Destin, Florida 2011

This year for vacation we went with one of my best friend's and her group to Destin, Florida for a week. If you've never been, you need to go!! Gorgeous water and sand! On the way there it took us 12 hours to get there. We left at 1am and got there at 1pm. Now this is the way to do it. Why??? Because everyone sleeps for a big chunk of it, therefor not consuming liquid requiring frequent bathroom stops. On the way home we left at 1030am and did not get back to Rob & Lydia's house until 1:30am. That would be an additional 3 hours folks!!! I will say, it did not feel this long...either way. Car trips with friends is DEFINITELY the way to go! Time just went so much faster! When we got to Destin we immediately changed into our swimsuits and were in the ocean until the sun went down. The 5 following days were just the same!! How is possible for days to go SO FAST when on vacation, but be stuck at work for 12 hours and it just drags on and on and on... Anyway, if my math if correct, there were 11 adults and 6 kids in our group. One night we played charades. Man do I wish I had taken a picture because some people were hilarious. Also, why did I have to draw all of the hard ones to act out like "It's a Wonderful Life" while many others got Tiger, Elephant, throwing a ball, etc. It was ridiculous! Especially since I have zero acting ability! One night we took pictures out on the beach and then went to a place called Baytowne Wharf. If you ever go to Destin, this is a MUST! Neatest place! The best way to describe it is like stepping onto a movie set where there are many restaurants, ice cream parlors, an outdoor movie theater, zip lining, and tons of games for kids. It was SO fun!!! Didn't feel real. Anyway, sadly these were the only pictures taken of our trip...that night.

Morgan & I on the Beach!

Lydia & I on the Beach.

Lydia, Ethan, & Britni on the Beach. (Rob is missing.)

Us at Baytowne Wharf!

So pretty much our daily routine was to get up (around 1030 for Brit & myself :-/), eat breakfast, head down to the Beach for a couple hours, come back up for lunch, head back down for more Beach, and then hit the pool. Repeat the next 4 days. They brought "Washers" to play and some other rope game that was pretty fun! We also had the coolest thing on the Beach! Yes, I can say this because several people came up to us and told us this. It's called the "Caribbean Island." It's a big blue raft that holds approximately 10 people. We'd throw it out there in the ocean and then it would slowly push us all back to shore. I wouldn't be surprised if we all land on Funniest Home Videos one day. That thing was crazy dangerous up close to shore. The waves would get dangerous and slam us into the shore line, thus making us fly everywhere...including on each other and over each other! Lydia called it quits when her husband accidentally head butted her in the face. Yes, she has a bruise to prove it. It took me seeing Britni's boyfriend's mom, LaRae, go flying over my head after I had a good grip on her arm to make me end the fun! It was intense, but so much fun!!! I'm really surprised someone didn't walk away with a serious injury after all the bodies flying into each other. One night we all walked the beach together looking for Crabs. That was a lot of fun. We stumbled upon a Bar & Restaurant. Too bad there was also the most drunk man I have ever seen in my life there as well. He had to be in his late 50's jumping on the tables (yes, I am serious), trying to do flips with his friends, and then when our drinks were delivered to our table he came running across all the table tops like he was a monkey to see what we had. INSANE!!! Thankfully, we got our drinks and left. All the kids did really good with the crab hunting. One night Morgan and I went walking by ourselves and we saw the BIGGEST crab I have ever seen!!!!!! It was MASSIVE!!! Of course I didn't have my camera and we were to far from our condo to let Morgan take it back with us. It was a monster. On the way home we decided to stop in Louisiana for dinner. They all love crawfish, it's too hot for me, so Rob had seen online of a good place to eat. We couldn't find it. We stopped and asked a man at a gas station where it was and he told us, but he also suggested an even better place. So we went with his suggestion. We pulled up and it was very questionable if it was safe to stay. It was a semi outdoor restaurant...well, it was outdoors for the most part. It was kind of like a "hole in the wall" type of place, except there were no walls. The waitresses were smoking, sketchy people walking by. Anyway, we stayed and it turned out to be REALLY good! They also have live music which was nice, too! We would've stayed a lot longer if it wasn't so late already.

Britni with her little fellow before she ate him.

I don't know how they all eat these, but they do and they seem to enjoy them. Five adults ate 20 pounds of these guys!! Anyway, so that was our trip to Destin. I know I am leaving out so much fun stuff that happened, but my fingers are hurting. All I can say is that it is well worth the drive to Destin! Beats Texas Beaches hands down any day!!!!