"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever." - Jacques Cousteau

Hi! We’re the Runfts! That was the name on our reserved beach chairs today. [FYI for those who have no clue who we are, our last name is Ranft - no one ever spells it right, ever.] Hey, daughter Kelly, thanks for taking this picture of us!

Grandson Knox and his dad Kerry back in the pool this morning, riding the gator

Beached whale

Sand is way more fun when you wallow in it. Neil and Kerry kept making these cool sea creature shapes and castles and Knox kept gleefully bulldozing them.

The water was awesome today ~ Kerry and Kelly enjoyed the warm, placid waves ~ no seaweed so far since we’ve been here

Knox liked floating around in the Gulf waters, too, with his water wings

Daughter Kelly ~ is she reading or is she checking her iPhone? ~ I think she was actually reading a novel ~ behind Kelly you can see the tent set up for a wedding reception

A flock of sea gulls ~ 80s group, right?

We enjoyed some fresh shrimp for supper

Storm clouds rolled in late this afternoon

From our balcony, we watched this couple tie the knot in a small ceremony by the sea ~ I said a little prayer for them to have dry weather for their wedding ~ she walked down the sandy aisle to the Beatles’ Here Comes The Sun. While they were getting married here …

… this was going on right next to them ~ there was a spectacular lightning show happening, but the wedding party never got rained on [God heard my prayer and probably the bride’s prayer, too] …

… and He blessed them [and us] with this totally awesome sunset which made for a colorful backdrop for her wedding reception. Just might be the perfect way to start a marriage [and end the day, for sure]