Off to Florida

We had some extra time share points this year and so we decided to take a little vacation down to Florida.  In checking around at the various choices, we selected Destin on the gulf coast.  It was a place we had never been, but it seemed to have a lot of fun things to do and was a chance for the four of us to take a little trip, not knowing how soon Nate would be leaving on a mission after his graduation from high school.  There was nothing available during the kids' spring break from school so we chose to go during the time scheduled for Nate's senior trip.  He had never really wanted to go on the trip with his peers, so we thought it was a good time to take him out of school since most of the kids in his class would be gone anyway.  Evan was just willing to miss school and do some make up work.  Such a guy...always willing to sacrifice for the fam!!  :)

The first few days were a little rainy, but we found some ways to keep busy.  This is us on the first night after arriving at a nice restaurant in the complex adjacent to our hotel.  Yummy food and it didn't matter that it was a little cloudy.  

The next day was Sunday, so after attending church , we headed east to the little village of Seaside.  It was the location where the movie, "The Truman Show" was filmed.  The boys headed out on the beach to check out the waves.  Because of the weather, there was no swimming, but you can tell by the waves that a storm was brewing.

Looking down beach from the the same vantage point as the previous photo.  The houses along the coast were beautiful!!

These photos just don't do justice to this funny, quaint little town.  Each house was it's own unique self and each had a name.  So cool.  If you remember the movie, the town was made to be like a kind of Utopian society where everything was just so.  That definitely came across in the architecture and layout of the town.  We were just fascinated with it all.

This little house sat way back between two much bigger homes.  It is called "Wayback".

Steve especially liked this home with the unusual shutters and style.  

This was the post office in the center of town.  When we went back and watched the movie again after our visit, we were able to locate several of the town square buildings we had seen, including this one.  

Since Destin is about 6 hours from where Geoffrey lives in Jackson, Mississippi, he came down on Sunday and spent both Sunday and Monday nights with us.  It was so good to see him.  He brought his stunt kite down and we all had a ball learning how to control it and fly it down at the beach in the state park near where we were staying.  We also chartered a fishing boat for the next day, but unfortunately we didn't catch a thing.  Bummer.  But we still had fun playing family games and hanging out.  The following video (which I am not sure will work) shows a short little moment that I chose to capture on either Sunday or Monday night.  Everyone was involved with some kind of device and I was feeling a little left out....  :).  It didn't last long, though, 

Destin is located on the Emerald Coast of Florida.  The water is an aqua-green color and the beaches are beautiful.  From our hotel, we walked downstairs, got on a little water taxi, and landed at this beach where a nice attendant came and set up an umbrella for you over a chair and there was a great little place to snorkel just a short walk down the beach.  So nice.  Even I looked forward to going to the beach.  :)

Evan at the beach....Love that smile!!

A little crab that someone caught near us at the beach.  I'm pretty sure it's the same little guy we saw earlier in the day during a snorkeling adventure.

Evan and Steve out on one of the decks of our hotel.  Everything was so nice...we felt very pampered!!  They were trying to get a sunset shot here, but if you got the sunset, you couldn't see the people.  So here are the people.....

...and here is Evan looking at the sunset.  Pretty nice, huh!!

Steve and I celebrated anniversary #32 while in Destin, so we headed out to a super fun restaurant that Steve had booked for our dinner.  Thanks, hun.  It was delicious!!

From the level of the hotel where our room was, this was the view down to the shops and restaurant area below.  We ate some good food and got some different treats and our big digging bucket for the beach there.  It was a fun place to stay!!

I think the highlight of the trip had to be the banana boat ride we went on.  We had looked it up before we went down and it had great reviews so we decided to give it a try.  We originally scheduled it for while Geoffrey was there be because of weather, they had to cancel.  So sad, because I think he would have loved it!!  Here are some shots taken by the man who ran the company.  These are my favorites, but more can be seen at the following link.

Www.mobilesportsllc.com/4-22-steven

The before shot.....

Heading out on our adventure

We were so blissfully unaware...look how happy we looked

He told us to give a thumbs up if we wanted him to go faster.  Evan WAY overused the signal!!!

Now we are getting serious

Evan was the first to get dumped, but he got right back on the horse

Here, Nathan demonstrates the other signal they gave us....i.e.  CUT!!!!

This time mama went in.  I decided to watch the rest of the ride from the motor boat!  

The old ankle had supported the old girl long enough.  :)  I also thought that the boys would be able to explore new heights without me.  

Loved Evan's face in this one

Check out the spray

And again....

...and the tipping starts

And then there was one....

The champion!!!

All in all we survived it pretty well, I think

He might have had just a little fun

And...the after shot.  We were pretty proud of ourselves.  

The owner of the Banana Boat rides told us about a great place for fresh seafood.  It was definitely a little "hole in the wall" place, but was obviously a favorite of the locals.  The seating was right out on a pier that stuck out into the bay.  Great fish....so yummy!

Here are the boys after dinner literally "sittin' on the dock of the bay."  Such a fun night!!

The day we left, we drove over to Pensacola to see the Naval Air Museum.  It was an amazing place.  I had never seen so many airplanes from so many eras.  Unfortunately, the literature we received as we went onto the naval base told us not to take cameras of any kind, so we left our phones in the car.  Once inside, there were plenty of people taking photos, but we weren't among them.  Suffice it to say, it was most impressive.  Then, we headed right to the airport and headed home.  It was such a fun little trip.  So glad we decided to do it.