Okaloosa Island 2014: Part 3

Posted on November 20, 2014November 21, 2014 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.

One of their favorite things to do was to dig “sand beds” on the beach.

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

More napping on the beach – some of my favorite moments!

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.

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

YUM – 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!

Bedhead!

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.

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

Too windy for Theo – he bundled right up.

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.

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~

Okaloosa Island 2014: Part 2

Posted on November 17, 2014November 18, 2014 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.

YUM!

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.

A little boo boo briefly interrupted our fun.

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!

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.

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.

Okaloosa Island 2014: Part 1

Posted on November 11, 2014November 12, 2014 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.

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.

10-12-14IMG_4429 10-12-14ss_144606 A little “me” time while they took a nap. Their only nap in the condo all week.

I 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. The fishing pier that was within walking distance from our condo. Monday 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. After 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. It 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:

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~