Destin, Florida (Warning: Lots of pictures!)

On Friday evening, March 23rd, we loaded up the car and headed south. Jason, Drake, and I along with Aireol (my "little sister") and the Stolz family headed to Destin, Florida. We had a great trip down except for the short stop by the Illinois State Police who was kind enough to give us a warning and not wake our two sleeping passengers.

 

 

We arrived in Destin around 9am and headed to the Destin Commons while we waited for our house to be ready. After a little shopping and a quick trip to Walmart to pick up things like milk and bread, we headed to the house. It was perfect - we were actually in Miramar Beach, had access to a pool and just a minute walk to the beach. After Drake's nap, we hung out at the pool and got everything unpacked for the week.

Drake did so well with his new Stearns Puddle Jumper! I would totally recommend this. Last summer, we could barely get in the pool with him because we had to hold him and he didn't like it. (He would not go in one of the floaties.) Once he got used to the Puddle Jumper, he didn't want to take it off.

On Sunday, Jason and Matt went golfing in the morning while Kate and I made another trip to Walmart for things we forgot. We spent the afternoon at the beach while Drake took his nap and then headed to the pool.

 Madison & Aireol

 Kate

On Monday, we headed to Fudpucker's for lunch and to check out Gator Beach. We spent the afternoon at the pool again.

 

 They have approximately 100 alligators between the ages of 2-5 years old.

 Feeding the alligators.

Tuesday morning was Drake's first time to the beach, and he LOVED it!

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we headed to Mobile, Alabama to meet my cousin and his family at Pete's Party Castle.

Drake rode this train around just a couple of times and freaked out. :-)

We had dinner at Chick-Fil-A and ice cream at Old Dutch...yum! Their ice cream is homemade and delicious. I had Red Velvet (She uses a whole red velvet cake mixed with vanilla.), Aireol and Jason had Creole Praline, and Drake had Tie Dye Vanilla.

Jason and Matt golfed again on Wednesday morning while Aireol, Drake and I headed back to Destin Commons. We went to the beach again during Drake's nap and then to the pool. Matt & Kate had some friends in the area so their family hung out with us and the adults went to dinner at the Miller's Ale House.

 Kristin & JJ

Matt & Kate

On Thursday, we went to the Gulf Breeze Zoo. We were a little hesitant to go considering it was $14 per person (13 and Over), but it was definitely worth the money and drive. (It's about 50 minutes from where we were staying). The interaction with the animals was awesome....much more than I have seen anywhere else.

Friday was our last day there, and we wanted to get Drake to the beach even though it was calling for rain. We got there about 9am and it was perfect...not a lot of sun or people. 

Shortly after 10am, Jason and Drake were sitting on the beach right where the waves come in and a guy was telling them to watch out - he saw a Portuguese Man O' War and was trying to push it up on the beach so it would die and not sting anyone. Jason jumped up, but before he got Drake in the air, it got him in two places. :-( I felt SO bad for him. We rushed back to the house, and Kate made up a paste of baking soda and water to put on it (once he would let us). Luckily, that (or the urine :-)) seemed to calm things down. He fell asleep on my lap watching cartoons and took about an hour nap.

When he got up, it was raining so the Stolz family and Aireol went to see The Hunger Games while we got things organized at the house.

We spent the rest of the day doing laundry and getting things together for our trip home the next day. 

Saturday's drive home took longer than we anticipated, but we finally made it after about 16 hours...lots of stop and go traffic in Alabama plus two meal stops. We had a great time!!