Month: November 2014

Okaloosa Island 2014: Part 1

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

It took me a couple weeks to sort through my pictures from our vacation. I guess since we checked into our condo exactly one month ago today, I shouldn’t put off posting about our trip any longer.  If I wait any longer, I might not talk about it at all. And this place, my blog, was created 4+ years as a place to compile family moments and memories, good and bad.

Vacation was great- who complains about their vacation, right? I’m not going to complain here but I will say that, sadly, at least some portion of my vacation memories include seeing a side of Theo that we didn’t always enjoy. Ultimately, my memories of vacation are great though. It’s hard to not feel relaxed and happy when your feet are in powdery soft white sand and the sun is warm on your face.

Saturday October 11th: We arrived at our condo in the early evening and had just enough time to quickly unload our car and unpack our suitcases (somewhat) before rushing down to the beach to watch the sunset.  This was the boys first time seeing the ocean (okay, the gulf).  Like idiots, we said to them “don’t get wet! We aren’t going swimming right now – you don’t have your swimming clothes on…”  Yeah. That lasted all of 2 seconds. We shrugged and laughed and agreed it was a good thing we had a washer and dryer in our condo unit.

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These are a combination of DSLR and phone pics.  After changing clothes, we were all pretty hungry and hit the closest local shrimp shack for some delicious seafood with the sound of the waves in the background.  Ryan and I were like this: “Aaaaaaaah. Vacation.”

Sunday October 12th:

We were really excited to lounge around, eat breakfast, and then hit the beach. Build sand castles. Jump in the waves.  To my surprise, one thing I was not overly eager about was taking pictures. For one thing, I didn’t want to drop my camera or phone in the sand.  Also, I didn’t want to take away from the relaxation that was going on – mine or anyone else’s.  And finally, beach pics kinda start to look the same after a while.

10-12-14 10-12-14IMG_4416 10-12-14ss_082710 10-12-14IMG_4429 10-12-14ss_144606A little “me” time while they took a nap. Their only nap in the condo all week.

10-12-14ss_174254 10-12-14ss_18541810-12-14IMG_4445I was excited to treat them to their very own fancy mixed (juice) drinks, which were way overpriced. They prefer apple juice, as it turns out. #fail

Monday, October 13th: A storm was on it’s way and it was super windy on Monday. The water was extra choppy. We could barely let go of their hands in the water. The normally crystal clear water was murky and it just isn’t what you think of when you picture the Destin area, or “Emerald Coast,” known for it’s gorgeous clear and turquoise shores. 10-13-14IMG_4450 10-13-14ss_074556 10-13-14ss_074606 The fishing pier that was within walking distance from our condo.10-13-14ss_101355 10-13-14ss_101358 10-13-14ss_103721 10-13-14ss_121415 10-13-14ss_07531410-13-14ss_124107 10-13-14ss_124605Monday night we had a Buccaneer Pirate Cruise booked and waited, watching the weather, for them to cancel it. But it never did rain. It was very windy but we cruised anyway! Unfortunately, the boys protested nap and REALLY needed one. We had fun on the cruise but they weren’t the best or most cooperative participants on the ship. We didn’t push them to do anything they didn’t want to, but I think if they were well rested, they (we all) would have enjoyed it even more. 10-13-14ss_151911 10-13-14ss_153630 10-13-14ss_153856 10-13-14ss_155019 10-13-14ss_161516 10-13-14ss_164027 10-13-14ss_165342 10-13-14ss_165344 10-13-14ss_165615After our cruise, we quickly decided to eat at Margaritaville at the HarborWalk.  For some reason, I wasn’t excited to eat there because I knew it was a chain and was looking forward to more unique experiences during our trip. This place surprised me – it was one of my favorite settings and meals. We had this great table with harbor views all around us. 10-13-14IMG_4486 10-13-14IMG_4506It eventually got too windy and they had to close the windows. One thing that makes me sad about our vacation is that THIS is our only family picture:10-13-14IMG_4508

One nice person offered to take our picture while we were eating at Margaritaville. I never ask anyone because there’s a 99% chance that my kids won’t cooperate anyway and it turns into an embarrassing fiasco that yields poor results anyway. I hope when they are older they will be more cooperative.

The storm held off until just after we finished eating and we dashed from the restaurant to the car in the pouring rain!  Instead of our usual bedtime stories and songs routine, we let the boys choose a movie from the collection we brought with us and we would snuggle up with them in their beds for a few minutes as they fell asleep. Cherishing those moments and memories right this minute.

I think that’s it for tonight- I will write 1 or 2 more posts about the remainder of our vacation in the next few days!  Anyone ever visited the Destin/Ft. Walton beaches? We LOVE it there!

xo,

~C~

catch the moment: week forty-four

Gallery posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Hii! Darn – I did so well with my blogging spree last week and now … crickets again since the last CTM post.  I do want to recap our vacation before it’s totally irrelevant but STILL have not consolidated all of our pictures from various sources into one place.  My pictures these past several days have been pretty pathetic – I know this. It’s been more of a “just get it done for the day” theme than an “I’m feeling so inspired” theme lately.  But I am still going strong and have no doubt I will finish the year!

Linking up again with Mindi, Sarah, and Stephanie (a new-again mama!) for this installment of Catch The Moment 365.

302/365: Wednesday, October 29th –  The boys saw a commercial for the classic Operation game the night before and I remembered that I had stowed away a Toy Story version of the game that my sister-in-law had given me, new in the package, probably 2 years earlier. I promised we would get it out before school on Wednesday and they held me to it. They cracked up laughing every time it buzzed and were generally terrible at using the tweezers. Pretty cute. 10-29-14

303/365: Thursday, October 30th- Our sweet Cousin Kara sent us this neat and adorable book, which we have enjoyed reading several times since then. 10-30-14

304/365: Friday, October 31st – The crappiest trick-or-treating weather I can remember, but the boys didn’t care.  It was almost freezing and drizzling and windy and just gross. Dracula looks a little less scary in a winter hat. We lasted about 45 minutes but live in a great neighborhood for trick-or-treating so their little buckets were full of good stuff by the time we decided to call it quits. 10-31-14

305/365: Saturday, November 1st.  The holiday toy catalogs and ads have started rolling in and the boys LOVE looking through them. Theo has started grabbing a notepad and pen or pencil and going through them to make his Christmas list.  It is precious, even if it does take him 15 minutes to write one thing. “Hey mom! How do you spell Hulk Lab Smash?” followed by “How do I write an ‘h’ again?”  11-01-14

306/365: Sunday, November 2nd – My mom sent the boys some cash and told them to go out for ice cream or a cupcake for their Halloween treat from her. So we hit up the local frozen yogurt shop and enjoyed having the place to ourselves around 1:30 on Sunday. 11-02-14

307/365: Monday, November 3rd-  The first DST sunrise I got to see this week on my way to work.11-03-14

308/365: Tuesday, November 4th – A week-long Lego organization project is finally complete. I sold their toy tool bench, ordered this organizer, bought some additional dividers for smaller pieces, received the organizer and put it together, and finally spent 7 hours sorting their Lego bricks.  They are happy with the result and so far seem to be enjoying that they can actually play ON the Lego table, which was just a wasteland of deconstructed sets before.

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This week’s favorite for me? 306. I like the one of them at the yogurt shop. Which one do you like best?

~C~