Destin 10-9

Carden started Tuesday with nothing else but playing in the sand. She wanted to build a sand castle, but was having lots of problems with it.

Nathan happened to be one of her problems, but he was sure having fun!

Emma and Nate played in the waves. How cute are they?!!

When they got a little tired, they convinced Carden to let them bury her in the sand instead of building a sand castle. She enjoyed it, especially being the center of attention. She also had fun breaking out.

Ty hung out with us while Shawn and Christian went snorkeling for shells and Dawn, Misty, Savannah, and Cari were shopping. Carden actually got brave and ventured into the water. Once she loosened up, she discovered how fun it is to boogie board. Then, Debbie helped her realize she didn't need a boogie board since she was wearing a life jacket, and she had a blast body surfing. You'd be surprised with how brave she was getting!

Here's the only proof that I was there in a swimsuit! I told Nate to take some pics while I was out with the girls, and he took two lame shots. Oh well. No one wants to see a big pregnant girl in a swimsuit anyways.

Debbie and Jared fixed dinner for everyone (yummy chicken casserole); Nathan was getting restless in the house while they were cooking, so I took him outside to play on the little deck out front. He grabbed his little sand dump truck and walked strait to the beach (we were literally just across the street from the boardwalk), so I, of course, let him play and snapped pictures all the while. He was so cute!

After dinner, Shawn took Savannah out on a date, Nate took Jared and Nathan out, and the girls had a 'party' in Misty's room watching "The Biggest Looser" while eating chips, cookies, and candy (we got a laugh out of that, too). Emma asked Mimi if "the little girls could come to the big girls' party, " and of course Mimi's heart melted and the little girls were invited. Emma came long enough to get some candy and realize that the boys were having more fun watching "Spy Kids 3," while Carden was EATING UP being with the big girls. Ha ha.

Destin, Florida 10-6 to 10-8

On the trip to Destin, we listened to the Auburn football game, and the kids cheered right along with Nate and me. Nathan would scream, "Go, go, go!"

Sunday, we took it easy, the kids played board games and did crafts while the little ones crawled and played. Nathan got a new beach truck the night before, and he sure liked it. He also liked to help Taylor and was pretty sweet to her. He told her, "No!" at the stairs (she wasn't even going near them) since he heard that every time he got near the stairs. It didn't quite detract him from them, though. Sunday night, we took at walk on the beach.



We spent the morning on Monday at the beach. It rained all day Sunday, so the waves were pretty good. There was a strong current that pulled you down the bech quite a ways, so when Emma got in deep enough, she wanted to be holding someone's hand.

Nathan would venture into the water on his own time. He even laid on his belly for a little while. He didn't like us to carry him into the ocean this day, though, because the waves were kinda vicious (for Destin), and he didn't like the salt water splashing him in the face.

Holding true to form, Emma couldn't get enough of the ocean, and Carden was quite content sifting through the sand to find shells. There were quite a bit that the storm washed up. Nathan enjoyed a little of both.

After lunch, a good nap, and some well-deserved swimming and relaxing in our calm pool, we all cleaned up and went to dinner. Below is a picture of cutie Noah, Savannah entertaining Nathan while we waited for our table (he loves to read, so he ate this up!), and one of the few pictures of me to prove I was actually there at the beach!