Vacation Recap: Florida

If you’re just joining the vacation party, click on these links to read more about how we celebrate our faith on vacation, as well as the first two legs of our trip to Louisiana, parts one and two.

We arrived in Florida late Wednesday and kept cousin Ava up way too late. My brother, Daniel, and his wife just moved to Destin (I know, awesome). They’ve renamed their house the “Bed & Breakfast” because of all the recent visitors. For the record, we were planning on coming to Destin well before they even shared their relocation news.

We started off Thursday with the beach. After packing up the car for an hour we were finally ready! Instead of heading to the Destin beaches, we went a little further east and enjoyed Santa Rosa. Because we arrived a little after 9am, we parked right next to the beach. There were a few folks out, but it was pretty calm and the water was gorgeous. We did some boogie boarding, sand castle building, sand digging, picture taking and lots of giggling. Admittedly, I was nervous for Luke. The last time he was near sand, he threw up. He was fairly cautious that first day, only dipping his feet in the water. The rest of the time he spent shoveling sand into the bucket. I was in awe. That boy has come a long way folks.

The bigs, however, took full advantage of beach life. Just take a look.

Now, one note of the picture of Scott and I. Those glasses: what was I thinking? 1995 called and wants its sunglasses back. Let’s just say I wasn’t “too” sad when they broke on the way home.

After two hours on the beach, we showered off then walked across the street for some pretty fantastic seafood at the Smiling Fish Cafe. Because we hadn’t eaten enough, we took a spin by my brother’s favorite ice cream place and enjoyed a little dessert. Holla for knowing somebody local, Daniel and Amanda knew all the cool spots to hang.

By then, we were exhausted and full and we headed back to the house for a real shower and some down time. The husbands decided to do up dinner right and grill some seafood. Oh me, oh my.  The scallops and shrimp were just outstanding.

After a fantastic dinner, we loaded up the troops and headed over to the putt-putt place. Mind you, it took us 30 minutes to go 5 miles. I believe my SIL texted me: “Traffic is awesome, huh?”

That’s one thing we learned about Destin. Get where you want to be by 11am or you’re going to be sitting in traffic. Eh, it is what it is. We were determined to play some mini-golf. Ava and Clare just kept hitting the ball and jumping on and off the course, the big boys and uncles all scored some holes-in-one, Amanda and I chased the littles, Luke slept through the first four holes and Will got exasperated and handed off the scorekeeping to Uncle Daniel – “this is too stressful.” After giving Scott a one-arm handicap while he slept, Luke then served as a mighty fine caddy for me. When it was all said and done, Scott was our mini-golf champion. Stinker. Uncle Daniel was one stroke behind. Guess we have to go back next year for a rematch.

Our first full day in Florida wore us all out, but man, was it fun. Tomorrow, we enjoy the beach one more time, run into an unexpected friend, take a “detour,” paint a masterpiece, find the best shaved ice in all the world and celebrate 16 years of marriage.