Day 6 - Baytown Fun

We spent our last day at the beach for a little while followed by a lot of swimming at the pool.  Lunch was poolside again and the girls (including me) got to enjoy one last yummy frozen drink.  Hudson had gotten pretty brave in the pool and had fun "jumping" into me. I even dunked him a few times and he didn't seem to mind one bit.   I had not intended for him to nap at the pool, but he was worn out from all his swimming so we made a make-shift bed on a pool chair under and umbrella so the girls could keep swimming.

We decided to ride the shuttle back to Baytown for our last night and I think it was the best night we had on our trip.  As soon as we arrived Robby made a beeline for the zipline.  Handley had asked to do it earlier in the week, but it was after dinner, close to bedtime for the little ones, and the line was really long.  He surprised her with a ticked to try it out before dinner and she didn't hesitate once.  After the guy got her all strapped into her harness we waved as she climbed the steps to the top.  It wasn't long before she stepped off the platform and was zipping across the water 50 feet or so in the air.  We were all clapping and cheering for her!  Then, she got to come back across and the look on her face when she climbed down the steps was pure joy.

Dinner was next, followed by exploring the rest of what Baytown had to offer.  The guys took advantage of the free beer, Justen tried out the mini-golf, and we took another ride on the carousel.

It was such a fun night and the perfect ending to our vacation.

Day 5 - Boogie Board and Hotel Crazies

I must say that the $8 boogie board was probably the best money we spent all week.  Handley started off on that thing as soon as we got down to the beach and I had to force her to get off of it to have a little break for lunch hours later.  As one adult would tire of helping her, the next would go out to help her catch the waves.  To say she loves the ocean would be an understatement.  That girl is my thrill seeker.

The boys also had fun on the beach this day.  It only took as almost all week to discover that if we dug them a little "pool" where they could sit and play they would not only be entertained, but also contained.  Genius!  It was great, especially for Hudson who loved being in the water, but wanted to keep crawling down to the waves, head first, until they were almost crashing over his head.

I also realized on this day that Hudson loved being in the ocean with me.  I took him out past where all the waves were breaking and we spent a least 30 minutes solid out there just bouncing around, letting him kick his legs, and he was squealing with delight.  All that swimming must have worn him out because all it took was me giving him his paci for him to fall into a deep sleep at nap time.  Jen and Justen brought their baby pop-up tent to the beach this day so I was able to put him in there for his nap and he snoozed a solid 2 hours.

For dinner we visited another recommended restaurant and although the traffic took forever, it was worth the wait.  I had been hoping for hushpuppies all week and finally got some.  Yummy!  After dinner we walked out and checked out some of the big boats and fed the fish with leftover "fish food" the girls found on the dock.

Every night after we got back to the hotel after dinner we fully expected the kids to be so tired that they would be ready to head straight to bed.  Not the case.  As soon as we entered the back entrance to the hotel they would all get their second wind and start running around like crazy!  I promise we weren't "those parents."  Really this area was pretty deserted and the perfect place for the kids to get out the last of their energy before bed.  Hudson was not one to miss out on the fun and although he couldn't run and chase after them, he wiggled to get free of my arms so he could crawl like a wild man as fast as his little arms and legs would take him.  All that running got everyone thirsty and thankfully, Handley was the tall one willing to lift everyone up for a drink from the fountain.

Day 4 - Golfing, Cocktails, and BOGO

While the guys were golfing early Wednesday morning, Jen and I had a great breakfast with the kids and then started the difficult task of getting all four kids and all the "stuff" down to the beach by ourselves.  We even had agreed on taking the bare minimum, but it was still quite a task.  We definitely got our arm workouts in this week.

After some fun on the beach we had lunch by the pool and decided that we'd definitely earned our frozen cocktails that day.  I even let the girls have kiddie cocktails, which they were super excited about.

We got back to the room just in time to meet up with the guys who were just returning from golf.  I put Hudson down for his nap and then Jen listened out for him while Robby and I took the girls back out to swim in the ocean.

That night we ate a restaurant someone had recommended.  We were told that it had great food, an awesome water view, was kid-friendly and that the entrees were BOGO (buy one get one free) from 5-6 PM.  We were definitely the first ones there and the doors weren't even open when we arrived so we checked out the boats while we waited.  When we finally walked in to find white table cloths and pretty fine looking china on the tables.  Not exactly my idea of kid-friendly, but the food and view were really great so it ended up working out just fine.

 On the way back to the hotel we stopped by a beach store to let Handley pick out a boogie board so she could try riding the waves on our last few days at the beach.  Then it was time for photos on the beach!  Thanks to Jen we got some really great ones and I'm so excited about making one of these really big in my house.  I'll share them as soon as I get them from her.

Day 3 - Baytown

We woke up to the sun shining and after a quick breakfast we made our way to the beach and then spent time swimming in the pool!

That night we rode the Sandestin shuttle to Baytown, which is a fun village area with shops, restaurants and entertainment.  We ate at a lobster restaurant and got tons of comments on our kids in their matching lobster outfits.  Jen and I love theme-wear for the kids. :-)

After dinner we walked around a bit, enjoyed the live music, danced on the green, and even took a quick ride on the carousel before heading back to catch the shuttle.  It was such a fun night.  We ended the evening with the guys having stroller races down the hallway of the hotel.  I'm totally serious.  It was seriously funny though and we all had a good laugh.

Debby Downer - Day 1 and 2

As we were heading to Destin last week we were anxiously watching the weather and trying to figure out what Tropical Storm Debby was going to do.  The closer we got to Sandestin the more clouds we saw and as we arrived at our hotel it was raining.  On our ride down Handley and Harper took turns riding in Parker's car to help keep him entertained for the ride down.

The poor bellman was determined to get all the stuff from both cars onto one cart.  This wasn't even all of it!  

Watching the weather reports the meteorologist basically didn't know what direction it was going to head, but what they did know was that the storm was stationary and not going anywhere anytime soon.  We contemplated heading home and rescheduling our trip for another time, but I'm so very glad we decided to wait it out.  The rest of Sunday was rainy and very windy.  The next morning after breakfast we decided to walk out on the beach and assess our options.  There were double red flags meaning the water was off limits.  While we were out there the sun poked out quickly so we made the decision to change into our swimsuits and at least let the kids play in the sand.  The gusts of wind were really strong and law enforcement kept driving up and down the beach warning people to stay out of the water, but we enjoyed the beach for a few hours and Hudson even snuck in a little nap.

After that we made our way to the pool for lunch and a little swimming before heading to the rooms so the kids could rest.  By dinner time the sun was shining and we made our way to the famous "Back Porch" over looking the beach.  The kids had fun sitting in the giant chair out front and loved their kids meals served in souvenir frisbees.

When we got back to our rooms we saw a big rainbow over the ocean.  We took that as our sign that the weather was going to turn out in our favor and the rest of our week would be sunny and beautiful.