Our Days In Destin, Part 6

Aside from the beach trips, we did a couple of other outings.

Us big girls enjoyed a glass of wine, manicures and pedicures.  The guys enjoyed an offshore fishing trip.

While the guys fished, we shopped.  We spent the afternoon at Destin Commons.  Shopping, pizza, train ride, Bass Pro Shop Kids Camp and Colton's first build a bear or Doggie in his case....

Look at this face.  Bass Pro Shops is heavenly sent for a little boy.

And the only day Colton napped while on vacation was the day we all rode bikes to Chickfila for lunch and ice cream.

I also think my husband looks really hot in that last picture.

You guessed it.  To be continued...

Our Days In Destin, Part 5

With the heat too much to deal with while we cook, we had to change up our plan and eat most of our meals out.

We enjoyed breakfast at the Donut Hole.  Great reviews, and we were well warned as far as standing in line for a seat.  Line moved rather quickly, we just personally thought the food was over priced for what it was.  Nothing spectacular.

Dinner at Dewey Destin's was a different story.  By this point, we figured out in Destin you will wait for all things.  We waiting 2 hours for a seat, outside in 90 degrees, no wind, with nats everywhere.  Y'all.  The food was worth it.  Oh. my.  I had blackened red snapper for the first time ever.  My opinion of fish is officially changed.  Yum.  Yum.

Another restaurant that stands out from the trip is Jadyn's request.  Cheeseburger In Paradise.  Cheeseburgers are the way to my girl's heart.  And Jimmy Buffett himself most have known this.

Our last dinner in Destin,  Noonie and Poppie took the kids (and us grown ups) to Fuddpuckers.  Another 2 hour wait.  This wait was by far the easiest to endure because right next door is an arcade that Poppie treated the kids to as well as lots of small alligators on site for the kids to watch.  Poppie also paid for the kids to get a chance to hold an alligator.  They loved this!  Rylee held the head (taped mouth), Jadyn held the body, Colton held the tail.  Probably one of their favorite memories from the trip!

To be continued....

Our Days In Destin, Part 4

As weather goes on the coast it is unpredictable.  We had our fair share of storms blow through.

3 of these storms were quite memorable.  First storm had us up at 3:00am collapsing chairs and lowering a canopy so we didn't lose any of our equipment.

Second storm trapped us under the overhang at Bass Pro Shops while we experienced some of the craziest lightning any of us had ever seen.  While we were outdoors.  Fun times.

Third storm was our last night in Destin.  Thunder and lightning so severe it drove us out of our camper and into Noonie and Poppie's hotel room at 4:30 am.  Here is a video of the storm that sent us to the hotel.  It was much more dramatic in person.

thunderstorm in Destin from Burress' on Vimeo.

And, yes there is still more.  To be continued...

Our Days In Destin, Part 3

Aside from using a boogie board for its intended purpose, Colton also thought it could double as a raft pulled by Rylee.   Every morning there was a pool of water left over from the tide.  This little pool was a PERFECT place for Colton to be chauffered around in.

 

This boy's future wife will have a lot to live up to after the way his sister's have spoiled him.

To be continued....

Our Days In Destin, Part 2

I want this blog to be an honest documentation of memories for my children.  Sometimes that is going to include the not so fun stuff.  This vacation series is a combination of tons of fun memories tangled up with some not so fun memories.

The beach is one of those two way memories.  We live everyday with intense heat and miserable humidity.  Story of our lives people.  We were in no way prepared for the weather awaiting us in Destin.  Rusty and I have both been to the beach a million times as well as having vacationed at the beach a million times.  Neither us can remember a trip to the coast with absolutely no breeze.  Notice the beach grass in the picture below.

It is standing up straight.  Beach flags were laying straight down.  Made for a crazy hot week.  Camping nonetheless.  Where we are supposed to cook outdoors most days.  Did. not. happen.

Heat makes people cranky.  Particularly grown ups.  Turns out being in the ocean cheers grown ups up.  No matter how bad the day seemed to be going, how cranky kids were, how hot we were, everyone's mood completely turned around when we went down to the water.  

It never seems to amaze me how clear the water is and how powder white the sand is.  The sand is so clean it squeaks.  We saw a brochure that boasted this, and it proved true.  Jadyn was truly shocked to learn this.

Daddy treated each child to a boogie board our first day there.  From then on, most of their time in the ocean was spent watching and waiting for the next wave to ride in.  Colton loved going to "boogie."

Noonie even got in on the action.  She didn't find as much success as her grandchildren did.  

Playing in the sand with Colton was more up her alley.

To be continued....

Our Days in Destin, Part 1

(One year ago we began planning a beach vacation to Destin with Noonie and Poppie.  Plans started out with visions of a beach house on the water for a week.  Beach house quickly turned into camper.  Rusty decided rather than spending a $1,000 on a vacation rental he would rather finally make a purchase we have talked about for 12 years.  In comes pop up camper.  Here is the Destin beach 2012 saga.)

For our vacation posts, I am going to start from the night before we left.  With plans to pull out of the driveway at 4 am, us grownups didn't even make it to bed until nearly 11pm.  Colton then decided at 1:30 AM he should wake screaming and refusing to go back to sleep.  By 2:30am, we were having breakfast and watching cartoons.  This trip was starting off with a bang to say the least.

By 7:30 am, we were pulled over with a flat tire.  In one of the last towns WITHOUT a Super Walmart (who would carry the tires and be open this early).  We did have a spare that held up while we drove to the closest Super Walmart.  After 2 new tires and breakfast, we were finally back on the road about 2 1/2 hours behind schedule.

I set out with a plan to avoid, when possible, eating at chain restaurants.  So for lunch we used UrbanSpoon to help us decide where to eat.  We read great reviews for Bonnie C's in Slidell, LA and decided to give it a try.  Jambalaya, Catfish Po boys, cheeseburgers, liver and onions (NOT had by me :), very yummy food!

15 LONG hours, albeit quite hours thanks to kids choosing to ride in Noonie and Poppies car, we were arriving in Destin.  Exhausted and cranky, us girls went straight to Big Daddy's Pizza to grab dinner while the guys started setting up.  One of the main reasons we choose Destin over Pensacola and Panama City (where it would have probably been less crowded) was because of Henderson Beach State Park.  INCREDIBLE state park!  Gorgeous sites, wonderful bathrooms and the beach was worth paying just for the day if you choose to stay elsewhere.

The park had a wonderful 1/4 mile boardwalk that began right beside our campsite and lead you straight to the water.

Since we had chosen to go on vacation over July 4th, we got to enjoy a firework show visable from our campsite every evening.  Here is the show our first night in Destin.

To be continued...