Florida Vacation Part 2

Our trip to Destin could easily be broken down into two parts--the beautiful, sunny, beachy part and the gray, rainy, wet part. Hope you enjoyed all those beach pictures in the last post because that's all you'll see from that particular trip! Yep, we woke up on Wednesday morning to rain, which seemed like no big deal at the time because we just assumed it would end at some point, right?! Um, nope! The rain (or maybe I should call it torrential downpours, with even some tornado activity) continued for the next three and a half days until we packed up and set off for home. Not exactly what we were hoping for or planning on when we planned our trip, but what do you do? We tried to make the best of it, and we certainly still had fun despite the terrible weather.

When we woke up on Wednesday morning to rain, we decided to head to the Aquarium for some indoor fun with the ocean animals. Unfortunately, a lot of the aquarium exhibits were outside, and although most were covered, we still managed to get wet! Even so, it was a great way to spend the morning.  The highlights were definitely seeing the batfish (we have a book at home with a red-lipped batfish in it, so seeing one in real life was pretty cool!) and the fun touch pool, where you could get your hands on anything from hermit crabs and starfish to horseshoe crabs.

all boys looking at the camera and smiling=priceless!

l and b dive right in while collier watches

look, mom, a starfish!

we probably weren't really supposed to take these out of the water, but we couldn't resist snapping a few quick pics

That evening, the rain stopped for a short time, so we decided to leave the kids home with Oma and Opa and have a night out. We headed over to Louisiana Lagniappe for some yummy shrimp and grits and key lime pie. Our waiter probably thought we were crazy as Kelli and I spent quite a bit of time on our phones trying to determine how much of our seafood quota we had already eaten by that time and if we could even have shrimp! Sometimes being pregnant has it's downfalls! By that time, this mama really needed a break, and it was so wonderful to sit outside on the patio and enjoy a delicious meal with some adult company.  Thanks, Oma and Opa, for watching our crazies while we were gone!

this rainbow showed up just as we were seated at our table

grown-ups' night out!

As we woke up on the 4th of July, it looked to be more of the same as far as weather goes. This time I was really disappointed as we had booked a dolphin cruise and island shelling tour for the whole family. With the strong winds and constant rain, we knew it wasn't going to happen. Instead, we headed out to the movies (along with pretty much everyone else in Destin!) to catch a showing of Monsters University. That evening, during another short break in the rain, we made our own 4th of July fun with a "glow" parade around the complex. Auntie Kelli, Oma, and I had all brought glow necklaces, wands, bracelets, etc. for the boys, so we lit them up and headed out for some fun!

i took probably 20 pics of these boys, and this overexposed one is the best out of the them all.  they just won't sit still!

glow fest in our house!

our makeshift 4th of july parade

little c was loving it!

happy 4th of july!

Our last full day brought more of the same in terms of weather. The big boys braved the rain to fish from the pier while the moms and littler boys went out shopping. All Leyton wanted the whole trip was a coconut, so we found one for him and then Daddy cut it open later that day. He loved it!

Florida 2013 might not have been all that we expected, but it was still a wonderful time spent with our family. Especially living so far away, it was even more of a treasure to have quality time with each other and give the cousins time to spend together. I hope we will continue to make this a tradition!