Destin - The Drive Home & Pics of the Room

This was our condo...

The living/dining room...

The coffee table was actually a slab of granite but they had painted the top.
Our bathroom... Loved the size of our bathroom. And the shower was huge too. The afternoon after we got back from the horrid experience at the beach, I gave the kids a shower rather than a bath due to all the sand all over them. You would have thought I was torturing them with the way they freaked out. Not a fan of showers!

Our bedroom... I cannot believe how early the sun rises in Florida! I think it rises around 5:30 or 5:45 each morning! I look at the windows in the room we slept in and that is the first thing that comes to mind.
The kid's bedroom... We moved the two tables out to have room for the three pack n plays. It was a shame we couldn't use the bunk beds but maybe next time. The kids didn't know what to think sleeping that close to each other.
Mamaw's room... The picture hanging between the two windows was hung upside down. So when you lay on the bed with your head hanging off, you can look at the picture right side up.
The second bathroom... They weren't fans of baths either or at least not in this bath tub. It didn't have their nonslip mats they are used to.

The balcony was nice and big. Mostly shaded and the breeze was nice enough that is was very enjoyable to sit out there most of the time.
The drive home...

The trip home started around 9:30 or 10 that morning. We had a different game plan in mind this go around. We would make many more regular stops and I would drive some and catch a break rather than being cooped up in the cramped back seat the entire trip home tending to the kids. It seemed that every time I drove, the kids were good for Craig and he was able to watch an entire movie at a time and sleep without having any trouble with the kids. It just worked out where his turn in the back seat always fell right after the kids had been fed and had a chance to stretch their legs, so they were in much better spirits for him.

The kids definitely had a much more difficult time on the trip home than they did on the way there. Part of this probably had part to do with the late night at Seaside the night before. They had their moments throughout the trip, even right from the beginning where they were really fussy. We stopped for a picnic lunch at the Alabama (?) maybe it was the Alabama welcome center. And stopped several other times to stretch, switch drivers etc.

A stop at McDonalds for an early dinner because the kids SO needed to get out of the car! Whitney somehow got her fingers stuck in the carseat slot where the belt comes out and we just thought she was suddenly crying just because she was tired of being cooped up. Poor thing! Her fingers looked like they had been closed in the door. I just cried with her once I saw what happened.

We hit a little rain in Mississippi and at one point I couldn't really even see the road. We switched drivers because it was supposed to be rainy for a long while but then, it wasn't. They finally started to fall asleep off and on around 7pm or so but none of them would stay asleep. They would wake up pretty regularly and have a crying, screaming fit. And when the car stopped, even if they were asleep and had been asleep for a while, they would still wake up. This was the worst episode yet when we pulled over for something. Whitney woke up and literally screamed her head off for about 45 minutes. The poor thing was so tired. My first thought was 'We are going to have another round of this when we stop to drop of Mamaw in Rowlett and pick up Lacy.' Luckily Mamaw volunteered to drive straight to our house and we could drive her home in the morning.

We finally got home around 1:30a.m. and I was up at 8 that next morning. I took Mamaw home and when I got home at 10:30 I was surprised to see everybody still asleep in bed, besides Hannah (was awake). Tyler and Whitney actually slept until noon and we finally woke them because we feared they wouldn't sleep that evening. Hannah had a nap later that afternoon, as did I, while Craig stayed up with the other two, who weren't getting naps. Our entire day and schedule was off and we finally managed to get back on track on Sunday.

It was a rough traveling experience and with the long distance and their daddy's reluctance to make stops, I don't plan to make another trip that far anytime in the near future.

I will post more pictures on facebook so if you are interested in seeing the rest of them, go check them out on there.

Destin Day Four

Our last day of vacation, we all headed off to the pool once again. It was rainy off and on that morning and we thought it had passed but it did start up again a few times while we were at the pool. We just sat under the canopy for a few minutes and waited for it to pass then back in the pool we went. We had a good time spending the morning there and sadly didn't get any more pictures of us or the pool.

We decided to have lunch at the La Cocina restaurant again so Mamaw and the kids could enjoy it. Well and me too since all I had the night before was chips and a margarita. This time we ate inside and we really enjoyed our lunch.

Then we headed back to the room and put the kids down for a nap and while they napped Craig and I headed to the beach for really the first and only time. It was really nice and relaxing - the breeze was nice as were the occasional cloud cover. We got some sun while listening to music and flipping through magazines. Then, Craig and I went into the water and had a great time riding the waves. And let me just tell you about the sea weed... It was EVERYWHERE in the water! We overlooked it and had a good time anyway. When we got back to the room, I discovered I brought some sea weed home with me (in my bathing suit) as a souvenir. :)
After getting cleaned up, we then went back to Seaside to thoroughly look around and eat dinner. This was the tower thing leading to the beach right next to Bud & Alley's Pizza Bar.

This was where we ate. There were several of these trailers lined up serving food and drinks. It was a nice, light meal after having such a heavy lunch. I don't think I will ever forget Mamaw's 10 dollar corny dog. I think I paid less for a sausage on a stick.
The clan waiting for their food.

After we finished dinner and window shopping, we stopped by for some frozen yogurt. Here is Craig waiting with the kids for Mamaw to get the yogurt.
On the way back to the room, we swung by the pool so I could get a picture because I knew it was really pretty all lit up at night. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the pool during the day time...it was so pretty. :( Of course the picture doesn't do it justice but here is what it looked like at night - well, just one small portion of it. Then off to bed - a long day ahead as we pack up to leave and another 16 hours in the car! The drive home post coming up!

Destin Day Three

We set out for Destin... actual Destin on day three and decided to go on a two hour glass bottom boat cruise. We thought this would be really cool to see the dolphins from under the water/boat. Unfortunately the glass was more like fogged up plastic - in other words, not clear at all. It was a little disappointing but we still enjoyed the boat ride.

We were able to see several sightings of dolphins. They swam right up to the boat and at one point, two dolphins swam right along side the front of the boat for a long while.
I enjoyed the Caribbean/tropical songs playing while enjoying our cruise. Gotta love Jimmy Buffett! Definitely felt like a beach vacation.

The crew caught a crab in a trap and showed it to us and we got to touch it.

After the boat cruise, we stopped for lunch and headed over to the Gulfarium. This was not too far from the glass bottom boat cruise and we figured we would throw the naps to the wind and take the kids to this. This was a fun place but by no means Sea World!!

We saw a dolphin show...

... a sea lion show. This was actually a picture of all three sea lions getting their rest and sun tan after the show.

... and a sea lion and dolphin show.
The dolphin and sea lion sharing a kiss.

We also saw stingrays, huge turtles, alligators, a shark, some birds, tropical penguins, small aquariums of fish and a huge aquarium that we could peak through the windows at the dolphins.
It didn't take long before Hannah and Tyler fell asleep in the car on the way back to the condo after we left the Gulfarium.
And here is Whitney, my earliest riser as happy as can be.
We then decided to run by the Seaside shop that we didn't get a chance to look in the night before on our date night. Mamaw stayed in the car with the kids, who had their power nap minus Whitney. They watched a video for about 20 or 30 minutes while we picked up the most comfortable flipflops we've ever owned.

Then we headed back to the condo and had dinner at the condo and decided to play around some in the condo.

Our balcony...


Then we decided to go down and play in the grassy area in front of our condo building thingy. The kids really enjoyed this despite how tired they were from the busy day and lack of naps. I wished they had their fountains on so the kids could play in them but they were turned off all week.
Whitney refused to hold our hands; she was just as happy and content as she could be lagging behind.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if the water suddenly came on right about now?
Mamaw with the trips. We gave up on trying to get a good pic of the four of them.

Or these four... Hanging out on the little house, back porch island. Whitney was too scared to walk off the porch by herself because she was afraid of the mulch. Remember, if it aint grass or pavement, she aint happy.

This is where we stayed.
This is me being one of Bob Barker's girls, showing off our prize. :)
I will post more pics of the room later in a separate post but had to share with you the funny story of how much Tyler absolutely LOVED this sofa! He couldn't get enough of it. He would just sit and sit on it. And usually right smack dab in the middle. So cute!
After a busy day and after we put the kids to bed, Craig and I decided to run down to the La Cocina Mexican restaurant in our condo/resort building for a second dinner/snack. We enjoyed sitting outside and listening to the music.

Ok... Wow, this was a busy day for us and long post! I'll try to post day four and the drive home tomorrow.

Destin Day Two

Day two we got up and went to Seaside and did some walking around, window shopping and sight-seeing. A lot of the shops etc. weren't open yet so we didn't spend much time there. Anyway, Seaside is just up the strip from where we stayed and such a neat little community. Probably more to do as far as shopping, dinner etc. in Seaside than any other beach on the strip. If we could afford to stay there, and if we decide to go back one day, I'd like to stay there.

This was so pretty driving through this short row of palm trees on the way up the strip toward Seaside. It was also especially pretty at night with the palm trees lit up.

On a side note, here is the resort that we stayed in - The Villages of South Walton. Most of the condos were in much smaller groupings, like a house; ours was one of the few set up like this. This picture was taken just outside of Bud & Alley's Pizza Bar restaurant and several cute little shops. It is really cool how it is all set up so close to the beach.


When we finished up in Seaside we went back to the condo for lunch and put the kids down for naps. I took a walk with Mamaw while Craig stayed behind in the condo with the kids. I've never seen so many people walking/jogging for exercise on vacation in my life. We thought we would get a little exercise in too. It was short-lived.

When the kids woke up we decided we would take them to the pool. We weren't sure how this would go over because they hadn't been in the pool all season and had never really gotten super comfortable with the water even last summer. They were a little nervous at first but luckily with this large pool, it is separated into several sections of pools and we first went to one of the small pools then gradually moved to the bigger pool. I think the little water toys furnished by the condo owners saved us with the pool. It was a nice distraction and they were much more at ease.
After a fun, late afternoon in the pool, Craig and I had a date night and went back to Seaside for dinner. We planned on going to Bud & Alley's Restaurant because from what I read, they were one of the restaurants overlooking the beach and had pretty views and sunsets but when we got there, the first thing we saw was Bud & Alley's Pizza Bar so that is where we landed.


It wasn't until after dinner that we realized there was a Pizza Bar and Taco Bar too - all separate restaurants. It was all good and we really enjoyed the pizza bar. We sat out back and enjoyed the openness - we couldn't see the beach where we were but still very nice. This was our view from our table. This bench with green pillows was one side of our table - we just sat on the opposite side to enjoy the view.

The tables we sat at outside were coffee tables so it was different but good. Just what we wanted... something different. While we waited for a few minutes for our table before dinner, we looked around at some of the nearby shops but we were quickly buzzed to be seated at our table so after dinner we decided to stop back by this one shop and look around some more. Unfortunately, everything was closing up so we decided we would come back another day to check Seaside out a bit more.


A nice, friendly (slightly intoxicated) man offered to take our picture so we would have a picture of us together and stop taking pictures of each other separately. It was funny, his wife was on his case for spending so much time taking our picture and making sure we liked it because she was trying to get a family picture of her own. :) This was before dinner while we waited for our table.
Day Three to follow tomorrow...