Florida

So I think I should start calling myself the traveler!  In the last 7ish months, after the month of March, I will have gone to Indiana 3 times, Colorado, Florida and Texas.  We've traveled almost once a month...so St Louis is just a stopping place between journeys. It's the gateway to adventure!  ;-)

But anyways... this is from The St. Louis Edition:

At the beginning of February, we drove down to Destin FL with Dustin and Jessica for a week long vacation!  It was so nice to leave cold weather behind and have a little warmth, comparatively... it was in the 50's and 60's most of the time.  

The drive was a good 11 hrs, so the plan was to get up and leave at 2:30 am so the babies would sleep most of the way.  I got home from our church's Mom's Night Out at midnight and Steven was just waking up.  He felt very wide awake so we decided to just get ready and leave then. We left at 1:30 so I never went to bed that night.  ;-)

We stayed at Steven's company's house  which we get for cheap. It's located in a resort called San Destin.

There was a heated pool with the house.  I enjoyed swimming immensely, especially in the evening after the children went to bed. :-)

We didn't spend a whole lot of time at the beach because it was a little too chilly to enjoy it much. We did go down a couple times.

The second time we went to the beach was an extremely windy day.

Danny loved playing in the sand!

Monday, we visited the Gulfarium with Dustin and Jessica.

We attended a dolphin show and got to see a bunch of sea creatures.

Mama and baby dolphin

Danny with a shark!

One night, we cooked a steak dinner at home.  The guys cooked the steaks on the grill while we girls made sides. It was delicious!

Wednesday, we spent together as a family. We rented bikes from the resort that were actually free of charge because they were "house" privileges.

We road back to the house for lunch and then biked around the resort.

We wore them out!

After we returned the bikes, we strolled around the marina and looked at all the big boats.  It was very windy and chilly.

We met Dustin and Jessica at Jackacuda's on the harbor for a dinner of fish and sushi!

Thursday, the guys spent the day deep sea fishing!  They had a great time and caught lots of fish. I think they'd be hooked on the hobby if it were possible.  (ha ha ha)

The Destiny was their fishing vessel.

Fish...almost ready for eating!

Friday was another family day. We strolled around the resort's village enjoying the sunshine.  It's a really quaint place!

This has got to be the world's most comfortable swing!

Friday evening, we met Dustin and Jessica at the harbor for a Dolphin and Sunset Cruise.  We saw lots of dolphins jumping out of the water but they were too hard to get pictures of.

The seagulls wanted treats.

Saturday, we left for home. But we first took a detour to see Pensacola Lighthouse.

We took turns climbing to the top because the kids weren't allowed up.  After I went up, I was glad we didn't try to take them with us! Going up was frightening for me but once I was up there, I was fine.  It's 170 steps up and the lighthouse keeper had to carry 2 5 gal buckets of kerosene up all those steps twice a day!

Steven's turn!

On the way home, around supper time, we decided to exit the highway for a pit bull, ahem, I mean, pit stop! (inside joke) Right behind us, out of the blue, was Dustin and Jessica! We decided on a dinner at Cracker Barrel with them before we continued home.

And so our wonderful vacation came to an end. We had a lovely time and it's one of my favorite vacations!

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. Psalms 139:9-10

Brought to you by: Rebekah Benner