Florida Adventure

Rather than doing several different posts with details of our trip (and pictures, of course), I decided to go ahead and do one humongous post with everything.  So if you make it to the end, nice work :)  I'll try to let the pictures to the talking!

 

Here's Jack loaded up and ready to go!  He kept saying, "BEACH!" - but I don't think he really understood what he was saying :)

This one, however, was SO excited!  We told her the Thursday before we left (on a Saturday) and she could hardly stand the wait!

And here we are ready to hit the road!

Jack saw his sunglasses and decided he wanted to wear them - which lasted all of about one minute -  but he sure was proud of them for that one minute!

And then big sis had to get in on the sunglasses action!

After about 8 hours or so, including 2 stops and 4 movies, we had finally made it!

Jack was less than sure about the sand!

However, Katie had no problem with the sand or the freezing ocean water!  She hiked those pants up and was splashing around in no time!

And I got a picture with the kids!

Jack was a bigger fan of the grassy area outside our condo (which was on the first floor) so he could run wild!  Well, at least for the first little bit...

And then we headed to dinner - we were all starving!  We ate at Seagrove Market Cafe - the best fish tacos I have ever eaten!

Our first full day there was amazing - the weather was perfect...sunny and not too hold or cold!  We loved it!  Look at that - doesn't get much better!

The dude was still unsure about the sand.  I was afraid this would last the whole trip, but within probably an hour of being at the beach, he was good to go!  The first few minutes?  Not so much!

This one could hardly wait to dig in - literally!

Then - what's that?  Is that a smile I see? :)  

Here is a picture of where we stayed from the beach. You can't see our actual condo because it was on the first floor, which was great for coming and going to the beach with our gear!  And we could just walk outside and play in the grassy area!  And see all those steps?  Yes.  Wow.  There were 55 of them. I sure did count them!  Only because it helped motivate Jack to keep going if we counted each set!

And the pictures of them looking out over the ocean.  I love these.  And it is so fun to go through them and look and see how they've changed from trip to trip!

Jack absolutely LOVED this mixer truck - it went everywhere with him while we were on the beach!

And an action shot of my little lady!  She was all about some digging and getting water to put in the holes!

I love this action shot too!  Nothing like some digging in the sand!

And would you look at that belly? Whew. Glad I got Brad to get this one - I will appreciate it one day :) I was 29 weeks and 3 days I think!

I was going to take a picture of Brad with the pretty ocean behind him and Jack came right on over and just sat down - love it!

And then we got one of Daddy and Katie together!

I love this one of the three of them playing together in the sand.  I was so glad that Jack warmed up to it and ended up loving it!  At first he wasn't sure, then he would walk on it but not in other footprints, and then he was okay with it - and would even scoop it up and throw handfuls into the ocean!

Oh, those cute booty cheeks!!! :) Love these two!  And love the beach.  Oh how I wish I was there right now!

And of course Daddy has to do some Katie twirling!

Best buds making something in the sand!

Oh man, I love this one too!  Jack got comfortable enough where he thought this was great fun!  He loved running from the waves!



I think Brad and Katie were looking for shells - and Jack wanted in on the fun!  He was running after them here I think!

Just call him David Hasselhoff :) HA! He was running from Katie - and I caught it!

 Happy, happy Jack! LOVE this one!

I wonder what Katie was thinking about here?

 I love her swimsuit!  It's so bright and cute!  And I can't believe she is wearing a size 7 swimsuit.  Holy moly!

Daddy supervising while they dig or find shells or something! Who knows what they were up to!

Another happy guy shot.  Clearly I took several pictures this day :)

After we got cleaned up and ready for dinner, I wanted some pics of the kids together!  Since we had all those stairs, I had them stand on the benches that were at one of the levels!  Love this one of the two of them :)

And this was the best smile we could get from this little guy!

Daddy with the two crazies!

And I just love this one - me with my two favorites!

And one of Miss Priss by herself!

And our second night there, we went to my favorite place down there - Great Southern Café!  And we got to sit outside.  Perfection!  Next time we go, I will most certainly be having one of their mojitos - YUM!

And we got a family picture before we left!

And then of course we had to get some ice cream!

On our third day, I thought it'd be a washout, but it ended up being just fine!  I had gotten too much sun on the tops of my feet the day before (lesson learned: put sunscreen on before you are in the sand - otherwise it is exfoliated off), so I had my feet buried in the sand most of the time we were out there!

They did LOTS of digging on the second day out there!

Katie and Brad even made a neat sandcastle!

And I got a picture with the kiddos out on the beach!

The boys :)  Jack was Brad's little shadow most of the trip!

The two days we spend at the beach, we ate our lunch outside on the patio.  It was PERFECT!

After some quiet time, we went back to the beach for some more digging and fun (because it was supposed to be yucky the next day).  Love this one of Katie!

And Brad brought Jack down after his nap - love this one.  We took a little walk and Jack was all about holding my hand and running from the waves!

Just look at this smiley fellow!

I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so I decided to include this picture too - I am sure Brad was doing something silly to get him to laugh!

The third night we were down there, we ate at Shades - a sports bar kind of place!  

And of course we got a family picture :)  Brad was less than thrilled with all the pictures, but he cooperated!

After dinner, we stopped in Rosemary Beach for a sweet treat at The Sugar Shak and walked around!  One day, when the kids are older, we will stay there and ride bicycles everywhere :)

Overnight Monday night, a huge storm went through (majorly loud rain and thunder) and it cooled off big time!  I got up early the next morning to get some donuts from the highly recommended Charlie's Donuts!  And they certainly didn't disappoint!

I think Katie was excited about her sprinkle donut!  Man, they were good!

Since the weather was cool and kind of yuck, we drove to Destin (about 18 miles) to go to the outlet mall!  The kids had a great time on the playground there!

And we did some major shopping!  They were definitely glad we stopped by for a few hours!

And since we were in Destin, we opted for lunch at a restaurant there!  We decided on Pompano Joe's and it was delicious!

Katie actually sat next to me at the restaurant - that is a rare occurrence these days!

And this guy was getting impatient and was pretty tired.  But I still got a smile from him :)

And the sun came out!  It was still pretty cool, but at least the sun was out!

After some nap/quiet time, we went out back and played in the grass for a while.  I think Jack was super excited!

And here is what our patio looked like.  It was awesome!

I love this one - he was rolling around on the ground with a ball and car.  That about sums things up!

And Katie and Brad made up a game with these nets and a ball - they loved it!

Now THAT is an intense look!

And this is a look of pure joy!  Nothing like kids and fresh air!

Our last night, we ate at Bruno's Pizza.  And it certainly did not disappoint.  In fact, we had some leftover and Brad put it in a Ziploc bag and brought it home to have leftovers - it is delicious!

 

Of course, the morning we left, the water was just stunning.  It was smooth and so beautiful!

We went out on the stairs to get one more good look at the beach.  SO pretty!

Can I just snap my fingers and be back there please?? AH!

And Jack was excited to be outside and looking at the beach!

Love this sweet picture - they sure do love each other!

And they loved sitting on the stairs too!

Two cuties and a beautiful beach - it doesn't get much better! (Brad was loading everything in the car while we were looking at the beach)

Jack was excited to go home, I think!

I know Katie was excited to head home - she sure misses Sadie when we are gone!  Plus she looks forward to watching movies in the car - we only allow movies on road trips!  And I bought Frozen and surprised her with it for our drive to the beach, so she was thrilled to get to watch it again!

 I can't believe the trip has come and gone!  It was so fun and the place where we stayed was just perfect - we will definitely stay there again! I could have handled one more day at the beach, but it was nice to head home to my own bed with my mountain of pillows :)