Florida

We always plan a couple vacations a year and this year our first summer trip was to Florida. My family has a family reunion in Holland, MI every year and we try to go every other year and last year we made a trip to Port Aransas, TX with Trevor's dad's side of the family; so Trevor's mom was thinking it was her turn to take a trip together. Trevor's brother, Austin is stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, so we decided to go to Destin, FL (which is just south of Eglin). Trevor's mom and step-dad found a house right on the water, sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the house! It was a pretty neat place though!

Trevor's mom, step-dad and grandma all left on Friday, but we had a wedding to go to on Saturday, so we decided to leave on Sunday morning after the wedding. We also had a change in our schedule due to an unforeseen event (I'll have to blog about that one later), so we actually didn't leave until Monday morning! We arrived in Destin at about 2:00am Tuesday. The drive honestly wasn't too bad. We weren't in a major hurry to get there either since we knew we would just arrive and end up going to sleep. We also had Winnie with us, so we took several pit stops to let him out, get some water, and eat. 

I also bought the first two seasons of Chicago Fire to watch on the drive, which seemed to make the trip go faster. I think I have Trevor hooked! ;) 

The whole trip was pretty relaxing! We got to sleep in, eat amazing seafood, hang out with our nephews, fish, go to the beach...etc!

On Tuesday we got up, unpacked a bit, and got ready for a day at the beach. We ate lunch at the Crab Trap and then headed for the sand. 

We then headed back to our house and just hung out on the dock out back. Trevor and his brother did some fishing and we caught some crabs with the boys. 

That evening we took a water taxi to the other side of the cove we were in and ate dinner at Margaritaville. There was a parade and things that evening, but we must have arrived too late because we didn't get to see it. 

This is the view off of our balcony. So pretty and relaxing!

On Wednesday the guys were scheduled to golf in the morning, so us ladies went shopping. When the guys were finished, we ate lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise and then headed to the beach. We initially thought it was going to rain, but it seemed to pass over. We were going to a beach that wasn't very busy, so we took Winnie along. He definitely enjoyed himself! For some reason he just LOVES the sand! He entertains himself for hours!

Thursday was a shopping day. We literally shopped at the outlet mall the entire afternoon. We definitely found some great buys! Most of them were new kitchen gadgets! I love the Kitchen store!

That evening we went to Austin and Crystal's house for dinner. We got to see their house, hang out with the boys and eat delicious roast.  

Friday was a beach and seafood day! We woke up and headed to the beach before it got too hot. We decided to take Winston to the beach too since he loves it! Trevor bought a new game called Kadima (it's two large paddles and a rubber ball - it seemed similar to ping-pong so we knew we would like it!) we looked up how to play and honestly it just said to keep a volley going as long as possible. We looked a bunch of different sites and another guy decided he wanted to make the game more challenging, so we decided to play by the rules that he made up! We enjoyed playing while Winston enjoyed digging!

here is the link to how we played

We met up with Vanessa, Tony and Pat (Trevor's mom, stepdad and grandma) for lunch at a place called Hairy T's. It was delicious!! We had bacon wrapped crab stuffed shrimp! Amazing!! 

We then headed back to the beach. We basically just relaxed and people watched. 

When we returned from the beach we hung out with our nephews a bit more and then they had to leave to go back home. Trevor and I then went to The Village at Baytowne Wharf. We went there once in college on a spring break trip and we made it a point to go back. We even drove by our house that we stayed at in college!...so many memories!! Haha! 

We walked around Baytowne for a little bit and then decided to eat at Acme, a New Orleans style restaurant, for dinner. I even got to try oysters for the first time! This place was known for their amazing oysters, so I'm glad this was my first experience. They were pretty good!

On the way home I spotted this little gem...

We used to have this amazing ice cream place in Broken Arrow, but it closed years ago. Now, the only places I can find them are Joplin, MO and Conway, AR. Don't ask how I know that! Lol! So now I know that Destin, FL has one! I was so excited! Although I was stuffed from dinner, I had to get one!

Friday was our last day in FL, so Saturday morning we packed up and hit the road. 

As usual, a few bad things always have to happen on trips. The first bad thing happened back home. Trevor's dad was watching out lab Whiskey while we were gone and he called us the first day we were in FL to tell us that Whiskey got in a little fight. I guess him and Trevor's dads dog ran down the road and another persons dog and them got in a little fight. Whiskey ended up biting the owner of the third dog. I'm sure he didn't mean to, but he was trying to break them up and got in the middle. Whiskey now has some nasty bites on the back of his neck. I'm not sure what we are going to do about it yet. Hopefully it will just heal quickly. Thankfully, the owner that was bit was extremely nice and understanding. The second bad thing that happened was on the way home while driving a rock flew up and hit my windshield and cracked it. Thankfully, it was a pretty small chip. 

Now we are home doing laundry and trying to get everything back in order before our next trip!