Our Destin Trip

Our trip was wonderful! We had so much fun. So many people had told me that the drive was not going to be as bad as I expected it to be. They were right. The girls just did great. Answer to many prayers! For myself (and the few others that care) here are more details than I'm sure anyone wants to read!

We left Friday afternoon late and drove all the way to Hattiesburg. I had gotten the girls some "surprises" to pull out along the way for new entertainment as we needed it. So those are the presents they are opening in the car. Little things like a coloring pad, new colors, a fun pen, calculator (they play with Ryan's at his office), color wonder markers, play bracelets, etc. Nothing big, but still fun, new stuff. When we got to the hotel around 12:30 and the girls had been asleep for a couple of hours. They went to bed really well. I heard Courtney for a while, but she never cried. We got up and ate breakfast at the hotel and got on the road.

We checked into the condo around 1:00 and went right to the pool! When we headed to the beach Lindsey liked the sand, but not so sure about the ocean. Courtney HATED the sand! She would walk in it for a little bit, but then would get fussy. She just kept saying "swimming pool" the whole time. She had to be in the chair without her feet in the sand. Then she'd say "wipe my hands, wipe my hands" until we tried to get more off. Lindsey wanted to get in the water but was very unsure about it. She wanted Ryan to hold her (so she wasn't even in the water) and that is all she would do. Ryan got tired of that. He tried putting her on the raft, but she was more unsure of that. All of this to say....we loved the pool at our hotel! :)

The condo was super nice. We owe it all to Ryan's mom! She treated us! Thanks Cynda!!! The rest of the week Lindsey would go to the beach from 8-9 and when the pool opened she'd come swim there. One day I tried that with Courtney, but only once. She was NOT happy.

Lindsey became a fish! She was swimming I thought before, but now she goes anywhere and everywhere. She is so much more confident in the water and so sure of what she can do. However, she doesn't scare me because she knows her limits and is afraid enough not to push them. It is nice!

We went to eat at Pompano Joe's, Fudpucker's, and Captain Kidd's. All were fine. I'm not a seafood person, so I can not appreciate the good cuisine like most appreciate down there. But I enjoyed my burgers! Ha!

One night we went to Village at Baytown Warf with Kyle and Miah for a date night. It was SO SO SO great! If you are in the Destin area it is a great place. There are a ton of shops, resturants and is just a neat place to walk around! It is only about 5 min. past the outlet mall, so it is away from the traffic! Even better!

One day we went to the outlet malls, but I DID NOT BUY ANYTHING! Ryan and the girls both loaded up, but not me! :) I was ok with it...I had just hit a GREAT sale at Gap in Fayetteville!!

Our last day there I think the girls were bored with the pool, they didn't seem interested in swimming right away so we headed to the Gulfarium. Lindsey liked it ok, but Courtney was not as entertained! They had some fish, but several shows. Courtney didn't like the show so we didn't watch all of them, just the dolphin one. We walked around and they liked looking at all the fish, stingrays, turtles, and penguins.

On the way home we drove to Slidell, LA to visit Ryan's Grandma Scogin and his cousin Sarah that lives with her. We had not seen them since Lindsey was a baby. So they got to meet Courtney! It was so great to see them. Grandma cooked a delicious meal that I could have eaten 2 more plates full of! She made a delicious dessert too! It was fun to talk to Sarah and hear about her job and how much she enjoys it. Lindsey loved playing games with Grandma and Sarah. Courtney liked to swing on the porch swing. We didn't get to stay long but enjoyed every min. of our visit! Thanks for having us!

The drive home was longer as far as more in one day, but again, the girls did so good. I was so impressed! It was so good that it made me want to start pricing condos for next year already! It was our first real family vacation other than our trips to Branson and it was a fun one for sure!