Friday, June 28, 2013

Last Day at the Beach!!

Our last day was Friday June 21st. We woke up and made some yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast! The kids played a little while I did some laundry, a little packing and other odds and ends. Then before we knew it it was almost 10! So we lotioned up and headed out to the beach for the last time...
Nana and Em!! So cute!!
The waters were BEAUTIFUL today!! So calm!! Gotta love that the last day was so enjoyable!! Max was all about it!! Swimming around everywhere and we even got Em back in the water for a little bit!
Silly Pawpaw covering up his belly ;)

Oh I want to go back looking at these pic right NOW!! 

Telling the beach bye bye!!
Emery was pretending to cry like a baby. However, she was very happy we were leaving the "green" pool and heading to the "blue" one!! We swam for a while and then headed in to get cleaned up and rest. While the kids were resting we were packing up, cleaning up, laundry etc. 
Then we headed out for a low key dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise. The food was alright. Wasn't as good as the past two years. But then again I guess every place can have off nights. After dinner we headed to Destin Commons to just walk around a little and let the kids play. 
Just wanted to check it out really. Last year we came but didn't really explore the area. It was a really nice outdoor shopping mall with lots of fun kids activities! 
Max came up and grabbed Emery's hand. He can be such a sweetheart sometimes!!
My little cuties in front of the fountain. We went over and got a cookie from the Cookie Place for dessert and then headed back home to finish packing up and getting ready to head out. 

We were up bright and early the next morning. We were on the road a little after 7 to head back to Memphis! The kids did pretty good on the ride back. Had to pull out a lot more things to entertain them as the movies weren't really all that intriguing coming home but we made it. Have to say we were ALL ready to get out of the car by the time the last hour hit. 
Such a wonderful wonderful family vacay!! We are truly blessed that we were able to do this again this year! I definitely DO NOT take for granted that God blessed us with the opportunity to go on the this trip!! And I look forward to many more opportunities to make family memories whether it be vacays or just hanging out around the house!! God is so GOOD!! 


Beach Day 5!!

On Thur we were nearing the end of our vacay :( We got up a little earlier than yesterday and headed to the infamous DONUT HOLE!! Whoop whoop!!

I had a few peeps ask me what we eat there that is good. Not to be rude but anything but the donuts ;) There pancakes are my fave and the rest of the fam enjoys omelets, biscuits, cinnamon raisin toast, etc. Em, Max and I got our pancake fix on this morning!! They were oh so YUMMY!!
After breakfast we went to The Track for some putt putt, race cars, bumper boats, and a few kiddie rides! We started off with Putt Putt!!

Em finally letting us help her ;) Miss Independent.."I DO IT!"




It was nice and fun until about the 8th hole when we were all a sweaty mess and Em went and sat in the shade and told me. "I DONE!" She would NOT get up either. She was bound and determined to sit there the rest of the game! That girl never leaves us with a dull moment. I was cracking up!! She does NOT like to be hot!! We finished up quickly and went inside for a cold drink and to cool down. 

Then we went over to the kiddie rides to get a few smiles out of Ms Em ;)
We rode the race cars next. Craig rode with Max and I rode with Em. My mom took pics with her phone so I will have to get those and post them later. There are some really cute ones!  The race cars were one of the highlights of the week for me. Em was grinning EAR to EAR when we got in our race car. #5 to be exact that is what Em picked out (my fave number). She really thought she was actually driving! It was so cute! Max tried to pick #8 (his fave) but it was taken so they settled on #7 (Daddy's fave). We really had a the best time. Craig slowed down at one point so Em and I could catch up. We drove side by side and then took turns passing each other! The kids were laughing and screaming! They were LOVING it!! Nothing better than those sweet giggles and laughter!! 
Max and Nana ventured onto the bumper boats next. Em was too little so they wouldn't let her go :( So Pawpaw and I watched while Daddy and Em went back over to the kiddie rides! 
Max and Nana were having fun squirting others and being squirted. Well not so sure Nana was having fun because she was trying to hide behind Max the whole time. But they were both laughing ;)
When it was time for the boats to come in Max was steady squirting. He was trying to get Pawpaw and me wet. However, he ended up getting in trouble. The lady asked him to stop. Max sweetly looked up at the lady and said but I am trying to get my Pawpaw wet ;) 
Em on the kiddie rides. We walked over to find her like this. There was a guy running the swings and he picked her up and put her in the swing. She hid her face the entire ride. Such a silly girl sometimes!! We let the kids ride the spinning cups and then we jetted back to the house! It was time for some shade and more water!!
We weren't home long when Nana heard the ice cream truck! She treated the kids to an ice cream treat!!

This was another FIRST for the kids! They thought it was so cool! Max picked a strawberry Popsicle and Emery picked Hello Kitty! 

They both ate a good lunch so that they could enjoy their ice cream treat! Thanks Nana and Pawpaw that was a nice surprise for he kiddos!! 
After lunch we headed over to our friends beach home. Our friends Brandy and Aaron with their kiddos Davis and Julia and Autumn and Robert with their son Summit were there at the same time. They were actually having a family vacay too. Anyways, we met up to let the kids play together for a little while. Max was PUMPED to get to hang out with his buddy Davis!! They did a little boogie boarding! This was a FIRST for Max. He ran out with Davis and I heard him yelling "Davis, I don't know how to do this!!" LOL He caught on quickly from watching Davis and they were hitting the waves and making the most of it!! 

We hung out for a few hours! The waters were nice today and the kids were just having so much fun together! Makes me want to bring friends with us next year. 

Em didn't have as much fun as Max. We were further down the beach and it had A LOT of shells. Em did not like that. She kept having me hold her to take her out in the water and to walk around the shoreline. She kept screaming and pointing to the shells calling them "stuff"! Such a mess!! So of our beach neighbors caught some hermit crabs and live sand dollars. I held a sand dollar for the first time. It was pretty neat. Never knew they were dark brown when they are alive and have all kinds of legs all over them. The neighbors told us were they caught them and Craig, Max, Davis, Julia and Aaron all headed out to the sand bar to try and catch their own. They came back with some hermit crabs and water slugs (this was a new term for me) I honestly have no idea what the other things she caught were but they were pretty cool! 
We had a great visit and such a fun time with our friends! So thankful for our time together that day! The kids talked about the rest of the trip! Sweet friends!!
Afterwards we headed home for showers and some dinner. We were going to pick up some fresh fish and cook at home but we decided to just grab some quick Mexican instead. We were all tired. Mom and Dad went shopping while we were out so they just wanted something simple as well. We ate at a place called La Rumba! It was delicious!! Then we tried to go back to the outlets to hit a few of the places we missed back on Monday. We weren't there long when a storm hit (aka monsoon) and the entire outlet mall lost power!! Craig and I were in a store and ran back to the van where Nana, Pawpaw, Max and Emery were laughing hysterically that we were getting soaked!! It was quite comical :) Good times!! 

Family Beach Pictures!!

On the golf cart ready for some CUTE family pics on the beach!!


Walking down the boardwalk!!
And we started off with PURE CUTENESS!!!
The kids did so GREAT!! We were so PROUD of them!! We talked about it a lot throughout the day. Telling them we would give them treats and it would go really fast if they just smiled for us!

You couldn't have asked for better smiles!! 
I particularly LOVED those cheesy big grins Em was giving us!! Craig and I may or may not have been acting like complete idiots to get those smiles ;)

Oh my goodness....she just MELTS my heart!!

Oh so HANDSOME!! 
Gotta stop for some SILLINESS!! 


These weren't my faves. We should have stood different or something. And sadly it was overcast a little that night so we didn't get the pretty sunset pics I wanted. But who cares when we got some sweet sweet pics!!
Love this one below of Em laughing so hard and looking up at her Pawpaw!! She just ADORES her some Pawpaw!! They have such a sweet little bond!!

A nice couple came up and asked if we would like a family pic!! So sweet of them! This was the only one they took but it turned out pretty good!! Thank you thank you whoever you are!! We are so grateful for this one all together!!

There is just something about little ones on the beach....
Another CUTE one!! I really don't know which ones I will choose to have blown up!!



Love these of my parentals!! They are quite a CUTE little couple!!

Me and my hubby!
The pic below CRACKS me up! I told Craig and Max they were smiling good but Pawpaw wasn't. He acted SHOCKED and like I hurt his feelings! LOL

That's better!! Good job boys!!

The girls being SILLY! We wanted something a little different so they weren't ALL the same!


We were able to get lots of different pics and quick because the kids did SO GOOD cooperating!! I really was so so PROUD of them!!

Always LOVE capturing sweet little kisses from my kiddos!!
And especially those sweet little giggles ;)


Emery was getting tickled kissing her Daddy again...again....and again...
Oh my goodness!! So sweet!!
Max wanted to do it too!! He gave me a BIG BIG kiss!! Love my sweet lil man!!

Pawpaw noticed the birds as we were finishing up our pics!! Pretty cool!!
Daddy and Em were checking the birds out!!

Craig was throwing her up and I was trying to capture her happiness!! She was laughing so hard while he was throwing her! She LOVED it!!
All in all a SUCCESSFUL beach pic session!! So glad we decided to do it earlier than we usually do. That way it was over and we didn't have to worry about it. Def think it worked out better since the kiddos weren't in exhaustion mode from vacay just yet :)