Stuart- and It's Good to Be Home

Until just after Christmas, my in-laws had a house near our town.  But they sold it, and ironically, we have seen more of them since then than we ever did before.  When they had their house here, they were up one week out of every month, but they quickly established a life here with their own friends and their own activities, and we honestly would see them for a few hours each month.  But since their house up here has sold, we have made 3 trips down to their Stuart house over long holiday weekends. When we are there, we live with them day in and day out, and we definitely see WAY more of them than we did before.   This weekend was one of those trips.  It's actually very relaxing to visit down there because my mother in law has meticulous plans for meals, etc., so there is really nothing for me to do there but relax.  I get to read books, swim, nap, and watch TV.  Oh, and the Hubs and I even get to sneak out for walks or trips to Fresh market.  It's heavenly!  This trip our activities were less structured, but still wonderful.  But it's still just good to be home.  Good to sleep in my own bed with my own pillows and the house temp set the way we are used to--I must be getting old :-).

The above pictures are from the House of Refuge.  Initially, 10 were built along the FL coast.  The idea was that they would be refuges for sailors whose ships were lost at sea or who ran aground.  Since settlements were few and far between, the houses of refuge offered them a place to eat, sleep, and recuperate.  Each house had exactly the same layout, and all had a keeper.  Only the Gilbert's Bar one has survived.  In fact, this one was used to scout out German Uboats during WWII.  We spent some time exploring the house and property (which was set up for a wedding later that night-gorgeous!).

 Scott found a teeny-tiny crab there.

 Here you can see how narrow the land is that the house is built on.  the ocean is on the right- the Indian River to the left.

 It was a GORGEOUS day- but a little lot hot.

The rest of the weekend was spent swimming by day and watching TV by late afternoon/evening.  It rained pretty strongly each afternoon, so that ended the pool aspirations, although they did get to swim one night after the rain stopped and the sun had set.