Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Destin - Part 1

We chose to take a road trip to the beach this year for our family vacation.  We drove to Destin, Florida and spent a week there.  We had a fantastic time and of course I have a million pictures so I split the trip of into a few posts.

We left on Sunday.  I worked the night before so I came straight home and went to bed until noon.  Mondo woke me up and already had everything packed.  What a man!  I grabbed a few last minute items and we were off!  We drove until about 9pm and then stopped at a hotel in Louisiana to sleep.  The kids were super excited to be at a hotel and were so sad when they realized that there was no beach and we were still far from Florida.

But they still popped up bright and early the next day.  Momma didn't....
Ready to hit the road and head to Florida!  And yes, Caleb is eating chips for breakfast.  Actually, it was more of a snack.  He ate a little in the hotel.  :-)

I needed some extra coffee for the road.


I intended to take pics of the state signs as we passed them but only managed to get one.  I was too busy entertaining the kids.

Woo-hoo!  Made it to Florida!

We rented a condo right across the street from the beach.  It was perfect!  It had 2 bedrooms and our patio was across from the pool.

Kitchen.

Ethan's room.  He said it was his and that he would sleep in there.  We knew he wouldn't...but you know what...he did!  Every night!  You can guess where Caleb was...yep, in between us in our bed.  Ethan also loved this room because it had a TV and a DVD player.  And of course now he wants that in his room at home.

Living area.


We checked into our room and went straight to lunch...on the beach.  It amazed me how these restaurants don't have air conditioning.  They are either all patio seating or have open windows.  There is no policy of "no shoes, no shirt, no service" on the beach.  This restaurant was called "Whale's Tale" and it's where Ethan ate his first fish!  He ate "fish toes" which was popcorn sized fried fish.  And he loved it!  Mondo might have paid him $5 to try it.  But hey...it worked!

The view from our table.


First day playing on the beach!  This beach was a short walk across the street from our condo.  The only thing we didn't like about it was that it was a little crowded since there were multiple condos along the shore.  But the sand and water were beautiful...minus the seaweed.  That's the brown stuff on the sand.

Caleb made many sandcastles...so he could immediatly squish them.

After the beach we walked back to the hotel pool and let them swim a while...and get off any remaining sand before shower time.

That night we ate at "Mellow Mushroom".  Highly recommend it.  It smelled amazing and had just about every pizza combination you could imagine.  You know what we got?  Half cheese, half pepperoni.  Love dining with kids.

Spoiled little suckers.  It was a little busy so while we waited, Ethan played games on Mondo's phone and Caleb watched Octonauts on my Kindle.

Pizza time!

Caleb couldn't be bothered to eat.  He was too busy watching Octonauts...and too exhausted.

LOVE this picture!  Makes me and Mondo laugh every time!  He was not in the mood for a photo op.

Ahh...all settled in with some popcorn and a movie in Ethan's room.


That's all for now......

Friday, August 17, 2012

Golf Camp

Ethan played in a golf camp this summer at the golf course.  He played 3 holes weekly with a group of kids.  At the end they had a tournament and Ethan got 2nd place out of 9 kids!  At the award ceremony the kids received trophies and a raffle ticket to win prizes.  Then there was swimming and food.  He had a blast!

Raffle prizes and trophies.
That's Tyler next to him in the gray/green.

Getting their raffle tickets.

He's a little squinty...the sun was in his eyes.


The raffle prizes included remote control cars, hand held video cameras, a fishing pole, footballs, a Ranger's piggy bank, and a Cowboy's piggy bank.  I was suprised that the Ranger's piggy bank caught his eye.  He was probably the 10th kid called and the piggy bank was still up for grabs.  He was SO EXCITED to run up and get it!  It matches his baseball room.  I was so happy he got what he wanted.
Pic with the golf pros.

It was hard to get a pic of him doing tricks off the diving board since I was facing the sun.  The dad's joined in doing jumps and the boys LOVED it!  What a great end to the summer!

Summer Fun

The summer is quickly coming to an end.  I'm ready for school to start but I'm not ready to stop sleeping in.  They boys finally figured out how to sleep in till 0900 during the last half of summer.  It's been heaven!  Only one more week left for that.  We spent our summer playing with friends, playing golf, playing at Nana and Papa's, doing church activities, and going to the beach!  Here are a few pics of us hanging around this summer.

After a trip to Cool Cuts....and some new sunglasses.

Playing basketball at Nana's.
My parents bought a cotton candy maker.  It was a huge hit with the kids!  That's cousin Blaine in the background.

All gone!
The boys love spending time with Blaine.  The boys have to stick together!



Every week at church there was a story hour.  This was from a book about a dog so the kids got their faces painted.

Slip 'n' slide at Nana's with cousin Caitlin.

The boys had a great time playing and swimming at the golf course.

Mondo teaching Caleb how to swing.

Ethan can't decide whether he likes baseball or golf the best.

And poor Mondo is so bummed that he has to play golf all the time with them.  ;-)

I added cake pops to my baking skills this summer.  I had a helper for these.