Destin Family Vacation

At the end of May, when we thought all hope was lost on us finding a house to buy before the end of June, the whole Parsonage clan headed to Destin, Florida. Joe couldn't afford to take a week off work, so he drove down with us and spent Memorial Day weekend with everyone before heading home. Joseph knew we were taking a realllly long car ride to Florida, but I don't think he realized just how long it would be!

We made it in about 14.5 hours from St. Louis, and both kids were quite happy to not spend any more time in the car. They immediately got to work the following morning enjoying the best donuts in the panhandle... Donut Hole donuts!

Maddie has really become good friends with Molly, so she was excited to see Maggie and become acquainted. Luckily she's moving past the "poke the dogs in the eye" phase, and generally just wants to lay on them, pet them, and occasionally pull up their jowels to get a good look at those teeth.

Maddie's sleeping was all kinds of messed up this trip. She napped ok, but she was awake most mornings by 4:30 or 5. Luckily I could haul her into my bed, nurse her and she'd usually fall back asleep. Some mornings I wasn't so lucky. Joseph also got way off schedule with his sleeping as well, so generally our kids were ready to go by 6 am at the latest. I think the very last day we were there, both kids finally slept past 6:30 for the first time in 10 days!

Maddie and Mason hanging out with Mimi. Those two had lots of fun playing together!

Maddie also got to try ice cream for the first time on this trip. Her reaction was decidedly improved from Joseph's first attempts as a baby! Needless to say, Mimi had lots of fun taking advantage of an ice cream-loving grandkid around.

Papa picked up this fun pirate ship toy that all of the kids enjoyed. Joseph is really into Peter Pan and pirates lately, so the pirate ship was a big hit. It didn't hurt that a new pirate ship has come to the Destin Harbor, and went for multiple sailings every day, firing cannons and everything. We didn't manage to take a ride on it this time, but I'm sure we will the next time we're there.

Maddie has really turned into quite the yoga pose baby. On the trip, she started doing this whenever she was crawling away from someone or something interesting, and she wanted to catch a quick look:

I mean, I guess it is faster than stopping, sitting down and turning around, then getting going again. Two months later, she still does her downward facing dog yoga pose multiple times each day. It's really a cute Maddie characteristic.

After the success with the first bites of ice cream, Mimi picked up some small Drumstick cones. I had brought one outside to eat, and Maddie freaked out when she saw me eating it and not sharing it with her. I quickly nibbled the rest of the nuts off the top, and then handed it to her for a bite... or so I thought. She refused to give it back! That girl loves her ice cream and knows exactly what to do with it!

Of the box of 8, I think she had at least 3 that week. Her nap schedule was a little bit off of the boys, so she enjoyed the early afternoon treats all by herself. One day, Joseph wanted to partake, though, and Maddie was happy to oblige in eating another cone with him.

Joseph was much cleaner (and slower), so we didn't get any super cute pictures of him with the ice cream. He did have lots of fun playing with Jen's boyfriend, Elliot, though! Especially after Joe left for home, Joseph and Elliot were good buddies.

I had hoped to get a cute picture of the kids on the beach together. I should have waited until the end of the trip, when Madeline was more used to the sand and water, but instead, I opted to try it early in the week when I had a few free minutes.

Maddie really wasn't sure what to make of the sand. She wasn't ready for it to move and shift beneath her. And since Joseph was off playing in the water, she had no one to distract her.

Apparently we're going to have to teach her a thing or two about what sand pails are used for.

Joseph had just finished 6 weeks of swim lessons, and was quite comfortable around the water. I had planned the lessons to coincide with this trip, and with the puddle jumpers (Joseph's "muscles") fitting this year, it made life with him at the beach and pool much more fun.

I was hoping that Joseph would cheer Maddie up, and I could get a few good pictures. Things didn't start off well.

She finally calmed down a bit, so Joseph tried to give her a good kiss for me again.

Apparently, though, a good kiss picture means, hug her and knock her over at the same time :)

Or just pour sand on her head to really make her happy.

She finally started warming up to the idea of sitting on the beach when it was time to wrap things up and head upstairs for bath and bedtime.  As you can see from some of these pictures, within the first 2 days of the trip, Joseph's hives came back fierce, and we learned that Maddie was sick with roseola. It turns out she wasn't sleeping well partially because of her new teeth, and partially because she was about to run a high fever with her cold. We still have no idea where she picked it up, but it definitely put a damper on her mood for the first half of the vacation!

We opted not to eat out too much, as the 3 kids and our large group would complicate things, but one night we opted to head to Louisiana Lagniappe for dinner. Most of the group took the water taxi boat from the condo down the harbor to the restaurant, while I drove in case we needed a car to take sleepy kids home. 

Joseph thought the boat ride was great! 

The kids did great at the restaurant, as long as we kept the food coming. When we ran out of food, Joseph stepped in to entertain Madeline.

Good thing she finds him hilarious!

Mason was just the happiest baby ever on the trip. He didn't even fuss too much when he picked up roseola from Maddie at the end of the week and was feverish and rashy. Sweet kid. Definitely a chip off the old block!

Maddie doing one of her yoga poses!

Thank goodness for Elliot and his awesome camera and skills! A bunch of the pictures in this post are his.

My dad also picked up a few water guns at Target. Joseph had so much fun playing with them, and Mikael and Elliot were great sports. Looks like I did a decent job keeping Joseph protected from the sun this trip!

Mason was always happy to be in the water. Maddie was very hit or miss. Kinda like her general attitude. Some days she was happy to be there and could spend a lot of time in the pool, other days she wanted no part of being wet. Sometimes I think life may be easier when she can just talk and tell us what she wants, and other times the though of her talking scares me to death. :)

One day Joseph finished his lunch poolside, and when I came up from the beach I discovered him missing a key piece of clothing... I guess he wanted to get a head start on changing into nap clothes!

The whole gang. I wish Joe could have stayed down longer, but I'm glad he was able to take so much time off while we were house hunting and moving instead. Maybe next time he'll get to enjoy a full week vacation with us!

Joe finally got a chance to try stand up paddling. My parents bought two boards a few trips ago, and we had fun trying them out. I'd only been paddling once, when I was newly pregnant with Joseph, and on flat, calm lake water. Paddling East Pass was definitely a challenge!

Yup, that pretty much sums up the whole trip. Lots of time spent at the pool, on the water, enjoying family time and just hanging out. Some day the babies will be grown and we'll do more on vacations, but for now, I'm enjoying the laid back trips!