looking like a professional frisbee player

Fresh grilled birthday dinner

It was also requested of me to post some pictures of how are front yard/flower beds are coming along since this is work in progress. You'll notice the grass isn't looking so hot (see below with the aerator pictures)

Here is a picture of our newest edition to the dining room... found in a PCB antique shop, love it! I won't bore you with the details of how many holes are hidden behind these pictures after trying to get them level, spaced evenly apart, and centered (and this was all after Sean created a diagram to assist us with the layout).

Compacted soils no more... Hopefully this will give Sean the putting green of a front lawn he's been looking for!

So here is a video of Sean aerating of lawn, with a beast of a machine. He sort of rolled his eyes when the nice man at Home Depot explained that this thing would be pulling him across the lawn all day... The next day, Sean's usual "good morning" to me was replaced by "I feel like I was run over by a bus," evidencing that maybe the machine really was pulling him around after all.