Destin 10-12

I didn't take any pictures during the day on Friday. We woke up and planned on Daddy taking the girls to a go-cart track (even though we OWN a go-cart... I don't get it, either) and me taking Nathan to a scrapbook clearance store. Well, the go-cart place was closed, and Carden wanted to go shopping for her scrapbook, so we all ended up there. Luckily, we needed a few things from Wal-Mart, and it was in the same shopping center, so Nate headed over there. I stayed within my budget, so he wouldn't have complained to me about money, but he would have been very impatient waiting for me to go through the store! :) We came home and took naps and/or played in the pool, and then in the late afternoon went to the beach one last time. It was calm again, and Emma had a blast snorkeling for shells. I left Nathan with Nate and the girls and I walked down the beach a ways and just swam and looked for shells. I didn't have goggles, and Carden was being silly, but Emma was down to business. I wish I had video of her, it was the cutest thing to see her swimming, spot something, and dive for it. You'd see her cute bum (I think she has the cutest bum in the whole world, and I am dead serious in saying that) pop up and her legs squirm around trying to get herself down to the sea floor, all the while bobbing up and down on the waves. We got a pretty good collection, though most of it was broken. She even captured some seaweed for Carden. Then, we hurried up and showered for family pictures. Misty was our photographer, along with Jared, Debbie, and Cari's photographer, and she did a great job despite my mumbling husband! All the pictures below are from the photo shoot!


Gosh, I have cute kids!!! (Haha)


Looking at us, you wonder how they got so cute!


What fun shots of some of the cousins!

Too bad my eyes are closed, that would have been a great picture!

Misty gave the camera back so she could shoot some of Jared and Debbie, and the unsympathetic mother in me came out. But, you gotta admit that is a cute shot of Nathan!

I played around with some silhouette shots...

And then Emma and Nathan got soaked. Nathan because he fell right as a wave came up (that was the crying picture above) and Emma because she's Emma and can't resist the water. I looked out at one point, and she was up to her armpits! So, we headed back home, but on the way, Emma wanted to show me how she could draw an elephant (and it was pretty good). Then, Carden wanted to play tic-tac-toe in the sand, and then they had a competition to see who could get the sand the smoothest. Pregnant and all, I laid down on my belly with the sun behind me instead of in front of me, and these are what I got:

The girls were being so funny, they'd say "Now a silly one!" "Now a mad one!" "Now a scared one!" I did get some normal ones, and I am all about the silly ones if it makes them happy to take a smiling one!

As you can see, everyone thought it was the perfect night to take pictures on the beach, there were probably about ten or so other groups out there smiling for a camera!

The rest of the night was spent packing and cleaning for our departure in the morning.

Destin 10-11

We made it back to the beach on Thursday. The water was much calmer, so the kids had a fun time snorkeling, and they started to collect hermit crabs.


Nathan enjoyed watching the big boys dig in the sand and soon got into the action. His insides are well-exfoliated this week due to the high amounts of sand he ate... check out the sand all over his face in the picture below. He was not only enjoying sand, but some pop tarts, cheese crackers, and fruit snacks in this picture!


All the kids got into burying each other, as illustrated below. Christian dug a deep hole that you could crouch into, and that's what everyone used!




Noah and Taylor enjoyed the sea breezes and shade with their mommies while Nathan spontaneously loved on Aunt Mimi! Misty watched the kids for us so Nate and I could enjoy a little date together. We were kinda boring, just drove around, ate some lunch at the Tropcial Smoothie Cafe (a Destin favorite of mine), walked around a little, and then came home and napped. Misty said Nathan fell asleep on the beach, didn't wake up during the walk home or the diaper change, and continued to sleep for over three hours. We wore that boy out!


We ate dinner at The Fisherman's Wharf, a traditional place we eat. They have the yummiest salad bar, and I enjoyed some blackened Mahi Mahi. Afterwards, we walked down on the wharf and fed the fish. There were a few charter boats that had just gotten back, so we got to see some big fish again, and Nate ran into the captain of the first boat they chartered for fishing years ago. The captain showed Nathan a lot of fun stuff, Nate said he was totally into it!


I saw a place that sold concretes, so I made sure to leave enough room after dinner to go and get a yummy treat. The kids enjoyed theirs, too! Emma got a raspberry sundae, Carden enjoyed a hot fudge sundae, Nathan an cone, and Nate and I got concretes mixed with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Yum!

Destin 10-10

Nathan woke up way early Wednesday morning, so Nate took an early nap (9am) with him, and we figured we would go to the beach after naptime. Emma needed some sleep as evidenced by her huge fits, so she napped, too, and Carden and I swam in the pool with Ty, Jared, and Taylor.

Savannah was down at the beach, but came back saying that someone saw three sharks just down the beach a little ways.



Shortly after that, Debbie and Misty came back saying they actually SAW a shark, and that the lifegaurd had closed the beach for the day. So, we all relxed around the pool and took lots of pictures.

Cari and Noah soon got in the pool, too.

The babies had fun!



We decided that the house should be called the lizard house, we were constantly seeing lizards dart here and there. Can you see the two lizards in the picture below? My girls were in heaven with all these fun spottings!

When Nate, Nathan, and Emma woke up, we went to lunch as a family and then went to the outlets. The girls got glittery headbands (modeled below by Carden and Taylor), and I got two pairs of post-pregnancy sweatpants.

We all did separate things for dinner, so Nate and I took the kids out to The Lucky Snapper, one of our Destin favorites. They have the yummiest cheese biscuits, but we were full from lunch, so we didn't fully enjoy our dinner. That's a bummer when you only get to eat at a yummy restaurant once a year!