Destin, Florida

Troy and I decided to try and take the kids to a white-sand beach in Destin for our first group vacation.  It's about an 8 hour drive, so we decided to break up the first day of driving and stay in a hotel along the way.  Then, we arrived at our condo the next day for a 4-night stay before heading home for what turned out to be a 13-hour travel day.  For the record, we decided to do this with all 3 kids squished together in the backseat of his truck.  And, let me remind you that his daughter Bayleigh is a year younger than Emma.  All in all, the travel part went relatively smoothly.  I was just at my breaking point during the last two hours of the drive.

It was a great trip.  The kids really liked the pool at the condo, but unfortunately that wound up out of service for half of the trip.  They loved collecting shells and each brought back a bag full of them.  We went to a waterpark for a few hours one day because we had promised a day of swimming in the pool (the one that wound up closed) and needed to fulfill our promise.  Lucky enough the condo agreed to refund us some money since we were kind of forced to spend money on other activities.  By the last day, they were all very comfortable on the beach, and so it was very hard to leave.  We also checked out a pier, several arcades, and a few restaurants.  Troy bought some kites, so they did that for a little bit, but the kids just really preferred to be playing the beach water.  We had also taken quite a few sand toys, but again, the preference was to be in the water.

On the last two days, we made our dinner and brought it down to the gazebo area to eat by other guests.  We told the kids we were going to a party each night, so they loved it.  And, of course quickly made friends with everyone each time.  The first night we did this, Emma walked right up to a man that was grilling and asked if he was making hot dogs.  Of course he said no, so she asked him why not.  It was hilarious, and he told her he would make hot dogs and hamburgers the next day.  So, all day long the next day she was asking about the "hot dog man."  When dinner finally rolled around, she went right up to him yelling "hey Hot Dog Man, are you making the hot dogs?"  I was a little nervous about her interacting with strangers because the day before we left, we were running errands, and she literally pointed right at someone and said "she gots a fat belly."  She also told called another Target shopper an "old lady."  And, then when we were grabbing some lemonade from Wendy's, she asked the person in front of us in line if they were a boy or a girl.  Yes, all three of these gems occurred on the same day.  We were running around like crazy because Emma wound up getting an ear infection the night before we were supposed to leave, but it was also the last day of swim lessons, so it was very crazy!

Here are the pictures from our awesome trip...

All smiles at the beginning of the journey...












All read for the party.  The girls insisted on dresses and bows :)

 

 

 Surprised to find good Mexican food, but more importantly a much needed margarita break :)

 

 

 

Look out Destin, we have arrived!

 

Ummmm, yeah, so she is trying to be Ariel in this one :)

 

My absolute favorite picture!

 

 

Emma says if you ever find yourself in a specialty candy shop, go for the chocolate covered Twinkie with sprinkles (Rhett had the caramel apple with M&Ms and Bayleigh tried the chocolate covered Rice Krispie treat with sprinkles)

 

 

The bad weather and closed pool didn't spoil our fun, it set up the perfect opportunity to collect shells which turned into one of their favorite activities.

 

Bye bye beach :(