Destin 2011

We came back to Miramar Beach in Destin, FL again this year; the house we rented is on a street literally one turn away from the beach house we rented last year when we came with two of my cousins and their families. This year it's just us - our first family vacation with just our family! Every trip we've taken with Kaylee so far has been with other family, too. It's been fun, crazy, hectic and tiring trying to get everybody ready to go. Then Andy's ready for a nap so one of us takes Kaylee to the beach or pool while the other stays with him until he wakes up. Andy, however, does not seem to like the beach. Not fond of the sand, cries when the water touches him and is not happy out there for more than about 5 minutes unless we're holding and/or playing with him. He's also not used to being out in the heat so much, so even in the shade of the umbrella and the little pop up tent we brought for him he gets all sweaty. Ah, well, maybe we'll try again in a year or two and it'll be better for him then.

The house we're in is so nice and very big for just us! We got a 3 bedroom so the kids each have their own room. Kaylee wanted the queen size bed and Andy's pack and play is in between 2 twin beds in the other room. The master is very large - at the end of the king bed is a pull-out twin sleeper loveseat; even with that pulled out and the armoire and desk at the end of the room, I would imagine there is plenty of space to walk around (we didn't pull out the sleeper). The master also has a little balcony off it. The downstairs is big, too - we weren't expecting such a large kitchen area, for one. It's nice, since we brought food from home (and made a little grocery run for a few things) and are just eating in. The dining area table seats 6 (or more, squeezed in) and the living room - once we scooted the coffee table over - has enough room to spread Andy's new little quilt out for his toys and leaves room for Kaylee to play.


Andy's first "real" food - peas! He loves it! He's also had baby banana yogurt, which he devours. So far so good on the eating. Oh, and he also likes puffs!


Our not-so-beach baby, in his few minutes of happiness at the beach before the crying started...


Jamie said it looks like Andy held out the camera and took his own picture here.


Mesmerized by the crashing waves...


Hot, sweaty and cranky if I put him down...then fell asleep on the walk back!


Kaylee wanted to be buried in the sand one day, then the next she wanted Jamie to be buried, too!


Quick photos before a thunderstorm hit (thunder and lightning as we walked back - luckily just a 5 minute walk and it wasn't right upon us yet).


While it rained we went to a souvenir shop around the corner. Kaylee finally found an orange dress - every time I wear my orange dress she says she wants one. We looked around and I saw this one. She started to get excited, then said, "but it has pictures on it!" (talking about the colors and stitching on it); I turned it around to see what the back looked like and she frowned, sighed and said, "pictures on the back, too? I want it to have this (pointing to the buttons on my dress) like yours!" I told her this was probably as close as we were going to get, and it didn't have to be exactly the same, but it was mostly the same color. She finally conceded that it was good enough, then seemed to get excited about it, even, wanting to put it on when we got back to the house. She also got the little frog bracelet she's wearing in the photo, and a glitter globe with a fish in it. (It's a snow globe but instead of "snow" it has glitter that floats around when you shake it.) Oh, she's also wearing some of my lipstick for the picture. Her usual "lipstick" is chapstick (that's what we call it for her so she thinks she's being more fancy...ssshhhhhh!).