Floridian Fun

About a year ago my friends and I decided we wanted to take a family vacation all together. We decided on Destin, Florida and thanks to my friend Lauri, we found the perfect house to accommodate our large party of seventeen. That's right--eight adults and nine kids all under one roof! And the oldest kid was Jacob at six and a half. Some might see this as crazy and total chaos however the week was so much fun. We had a great time together and enjoyed all that the beach has to offer! 


We all decided to drive since we had so much stuff to take with us. From Prosper we had a twelve hour drive ahead of us. I think the longest drive we have ever done with the kids was to Houston, five to six hours max! I was a little nervous about how the kids would do but they did great. We hit the road around 1:00 on Friday after Jacob finished VBS. It was Sarah's nap time so she was O.U.T-out for the first part of the trip!

I got a little nervous when we had been in the car for a total of fifteen minutes and Jacob said he had to go poop. Oy! Oh the joys of traveling with kids! We drove about six hours to Baton Rouge, LA where we had booked a hotel room for the night. And boy were they glad to be out of the car...and me too to be quite honest. 

Since the kids wake up at the crack of dawn each morning we were able to hit the road by 8:30 Saturday morning. After a brief stop to fill up the tank and a run into the convenient store for breakfast we were on our way. I had printed off a few car activities for the boys to do. Their favorite--tracking our road trip progress on their map by coloring in each state as we crossed each state line. 

Yes that is a package of powered donuts Sarah is proudly holding up. And you better believe she ate four of those stinkin' donuts. And we all know she doesn't eat four of anything. Two bites and she's done!

Oh and let's not forget--about fifteen minutes into the drive Saturday morning we got pulled over for speeding. 75 in a 60! Eek! We clearly weren't paying attention and assumed the interstate speed limit was 70. Oh no, not in Baton Rouge! Thank God for a safe trip to and from!

We arrived in Destin in just enough time to go to the grocery store to stock up for the week before our 3:00 check-in time.  Here was our house for the week- the Tangerine Dream.

The view from our room. So great!

Our view from the balcony!

The kids LOVED the bunk room and had fun playing in their own room.  

Tropical storm Debby made her way to the Florida panhandle ALL day on Sunday, our first full day there. It rained off and on all day but we somehow still managed to swim in the pool a few times in the rain. And Jim took the boys down for a walk on the beach during a rain break. The rip current and waves were extremely strong that day and Luke got knocked down by a wave which made him want nothing to do with the ocean for the next few days. Thankfully the kids kept themselves entertained by playing all day and the "big" kids kept themselves entertained by a little poker game in the game room. 

The kiddos relaxing by watching a show on an Ipad. 

Ryan and Sarah hugging, so sad it's blurry since they are both looking and smiling!

Sarah and Kaitlynn definitely bonded on this trip. Kaitlynn is about a year older than Sarah and believe it or not , out of nine kids they are the only two girls! Kaitlynn was a sweet little friend to Sarah and I think she enjoyed having a younger one to look after! 

We woke up Monday morning not sure what Debby was going to do. It ended up being  cloudy the first part of the day but cleared out a bit later in the afternoon. Getting ready to head to the beach for the first time!

Luke was SO excited about his new shark trunks, hat and flip flops.  Sweet boy!

Connor and Jacob had a blast playing in the waves!

The others enjoyed their time in the sand and staying far away from the water! Lol!

Jim and Jacob LOVED playing the waves! I'm not sure who enjoyed it more...

Jacob and Connor are about seven months apart and play so well together. Both are such sweet boys and  they really enjoyed each other. 

Snack time!

Sand time!

Amanda and her sweet little Andrew, the youngest of the bunch. 

Alex and Luke trying to catch bubbles. 

Buddies!

 A beautiful sunny Destin day! 

Hugs for Luke!

My sweet family!

Jeff made the Texans logo in the sand! 

This was down the beach from us. Very cool!

Luke and Sarah finally warmed up to the water about mid-week and they both enjoyed the waves. Meanwhile,  Jacob got stung by a jellyfish and was pretty much done with the water after that! Poor guy!

Feeding the birds!

Jacob, Jackson and Ryan playing together. 

  

Luke had a fun seashell search with Aunt Amanda and Alex. 

More sand time

A break from the beach. We loved having the pool at the house as another option. 

Lauri soaking in the sun!

Popsicle time!

Jim and Jerry enjoying a cold beverage!

Kaitlynn focusing hard on eating that popsicle!

Dana and Laine

Sharing a chair at lunch. 

Sweet friends!

We found Sarah and Kaitlynn playing on one of the top bunks several times. They could climb up but would yell "Mommy" when they wanted down. So cute!

We rented this little car one afternoon to drive around. The kids had a fun time!

Luke and Alex relaxing while watching Mater's Tall Tales. 

This was Luke from our Destin trip three years ago. He was sixteen months old!

And this is Jacob from three years ago. He was three and a half. 

And our family today!

He fell asleep one afternoon on the beach. Tired boy!

We decided to venture out to dinner our last night there. We got there around 5:00 and they were able to seat our party of seventeen right away!

Up next...all the family/group pictures that were taken on the beach. We got some great shots thanks to Lauri and Amanda. Coming soon!