Hi, friends! I am only going to be blogging three days a week for the next few weeks so I can get used to going back to school and the craziness of having a 1 year old in the house.
Today my dad has been gone 2 months. I have had a few rough days this week being sad and thinking about him a lot. I am encouraged though because I know he is so happy in heaven, but it still doesn’t take the hurt away.
In my blog post today I am sharing with you the rest of our Florida vacation. We kept the last few days very low-key and enjoyed just being together.
Day 7
Thursday morning we went to the beach first thing. The girls and I snorkeled and found TONS of sand dollars together. We have never had that much luck finding whole sand dollars. It was really neat!
After the morning and afternoon on the beach we went up to the condo and got showered and ready to head to Destin. We wanted to enjoy one last night in Destin before having to head home. We knew the next day we would just stay in Navarre the whole time.
The only place we went to that evening was the Harborwalk Village. We love to walk down there and shop and watch the boats come in. Chris likes to watch the people clean their fish, but I like the shopping much better!
We decided to eat supper at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. We had never eaten there before and wanted to see what it was all about. We were told it was going to be an hour wait, but we literally only had to wait about 5 minutes until our buzzer went off.
The dinner was excellent there and it was so cool to watch the boats coming in and out. It started to rain just a little bit while we were there but then it stopped and a beautiful rainbow appeared.
After dinner we walked around some more and took a few pictures in front of a really cool tree by Margartiaville. I’m thankful for other people that will stop and take a picture for you when you ask! I always try to return the favor when I see a family.
Next, Emily begged her daddy to let her zipline across the Harborwalk Village. She did it last year while we were on vacation so I didn’t think she would want to do it again, but she did and her dad is a softy and of course said yes. She has no fear!
We shopped some more after Emily zip-lined and went through the marina and fed the fish off the dock.
We got some cotton candy and went and found a spot to sit down and wait for the fireworks to start. Harborwalk Village always does fireworks every Thursday night at 9:00. It is beautiful to watch them over the bay.
The fireworks were so much better than I remembered them! It was a great end to a perfect night in Destin.
Day 8
Friday was our last full day in Florida. We knew we wanted to stay in Navarre and enjoy as much time on the beach as we could and that is exactly what we did.
The only time we left the beach that day was the go into town and eat at The Shrimp Basket. We are not huge shrimp lovers in our family, but we wanted to give it a try. It wasn’t my favorite place we ate at, but it wasn’t horrible either.
After supper we went and walked along the beach and collected some sea shells to put in the girls’ souvenir jars. We also took some silly photos of the girls.
We of course ended the evening at Tommy’s SnoBalls.
Then it was crab hunting to end the night. Emily was sad in the picture because it was our last night hunting. We didn’t catch any King Crabs as Emily says, but we did catch a lot of small and medium sized ones.
Day 9
Saturday was our last day in the condo. We had to be checked out by 10:00 that morning, so we let the girls sleep in while we got everything packed back up to head to MO. We looked out the balcony at the ocean one last time and then at the bay side as well. The girls were sad to leave, but it was a great vacation together! I hope they will always remember the fun places we went together as a family.
We took our time going home and got stuck in some major traffic in Alabama. What should’ve been a 9.5 hour drive took us about 12 hours. We rolled in to Dexter late that night and crashed in our own comfy beds.
Hope you all enjoyed the recap of our Florida trip! What was your favorite thing you did this summer? I can’t believe summer is coming to an end. Chris and I go back to school on Monday and we get students next Thursday.
Happy Wednesday!
~Jen
So Destin has been on my list of places to vacay, but now after all these pictures, I’m dying to go! Thanks for sharing!!
What a great trip and what a fun dinner! Looks like you all had a wonderful time!
I love dinner with a view – how fun! Love the joy on the girls faces in those jumping photos! How cool to get those sand dollars too, what fun you all had. xoxo ERIN