First Family Vacation: Day Four

Our third day in Destin was just as perfect as our first two. We had a surprise the night before when we received a phone call from Mammy and Uncle Clare, who called to say that they were on the road to Destin. What?! We were all so surprised! They had decided spur of the moment to make a quick trip to Destin. We made plans to meet them on the beach and to eat dinner with them the next night. Once again, Eli and I were up early and saw another beautiful sunrise. God did a great job this week :)


I relented and let Eli enjoy some freedom on the balcony that morning, but once he started climbing the bars, back inside we went. Mommy is going to have to start highlighting her hair to cover up the gray hairs he's giving me :)

Sitting still and enjoying the sunrise

He got tired of just sitting and decided to check out the railing on the balcony.
We went in shortly after this picture. The balcony made me way too nervous.

Since Eli got up so early, he was asleep about 45 minutes after he had his bottle. Josh was still sleeping, so I laid Eli down, and let Josh know that Sue and I were going to take a walk on the beach. Being on the beach in the early morning is probably my most favorite time ever. When I was little and my family took vacations to the Carolina beaches, my grandmother and I would always get up before everyone else and walk along the beach in the mornings looking for seashells. It's so peaceful and quiet in the mornings and I love hearing the sound of the waves as they break on the shore. Sue and I took a long walk and enjoyed the beautiful beach one last time. On a side note, can anyone tell me why there are hardly any seashells on Destin beaches? I looked and looked but never found one bigger than the size of my fingernail. Why is that?

Iconic sand picture

We got back to the room and the two boys were up playing. Eli was in a great mood and after his breakfast, we all started getting ready for our last day on the beach. Mammy and Uncle Clare met us at our condo and we loaded up all our stuff on the tram and made our way to the beach.

Snuggling with Daddy

We had a great time playing in the water, jumping waves, relaxing under the umbrella, and enjoying each other's company. Eli went out into the water again for just a little bit, but mostly enjoyed playing in his pool under the umbrella. While Josh, Uncle Clare, and I played in the ocean jumping waves and doing flips, Mammy and Zue-Zue played with Eli.

Watching Daddy and Uncle Clare

I came and got Eli and we sat in the sand and let the waves wash over us again and again. I don't think he liked the feeling of the sand being pulled out from under him though because he kept standing up every time the waves would recede.

Pointing to Daddy and Uncle Clare

I took him back to his pool and after a few more minutes of playing, it was time for him to go back to the condo for a bottle and a nap. He and Zue-Zue left and the rest of us stayed at the beach for a little longer to soak up some more sun.

"But, Mommy, I don't want to go now!!"

Every year I went to the beach with my family, my dad would always help the kids build a gigantic sandcastle that was usually the envy of all of our beach neighbors. I only hope that when Eli gets old enough to enjoy that sort of thing, I can replicate some of my dad's awesome creations. I did enjoy some time playing in the sand, but I didn't build a sandcastle; I decided to give Josh some new shoes. I know they're not the best and I think with more time I could have done so much better, but I thought they were fun :) I especially like the seaweed shoelaces.

Daddy's got a new pair of shoes

One last view of the prettiest beach ever...

We all went back to our rooms and got ready for dinner that night. We were going to try Fudpucker's again, but we had a new plan this time. Mammy and Clare were going to go first and put our name down and then when the wait time was around 15-20 minutes they were going to call us so we could leave and meet them. They did just that and it worked out perfectly! Eli ate a bottle and took a little snooze on the way there; in fact, he was still sleeping when we got to the restaurant, so he and I stayed in the car until he woke up. He was in such a great mood after his little nap and we all had a great time at dinner that night.

Great manners, babe :)
Let's hope Eli wasn't watching this...

Zue-Zue and Mammy

"Hooray for food!"

Mammy and her little baby boy

While we were there, Eli had his first taste of lemon. Is this a rite of passage for children? I think everyone I know that has had a child has done this at one point with their child. We can't wait to see how they are going to react when they taste a lemon for the first time. Eli didn't react as fast as we thought he would. He tasted a little bit of the lemon and kept going back for more. It wasn't until the third taste that he finally gave us the picture perfect sour face pucker :)

1st taste

2nd taste

3rd taste
There's the face we wanted!

Eli with Mammy and Uncle Clare
(He's eating a wagon wheel now, no more lemons)

The whole gang at Fudpucker's

We left the restaurant and stopped by Destin Commons, the outlet mall, to enjoy some homemade Italian gelato. Yummy, yummy to my tummy! Josh had strawberry, I had pistachio, and Sue had some strawberry sorbet. It was so delicious! I got mine in a small sugar cone, but even now, as I'm typing this, I'm wishing I had gotten a waffle cone. It was so good! Eli had a few tastes of Sue's sorbet before I remembered that he didn't need to have strawberries. Oops! He wasn't too happy when I offered him a Gerber apple-cinnamon wagon wheel in it's place, but figured since it was that or nothing, he might as well eat it :) It was a great day and we were sad to go back to the our condo to begin the packing process for our departure the next day. Our Destin vacation had come and gone so quickly, but we'd had such a wonderful time. It was a great first family vacation!!