Wednesday, August 19, 2009

FL Pictures

Traveling Down
At the Donut Hole: Elaina, Joyanne, Abbie, Brie and Kaden

Mom, Brie and Abbie

Aubrie in the Sand
Splashing in the waves

American girls at the Beach
Abbie Grace, 5 1/2 yrs old

Underwater Swimmer

Brie baby in her floaties



Mom, Abbie and Brie
Superstar Abbie


Beautiful Baby Brie with her fishing net


High Flying Acrobat Abbie


I have to tell you, I LOVE going to Destin. This was, perhaps, one of my favorite trips down there ever. We (the kids and I) went down with Becky and her two kiddo's, Kaden and Elaina, and we also took an INCREDIBLE baby sitter, Joyanne. We had the most relaxing week I think I've ever spent at the beach. Well, the time after I took the bar exam was pretty relaxing too but this may have beaten it. We only ate out once with the kids and we did one girls night when we put the kids to bed and Becky and I went to dinner with my sister Brooke. It was a great week. Tons of swimming (pool and ocean) and lots and lots of giggling and laughing. We both said that we really did miss our boys being there but it was okay with us to not cook dinner or worry much about what we were going to eat any other time of the day. We did frozen pizza, mac and cheese, cereal...I mean it was simple and WONDERFUL!! Joyanne was just amazing. She was such a blessing all week. She knew just what to do and when to do it and she never once complained about anything!! She sat in the back of my car with Elaina and Abbie for 12 hours down there and 13 hours back and never once acted like she'd rather ride on the roof of the car than spend one second longer in the back seat (which I would have felt like saying after approximately 10 ot 15 seconds...) Here are some brief highlights:

Kaden swimming in the ocean without a lifejacket.


Abbie swimming in the baby pool with goggles and a nose plug.

Brie swimming in floaties under protest on Monday and transitioning to delight by Wednesday when she realized they come with a great gift: FREEDOM!!

Abbie being so scared to swim in the big pool without her life jacket that she literally nearly scared herself sick.

Hannah Montanta montages and dance parties

Two ladies, one king size bed, one cavernous space in the middle, nuff said...

Really sticky suntan lotion for the Durham's, great stuff for the Simons.

Dolphins off the port bow!!

"Snorkling" by Becky, "Near Drowning" by Tracie

Wave Jumping by the kids

Net fishing

Catching 3 large hermit crabs: one now lives in AR.

Poop in the baby pool (not by any of our children...)

Sleeping on the beach by Tracie...unless a baby is crying, quick check if it's yours, nope. Return to sleeping...

Wine? OKAY!!

Super Spy Kaden

It was a blessing. Thanks Becky for tagging along with us!!




1 comment:

Qtipper said...

Oh, T~
I just stopped by to see some smiling Durham snaps. Okay, and to see if I was the only one blog deficient - YEP, I am! But, this whole post had me grinning from EAR to EAR!

That was the neatest vacation! I mean, didn't we have an absolute BLAST?! Girl, it was truly perfection. I think that when we retire and build our condo's on the corner of Ignorance and Bliss we should positively make sure they are oceanside :)

I love you! That really sums it all up! I just LOVE you!