photoblog

Okaloosa Island 2014: Part 3

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Catch up here if you missed the first few days:

Wednesday, October 15th: Another glorious day with no agenda other than spending time on the beach and hanging out together.  It was still very windy and only in the 70s. The ocean water was warm and the pool was heated. With less of a breeze at the pool, we decided to spend some time there first.10-15-14IMG_4668

One of their favorite things to do was to dig “sand beds” on the beach. 10-15-14IMG_4671 10-15-14IMG_4675 10-15-14IMG_4679

Hey Dexter – Don’t dump sand in your mouth!sandymouth

More napping on the beach – some of my favorite moments!10-15-14ss_143601

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We spent most of the day around the pool, beach, and condo.  After we all washed the sand out of our pants and hair, we decided to let the boys try putt putt for the first time.  They both did pretty well, all things considered! Theo really enjoyed it and Dexter only fizzled out towards the end of our 18 hole game.  Dexter was the only one to get a hole in 1 – go figure! P.S. I won.

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Afterwards, we decided to give The Donut Hole another shot since it was too busy when we attempted to go the day before. Success!

10-15-14ss_191812 10-15-14ss_200534 10-15-14ss_200552 10-15-14ss_202155YUM – what a way to end the day!

Thursday, October 16th: The morning that was made for a stroll on the beach. We were done with breakfast but it was still a little cool for jumping in the water. Instead, we decided to go for a walk. We ended up walking all the way to the pier and this time was very different. Lots of active fishing going on – we got to see someone catch a puffer fish (whoops!) and sadly, we also saw a pelican get caught on someone’s line or hook. It was really sad but he finally got loose.  We got to watch dolphins playing in the water. It was endless entertainment on that pier! 10-16-14ss_093314 10-16-14ss_093419 10-16-14ss_094555 10-16-14ss_095724

Bedhead!10-16-14ss_101439

After spending longer than we’d expected enjoying the pier, we decided to eat right there at the restaurant connected to it, Anglers. Great decision, great day. So relaxed. Wonderful service and even better food. No hurrying and no worrying.  Beach livin’ at it’s best.

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More beach time afterwards, and then we tried (and failed) to make it to Harborwalk Village in time for a sunset dolphin cruise.

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Too windy for Theo – he bundled right up.10-16-14IMG_4793 10-16-14ss_160456

Right away, the boys spotted the area where you could pay to mine for fossils and shark teeth. Since Dexter’s favorite thing is ANYTHING to do with water, we didn’t hesitate. They had so much fun sifting the sand and finding their little treasures.10-16-14IMG_4796 10-16-14IMG_4807   10-16-14ss_161158 10-16-14ss_162540

After checking out our surprises, we wandered around the fishing pier. It was interesting and very lively. We ate at another delicious waterfront restaurant along the way -Dewey’s Harbor House – and ended our evening afterwards.

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Only 1 full day left – and we could feel it. At the end of the day Thursday, Ryan and I both started feeling like vacation was over, even though we still had one of our favorite days ahead of us (I know, every day was our favorite).  One more post to come to wrap up all the fun we had on our trip.  Maybe two. Two tops. Swear.

xo,

~C~

 

 

 

Catch the Moment: week forty-six

Gallery posted on by mommyinthemidwest

I slid my memory card into the computer as I began working on this post, not quite sure what to expect. I knew I had taken a picture every day, but many of them were rushed and felt uninspired. I’m surprisingly pleased – not necessarily with the quality of the photos, but that they really do capture the little moments of our lives for the past 7 days.  That’s what the project is all about.  As it nears the end, I am getting really excited to compile all 365 photos from 2014 into a little memory book for our family. A millisecond of each day of this year to bring us back to that moment in time, even years from now.

Linking up with Sarah, Mindi, and Stephanie for week 46 of Catch the Moment 365.

316/365 – Wednesday, November 12th: The boys’ cousin, Spencer, sent them a Lego advent calendar.  I tried explaining to them that we couldn’t open any of the little tabs until the first of December but they didn’t want to hear that. We made a deal.  They each got to choose one character and agreed that there would be noooo issues on the days that they found those little windows empty come December….time will tell if they hold up their end of the bargain. 11-12-14

317/365 – Thursday, November 13th: Date night for moms in the Maple Room. This time I got to visit Dexter’s class while Ryan spent time in the Oak Room with Theo.  Dexter truly loves every water job and was proud to show me how to clean the windows with a spray bottle and squeegee.  Several times.  Or several dozen times. Whatever.11-13-14

318/365 – Friday, November 14th: We traveled down to East Tennessee to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with my family.  These three littlest grandchildren sure enjoyed their frozen yogurt (and playing in the kids’ corner!) at our friends’ new Froyoz store. 11-14-14

319/365 – Saturday, November 15th: Thanksgiving, but not really.  My sister and her family are going on vacation the week of Thanksgiving so we headed down a couple weeks early to visit and celebrate.  I celebrated all weekend long by eating no less than 4 slices of this heavenly peanut butter pie with perfectly beautiful, light, fluffy meringue – made with love by my very own mama.  These are the best pies in the world…she could sell them and makes millions. And probably hates it when I request them – that meringue sure is fussy.  Seconds after the picture was taken, we mangled it into an unrecognizable disastrous mess, but it sure was delicious. 11-15-14

320/365 – Sunday, November 16th: I guess we’d never taken the boys to a Red Lobster before. I’m thinking we would have remembered how fascinated they were by the live lobsters in the tank.  After lunch, we ended our short trip to Tennessee and headed back home. 11-16-14

321/365 – Monday, November 17th: I get to work extra early on the days Theo and Dexter don’t go to school to make up for getting in later on the days they do.  This day I was even earlier than usual and it is always eerie, being the only one in the building, hallways still dark. And yes, that’s snow! Our first accumulating (barely, but still an inch or so) snow of the season…about a month earlier than I’d prefer.11-17-14

322/365 – Tuesday, November 18th: Theo wanted me to photograph his latest creation.  He just thinks these things up…what’s neat & interesting (to us) is that his creations are always symmetrical.  11-18-14My favorite photo this week has to be sweet little Penelope’s face on Day 318. What’s yours?

xo,

~C~

Okaloosa Island 2014: Part 2

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Catch up HERE if you missed the first part of our first family trip to the beach.

Tuesday, October 14th: We started out our 3rd morning with plans to eat at The Donut Hole for breakfast, but on this day the boys actually slept in. We didn’t get there until almost 9 and by then, the line was out the door.  So we went on down the road to The Pancakery, where we quickly discovered that we weren’t going to get immediate seating anywhere.  We decided to wait it out and browse the store next door….where Cute Cute came into our lives.

Once we got seated and ordered our food, I started messing with Dexter’s hair to get it out of his eyes. As you can see, he wasn’t happy until we slicked it all over to the side like… you guessed it… Bruce Wayne.  He’s so silly.

Dexters Hair10-14-14IMG_4531YUM!

After breakfast, I realized that we were pretty close to a couple of other places I had hoped to visit – The Village of Baytowne Wharf and the Disney outlet store (I’d never been to an outlet store before). I fell in love with Baytowne Wharf, it was so cute and colorful.

10-14-14IMG_4535 10-14-14IMG_4539 A little boo boo briefly interrupted our fun.

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We didn’t buy anything but it was fun to look. One of the boys’ favorite things to do at home (and therefore, anywhere) is go to a playground.  A big reason that we wanted to go to Baytowne Wharf was because I read they had an awesome one. Well, they did…or at least it looked like it. But it was closed for repairs. We were so disappointed.  I did a quick search on my phone and found another local park. We didn’t stay for a very long time because it was getting hot and late and we were ready to get back to the room for lunch and then get to the beach. BUT, it sure was different playing on the sand! It felt kind of weird to imagine ourselves as locals, just taking our kids to the playground. Ah, to live at the beach!

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It was in the high 70s but the wind was so strong that it felt pretty chilly when you got out of the water.  We got to the beach later this day because of all our morning adventures so the boys were pretty tired. So tired that they both fell asleep right on the beach for an hour or so.  We didn’t have any plan for the evening so we ended up wandering to the fishing pier just in time for sunset.

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I think, if my memory serves me, that we ate in our condo that night since we’d gone out for breakfast. I didn’t take any pictures the rest of the night so that’s probably a good guess.  🙂  This was a great day…very laid back and no plan in place, we just wandered from one thing to the next without rushing at all.  So that was Tuesday.

This was our first family vacation, just the four of us. We went to Disney a year earlier, but with 6 other people. That was an amazingly fun vacation, but this was special in it’s own way.  Taking vacations is something that’s a priority to me, for my family. For myself. Some of my favorite and brightest childhood memories are from fun family vacations. I cherish those times – remembering my mom and dad so carefree and happy.  Lots of trips with lots of wandering from thing to thing, never knowing what was in store for us next. Something I don’t think I’ve mentioned here is that my mom, sister (and her family), and me & Ryan all went to this same beautiful area of Florida just 5 months after my Dad died. We couldn’t bear the thought of having a “normal” Christmas at home without him so soon after losing him.  Many sights and sounds reminded me of that time in my life – feeling guilty for being there (and enjoying it) while knowing at the same time that he wouldn’t have wanted us to sit around sobbing because he was gone.  Old memories, new memories. I hope there are lots of family vacations in our future.

More from this trip coming soon.

xo,

~C~