From the moment we moved to Texas two years ago, people have been trying to talk us into going to Destin, Florida. "Amazing beaches, powdered sugar sand, warm water, beautiful" is what they would say about Destin. Don and I both grew up at the beach in California, and we've been to Mexico and Hawaii. We were definitely skeptical. But, we had been wanting to check it out, especially since we miss the beach sooooo much, and it is only an 11 hour drive for us! (That's pretty good compared to our 23 hour drive to CA.) So, when Thanksgiving was rolling around and the kids had the week off of school, we had no family nearby, and traveling to see them was too far to go, we decided it was time for our little family to take a nice, long vacation....all by ourselves. We did some research, found a condo that would fit our family of seven, and booked it! We were so excited, we could hardly wait. When we arrived, this is what we found....
View from our condo. Our resort included two pools, hot tub, playground, bball court, and we were RIGHT on the beach.
The beach was beautiful and we were the only ones on it!
The sand was most definitely the best sand I have EVER felt. I just wanted to dig my hands and feet in it all day long. It was so white and pretty and really was like powdered sugar!
Now, we realized that we were going during the winter, the end of November. We figured it would probably be cold, but we were anxious to have some family time so we prepared to play indoor games and maybe bundle up to take a walk on the beach a couple of times. We also researched some fun things to do in the city so we had plenty to do if it was cold. To our thrill, the weather was incredible! It was a little overcast for the first day or two, but it was in the 70s so we were not complaining. (We left freezing cold weather in Texas so this was heaven.) By the middle of our 2nd day it was pure sunshine and upper 70s and the water temperature was perfect! We ended up spending our days from sun-up to sun-down on the beach. And since it was winter time the resort and entire beach were empty! We basically had it all to ourselves. It was all better than we had hoped for!
Spending 10+ hours each day at the beach, we came up with plenty to do....
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| long walks on the beach |
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| swimming in the ocean |
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| playing in the waves |
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| taking an occasional soak in the hot tub |
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| building drip castles |
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| and more drip castles |
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| reading and relaxing |
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| making mermaids |
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| boogie boarding |
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| kite flying |
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| building sand castles |
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| early morning walks searching for shells |
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| avoiding "man of wars". They sting! |
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| finding amazing sea creatures |
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| catching crabs |
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| having sandball fights |
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| goofing off |
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| more long walks (our favorite!) |
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| soaking up the sun |
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| And just getting some much needed R&R!! |
I know I have already posted a zillion pictures, but these are just a few more of my favorites!
It really was the most amazing, perfect vacation for our family. We needed that time together--time away from school and work and homework and basketball practice and piano and everything else that is constantly pressing for our time. During our time there I couldn't help but think of my sister, Ginger, and the trip to Hawaii that she took with her little family, just months before she passed away. What precious memories they have together. I am so glad we created this memory! This was a week that we will cherish and remember forever.
