Back to the grind.....

Our vacation is officially over, and we are back to the grind. We had a fabulous time in Destin, FL. The weather was glorious with no rain and a breeze everyday. It was so wonderful to relax and be refreshed. We felt like we were seeing a little piece of paradise from morning until night while we were there. It was absolutely gorgeous. We would eat breakfast on our patio, and hit the beach shortly afterwards. The kids had a great time. Clark loved the ocean, and wasn't even afraid of the waves. We began our vacation with a night in Pensacola. On the way we stopped off in Gulf Shores to have dinner with a friend from high school and her husband. It was great to see an old friend! The following morning we took the children to the Naval Aviation Museum on NAS Pensacola. They loved seeing all the airplanes. We used to take Ali there when she was a toddler, since we lived an hour away. Speaking of that...after we left the museum, we went to Ft. Walton to take a tour of the town. We had not been there since we moved from there almost 9 years ago. Ali wanted to see our first little house and the hospital where she was born. It was a lot of fun driving around our old stomping grounds! After being all nostalgic, we finished our drive to Destin. We could NOT believe how much the area had grown up since we had moved. Destin is one high rise after the other now. We were sad to see all the changes. However, we pulled up to our little apartment and we were in awe at the beauty of the ocean right out in front of our window! The view was amazing. When not out on the beach, we lived out on the patio! During our stay, we took a sunset dolphin cruise. We were fortunate to see quite a few dolphins. They would come out of the water so quickly that Clark kept telling me "Mama, I can't see their eyes!" Haha..it was so cute. One evening we also went to a park called "The Track" where we played putt-putt and rode go-carts. Clark also rode a few kiddie rides like a train and some airplanes. We had a fun time that night. We were able to see some old friends from our Ft. Walton days, Becky and Hannah. Becky and I met at church and were pregnant at the same time. Ali and Hannah were little playmates back then. They hit it off instantly and had a fun time running on the beach. We were so sad to see our time at the beach come to an end. I guess that is how you tell a good vacation though, when you are sad to leave! On our way home we stopped off in Gulf Shores for a picnic at Gulf State Park. We went there many times growing up and I wanted to see it again. It had changed quite a bit due to having damage from Hurricane Ivan, which was sad to see. After our lunch, we stopped off in Mobile to tour the USS Alabama. We then spent the night in Biloxi, MS and then spent Friday night with my parents.

Now we have bags to unpack and laundry to wash. YUCK! That is always the downside to taking a vacation...but it is worth it.

Ali and I have 2 weeks left of school. We will both be glad when we are finished up. Hope everyone has a great week!

vacation