Destin Day 3 ..Flocks, Fudpuckers and Floods

Today I was the first one to hit the beach and take pictures...

 

 

 

We saw clouds in the distance so we didn’t set up the cabana for a beach day. 

I decided to walk the beach and spend some time with the sea gulls.  I took WAY too many pictures of sea gulls, but I enjoyed spending time with them and watching them interact as a flock.  I felt people nearby thought I was a little nuts, it’s not like I would be seeing them again after this week so what do I care? :)

This little guy really thought he was a sea gull... and they all treated him like he was part of the flock.

I came home just in time to say goodbye to the guys as they headed out the door to go up to the boardwalk to take some pictures.  They were out the door maybe 10 minutes and the heavens opened up and it poured.  They all three (Greg, Anthony and Jonah) came home soaked with cameras tucked under hats. 

We then had to become creative as to what to do for the day since the beach was out of the picture.  It started to clear up so we thought maybe we could squeak out an hour in-between rain showers and go Jet Skiing.  Each time we mentioned Jet Skiing the heavens would open up again and start to pour.  It became clear to us today would NOT be the day to Jet Ski.

We went to Fudpucker’s instead for lunch.  

This restaurant apparently has world famous T-shirts and Greg’s dad has asked if we could pick him up one.  He used to have one years ago and it became too old to wear.  We figured since we were stopping in to purchase a T-shirt we should have lunch too.  We also purchased a tree frog to sit on our TV stand at home.  We always purchase a little something from each vacation to sit around the house to remember our trip.  Tree frog from Fudpucker's was it this year.

Food was good and the atmosphere was fun. 

 

People had signed their names on every inch of this restaurant, including the leaves on the plants outside.  They had random stuff stapled to the ceiling and old MTV videos playing on the flat screen TV’s.

 

After we ate our food we went outside to see the live alligators.  

 

 

 

There was a little boy around the age of 6 who really enjoyed sharing with us all he had seen while watching the alligators.  Apparently there was an alligator attack between 2 alligators and he was pretty pumped up about it.  He told me about it, then he told Greg....

 

 

and then he told Nick and Jonah. .....

He was pretty cute.  I think his mom thought I was a stalker because I was taking pictures of them.

Les and Anthony were sad to leave Fudpucker's.... 

 

Leslie especially enjoyed the name of the restaurant.  She said it made her feel uncomfortable and she would like for us to call it something else because she felt eventually someone would slip up and flip the letters.  We called it Grandpa's place the rest of the time since we went there to buy him a T-shirt.

After lunch we needed to find some wifi because our condo owner apparently lives under a rock and does not have any kind of internet access in the condo.  This was one very important thing I forgot to ask about while making our reservation.  We stopped off at a Panera and everyone caught up on their Facebook, checked email, and Leslie downloaded a virtual fan.  She couldn’t sleep in the morning after the rest of us got up because she said it was too noisy.  We suggested she get up with us but that didn’t go over too well.

Nick and Jonah shopped around in some of the stores in the area.  It was a lot like the Greene.  They came back with gummy lifesavers and sour watermelons.

We again had to make a left hand turn out of the mall area to head back to the condo.  Greg said he was going to remove the bulbs from the right hand turn signals because we obviously do not need them on this trip.  At one point in time we were turning left and across the way 4 cars where in the middle of the intersection trying to turn left as well… it was crazy town.  If I lived in Destin I would never drive anywhere.

Back at the condo Nick and Jonah went for a walk on the beach.  Les and Anthony watched TV, Greg read his Kindle and I blogged about today.  Although we didn’t have our beach day, we still had a great time.  We have never seen it rain so much and for such a long time in Florida.  Water was standing in the streets and in the grass.

We ate frozen pizzas for dinner since we ate out for lunch.  Anthony and Nick argued over which pizza cutter was better, plastic or metal, then realized both were metal.   I ate like a child and had pizza sauce all down my chin, neck and onto my shirt.  Everyone had a good laugh at my expense which is usually the case.  I also was trying to tell everyone we had more cereal in the cupboard than we do milk in the frig but it came out as “we have way a lot of cereal and not a lot of milk”….laughter again from everyone in my direction.  This in turn brought up alllllll the other times I have said things incorrectly.  I told the kids a while ago our bowling ball in the back yard needed to go to the pound.  Not sure why I said pound.. guess I was thinking about how much it weighed?  I meant to say it needed to go to the trash. 

Jonah for some reason was in the closet in the bedroom… we didn’t ask.  Anthony asked if the glass of tea he was holding was his, Greg said to make sure because he didn’t want to get Syphilis.  Nick and Jonah popped tops off of water bottles in all directions.  We discussed how old we all will be on Monday and Nick said he thought I was 30.  I was flattered but then Les said “Nick, she would have had to have had me when she was 11.”  He said “Oh yeah.”  Funny kid.

Greg went upstairs to read more of his Kindle and both Jonah and Nick wanted to climb the outside balcony up to the balcony of our bedroom.  I said absolutely NOT, they both continued to try to convince me it could be done easily by standing on the grill and then climbing up and the promised they wouldn’t get hurt.  I told them if they climbed the balcony Nick would not be allowed to drive until he graduated from college.  He looked at me all serious and said “Why do you hate me so much?”  At what age do they realize their actions have consequences????

I said I felt like I was living in a frat house and decided it was time for bed.  I joined Greg in our upstairs suite to read my Kindle, (not before I went into our bathroom and stomped around a bunch because it was right over Nick and Jonah’s bedroom)   Greg said I was rotten, but I felt justified in doing so.  Nick came upstairs to say good night and to say he loved us.  I thought it was really sweet until I realized he only did it so he could stomp  loudly back down the stairs to get even.  He will get his tomorrow.

The condo is now quiet, the only noise I can hear is the clicking of the keys on my keyboard, the hum of the air conditioning and Leslie’s virtual fan…. Ha ha… just kidding, I can’t hear her fan, she is 2 floors down.

Tomorrow we hope to Jet Ski and if it rains we found a theater and show times for two movies we want to see.  Weather won’t ruin our fun! 

Motion sickness, Moe’s and Marcella

Greg got the worm this morning as he was the early bird.  He was awake and showered by 6:30… I was not.  He walked the beach a bit and took some early morning pictures.

I was awake by 8:15, came downstairs, had some breakfast with Gregory and was ready for the day.  Anthony and Jonah both woke and joined us for breakfast while Les and Nick slept in a bit.

The three of us, Greg, myself and Anthony walked to the beach to set up our cabana for the day.  We set up camp a little more to the right of where we were yesterday and had more private space. We applied our SPF 60 before snorkeling.

The water was not nearly as clear as it was yesterday (probably because we now had snorkel gear) but we were able to see some fish, sea slugs and Anthony saw a sting ray.

A little later Leslie joined us and she and Anthony snorkeled for awhile.   They didn’t seem to have as much luck as they did yesterday either.  The ocean wasn’t cooperating with our snorkel schedule.  Regardless, the sun was shining, there was a constant breeze and the sand was soft and cool.  Our little cabana was an oasis.  We bounced between wading in the waves, to taking walks, to reading our Kindle, to taking pictures.  It was awesome.

Nick and Jonah eventually joined us on the beach; they brought a bucket of ice cold waters to share, which was very thoughtful of them.  They came out to “chill” under the cabana.  They wore their shades and listened to music while looking cool.

Greg and I attempted to swim out to the sand bar, which is where Les and Anthony were seeing all the cool stuff.  I didn’t want to swim all the way so we cheated and hung off a raft.  We did make it out there, but there wasn’t much to see and we were rather disappointed.  On our way back I started having motion sickness from the raft….I love turning 40…. who knew I would need Dramamine for a short raft ride out to a sand bar?

After fun in the sun we all cleaned up, cooled off, lounged around, ate and napped.  I loooove my afternoon nap time.  Les came in, ate and went back out.  Everyone else was too tired and drained by the sun to join her.

Les came back in around 3:30 and we all went to Moe’s for dinner.  On the way to Moe’s we stopped by a place called Boogies where you can rent Jet Ski’s, Pontoon Boats, Glass bottom boat tours etc.

We needed info for our Jet Ski outing in a couple days.  Our GPS again got us in the general area, but the general area on a busy road doesn’t cut it.  We turned around a couple times and finally saw the place we were looking for back behind other shops.  We picked up a flyer, talked to a nice young lady about rentals and then headed to Moe’s.

“Welcome to Moe’s”  Greg and Anthony were in heaven and the rest of us enjoyed our meal as well.

(Photo Courtesy of Anthony)

Everyone left Moe's with a full belly.  

We heard wonderful things about The Donut Hole so we thought it would be nice to buy some donuts for dessert and try it.

 

  If we didn’t have a Bill’s Donuts at home maybe these donuts would have been more enjoyable.  Let’s just say they were not Bill’s quality.  Since it was my idea to stop at the Donut Hole, I was the one who got all the grief the rest of the vacation for the quality of these donuts.  Greg had to turn left out of The Donut Hole and it was such a busy road he said people inside where probably saying “Doesn’t this guy know NO ONE turns left out of the Donut Hole”.

We really wanted to visit this place.... not enough time in the day.

Greg agreed to stop anywhere anyone wanted to stop as long as it was on the right hand side of the road.  So, we stopped at a cheesy beach shop on the right hand side named Alvin’s Island.

 Leslie asked me if she could buy a hermit crab.  I said “Ask your father, if he says yes then I don’t care”.  Now, I said this thinking her father would never say yes… guess what… he did.

 Les picking out her crab...

We now have a new member of the family.  Meet….Marcella.

Nick bought some sunglasses and we purchased a new “squishy”.  Squishy is a ball that is… well, squishy.  When the kids were younger we would take this ball camping and pass it around the campfire.  If you were the one holding Squishy it was your turn to talk.  We may ask questions about favorite vacation, favorite food, favorite animal, favorite creation of God etc.. if you had Squishy it was your turn to answer.  We played this game with “Would You Rather” too. 

Well, long story short Squishy went from being squishy to being sticky and nasty through the years.  We now have a NEW squishy and the tradition will continue.  We plan to have our first session with the new squishy later this week.

We came home and went out for an evening walk on the beach.  Nick and Jonah went on their own while Greg, Les, Anthony and I all walked together.  It was a beautiful night with an incredible breeze.  I could have stayed out there all night long.

 

Les caught crabs on the beach too....

 

 

sand artwork....

We have all returned to the condo, Anthony is editing pictures, Greg, Nick and Jonah are watching That 70’s Show, Les is creating her crabitat for Marcella and I am writing this blog so I don’t forget everything that happened today before tomorrow morning.

Sad to see yet another vacation day come to an end, happy to have another one to look forward to tomorrow.  Good night!

Sun, Surf, Sand Dollars and Shopping…

 

This morning Greg and I woke early to head out to the beach.  The sun was shining and we were ready.  We came downstairs to eat breakfast to find Anthony already awake and making breakfast already for himself.  We also realized somehow cereal didn’t make it on anyone’s list last night while grocery shopping.

After breakfast the three of us walked over to the beach to set up our cabana for the day.  We found a great spot.  

 The beach was breathtaking.  Last night, because the sun was setting, we didn’t see all the beautiful colors of blue and green in the water, and they were amazing.  The sand was so white and the water was absolutely beautiful and clear.

 

 

Anthony, Greg and I spent some time in the water and taking pictures and about 45 minutes later Jonah joined us.  

 

 Later Les and Nick joined us as well.  It was nice having the Easy Up to sit under and escape the sun when we needed to.  

 Jonah and I sat on the beach near the crashing waves and I told Jonah God could have made the Ocean ugly and smelly and it still would have served its purpose.  He made it beautiful for US and I am so glad He did.

Les and Anthony swam out to the sand bar and found many sand dollars and a hermit crab.  We wished we would have brought our snorkel gear, the water was super clear.

Greg and I spent over 5 hours at the beach and decided to call it a day.  The kids went in for lunch and came back out for a bit longer.  We left them in charge of our canopy and we came in to get cleaned up around 2:45.

The time spent after the beach is one of my favorite times during vacation.  The condo is cool and refreshing,  eat lunch, take a refreshing shower and usually a nap.  It is wonderful.

By this time we had realized the several items we forgot to purchase last night at Wal-Mart which meant one thing….. we had to go back!  We ate dinner here at the condo this time instead of trying to eat at McDonalds again.  We had burgers and soup and everyone was super stuffed and ready to take on Wal-Mart.

We were pleasantly surprised to see Wal-Mart was not NEARLY as crowded as the night before.  The shelves were not restocked, but we didn’t have to deal with the crowd so we were good.  Nick and Jonah purchased Batman and Superman boxers and Les and I were told we were twins by the deli man.

We purchased snorkel gear so we could all swim out to the sand bar tomorrow with our underwater cameras and enjoy the inhabitants of the ocean.  We never kill anything for their shells, but we do enjoy looking at them, maybe taking a few pictures and then returning them to where we found them.

We came home, put away groceries, claimed our snorkel gear (Greg said he didn’t want to get Syphilis so he wanted his marked), ate some ice cream and watched TV.

It was a great day!  Looking forward to more tomorrow.