Destin Trip

I haven't kept up with my journal lately and have regretted not recording our WI trip back in November. So I just enjoyed myself this post. Kids were occupied and I had a wonderful couple of hours of catching up. And although I don't appear in many of our pictures, I did get Loria and Matt to video so I could be included in our family memories of Destin and Loria took some pics. of me with her camera.

About a month ago, the kids and I, along with my friend Loria and her four kids, packed up and headed to Destin, Florida for a Saturday through Friday stay in the Majestic Sun resort. Loria's crew stayed through Tuesday afternoon because they already had plans for the other days. Matt had church and school responsibilities so he didn't come until Wednesday night. The kids and I drove the 3 hours back home Wednesday and got home just a few hours before church. We went to the potluck supper, attended services, then headed back to Destin, this time with Matt.

The line-up of shoes in the hall way after one of the many pool trips.

Micah and Hallie hanging out at the table.

There was a lot of this taking place those four days. We just kept the colors, markers, and paper out on the table and several times a day various kids would be sitting down coloring.

And this is what happens when a marker gets left under the table and Cassie is allowed to crawl around under there while we all eat. This was all her own work. Pretty good, huh? Thankfully these were washable markers. I edited the red-eye but Blogger ignores things like that.


I put this one in here because you can see a little of the unit. It had two bedrooms, two baths, living, dining and kitchen. There was a small washer an d dryer in the hallway too.

Hallie, Evie, Camie and Micah minutes after arriving in the room, having a makeup session. Micah was just an onlooker.


She is such a sweet girl, a year older than Camie. They had a great time together.

It was such a fun trip. All the kids got along great. We'd never done anything more than spend a few hours together at Loria's house, so it was nice to see their commradarie last four days rather than just four hours. And Loria kept things in order for us, especially the kitchen. To my credit, I did a good bit, but was usually getting wet swim suits off a kid or gettting them ready to go for another swim....times 4. . .twice a day. Becca (who didn't appear in any of my pictures; sorry Becca) and Scott were great help with all the little ones too. Thank you all so much.

Camie and Scott. This another thing that there was a lot of while we were there: movie watching.

Most days revolved around going to the heated indoor pool (at least twice a day) and we tried going down to the beach once, but it was too windy and cold. Of course the kids got wet (the waves were big that day) but hardly seemed to notice that they were freezing. It's hard to notice you're uncomfortable when you're having fun. We enticed them away from the sand and waves with promises of lunch and a swim in the pool.

Loria was so wonderful about helping me with my kids.

Micah and his "gargles"

The swimmer (Evie) and the swimmer with swimmies (Camie).

Evie making the most of our cold time at the beach.

Cold? Who's cold? We're at the BEACH!

None of my kids can swim without arm floaties, and even with those they hadn't been very confident in the water. That changed during our week there, I guess because we were swimming so much and 3 of Loria's kids can swim. Camie got to where she could doggie-paddle with floaties on, and liked wearing her "gargles", as Micah called them, to stick her head underwater and look around. I think 12 seconds was her record time keeping her head under. Micah loved bounding off the edge of the pool with his floaties and gargles, which would make him go under for a second and pop back up. Ahh, the thrill of an adrenaline rush. He'd come up sputtering part of them time an then grin. Lissy took a little longer to get used to the water. She usually had at least two floatation devices on, sometimes three. But by the end of our stay she was using just arm floaties and cruising all around the pool. Cassie was usually due for a nap when we were swimming, but even then loved the water.

Micah's 3rd birthday was the day we arrived, and I had brought along some candles to put in his dessert at Chick-fil-A. But of course the kids were more interested in the play area than eating so we passed on dessert. Loria and I decided that we'd get some cupcakes for that evening. The shopping didn't take place until late, and the next day we kept forgetting. So I think it was Sunday night or Monday that Mich finally got his cupcakes. Before his birthday I kept asking what he'd like. His answer was almost always, "cupcakes". Boys and food.

On Thursday, when it was just the 6 of us, just as we were starting to get the kids layed down for naps, the fire alarm sounded and a recorded message came over the intercom in the room telling us to leave our unit and not to use the elevators. We were on the 8th floor. The recording kept playing every couple of minutes, making Camie more and more panicky each time. I was trying to talk calmly and nonchalantly to reassure all the kids, but Camie was just about in tears. Finally she asked, "Can i please take my make-up bag with me, just in case?" This was a birthday gift from relatives. Seeing that might make her feel better I agreed.

This was after we came back to the room. I had to get a picture of her with her makeup bag.

It was cold and windy outside, so we had to dress everybody warmly, decide what to grab to take with us (wallets, roomkeys, babysling to carry Cassie, diaper and wipes, makeup:) ) and then trudge down 8 flights of stairs, carrying Cassie and trying to speed the other three along. As we made it to the last flight a man came into the stairwell and said it had been a false alarm. Construction dust from a neighboring building apparently blew onto a smoke detector on the side of our building, setting off the alarm. Since we were already outside and dressed warmly, we walked across the road to the beach and let the kids play a while. It was funny to see kids in winter wear playing in the sand, and sometimes the water, Cassie sleeping through it all in the babysling, and Camie's makeup bag safely on the sand.

(This was taken at a park where we ate lunch on the way home Friday.)

On Tuesday after Loria's crew had left, I wanted to take my kids out to do something rather than just sit around the condo. I knew I couldn't take them to the pool by myself and the beach wasn't a good option, so we headed out (minus the camera, of course)to find a place I had read about online when looking for stuff to do in Destin. It was called "Adventure Landing" and was supposed to be a pretty nice play area. We didn't find it but did find Jolee Island, another place I'd read about. It was a huge hit. We walked across a big wooden bridge to the island and explored. Actually, we just followed the gravel trail all around the perimeter, but it wound and weaved so the kids couldn't see what was around the next corner.

There was a wooden play area made to look like a pirate ship, a "pirate's roost" (sort of like a tree house) right by the water, and the seemingly endless trail. The island was covered in very low, almost scrubby brush, so I could see over larger areas than they could. I loved seeing their excitement as Cassie and I tried to keep up with them. After about 30-45 minutes we made the full circle around the island and headed back to where we parked. Across from the parking lot was another trail, this time over a swampy area, so it was a boardwalk. It led to a play area built to look like fort. We climbed, chased, shot, hid, sneaked up on each other, and had a very good, loud time. Thoroughly worn out and hungry we loaded up to find some supper. I'd noticed an IHOP on the way to find these places, and had read online that in the evening 1 kid eats free with an adult purchase. As we pulled into the parking space I saw that it was National Pancake Day. Each customer received a stack of three pancakes free! There was a donation box by the front door where you could give in appreciation for your free pancakes and support the local Children's Hospital. So that night, we all 5 filled up and took home pancakes for the next morning's breakfast....all for under $10! Camie had .81 left from her purchase of a sheriff's badge using her birthday money from the Joneses, so she gave that as her donation, her own decision. I was proud of her. I gave Lissy and Micah each a little change to put in and I put a donation in. Not bad for a sandwich, fries, chicken strips, more fries, drinks, and 12 pancakes! I sure was thankful again the next morning as I "fixed" everyone's breakfast of pancakes. I started getting a migraine and had to nap while the kids watched a movie. That made us leave a little later than planned but it all worked out.

Before we came home Friday, we went back to Jolee Island to Matt could see it. And I had the camera this time. The kids were excited to go again, but especially since Daddy was there. :)

Camie took this one for us. This was on Jolee Island along the trail.

Matt trying out the swing at the pirate ship.

This was a much prayed and planned for trip and it turned out great. Thanks Loria and kids for going with us. We couldn't have made the trip without you, and even if we could've, it wouldn't have been nearly as fun. :)