We ended Summer 2011 on a great note by spending a week in Destin with my parents.
My brother and his family and my parents all got there on Saturday and we went up on Sunday.
An uninvited guest, Tropical Storm (later turned Hurricane) Lee was waiting for the crew when they arrived on Saturday. He brought strong winds, lots of rain and the biggest waves any of us had ever seen on the normally calm Gulf coast! It was actually really neat to see a storm like that at the beach.
I was glad Momma rented such a great house, though. She spent weeks picking out the perfect one and I think we all agreed, it was! 
AB, Garrett & Caroline waiting to head to the water!
In between the rain showers, we braved a walk on the beach, but couldn’t get in the water because of the strong current and huge waves…
Beau & Garrett
Sunday night, we went to the harbor and had dinner at Dewey’s…I was a terrible picture taker the first few days and I hate that I didn’t get one single picture of all of us. :(
The kids all watching a movie after dinner…
Monday morning, we woke up to find the back glass had been blown out of the back of Beau & Kristy’s car. Crazy, right?!?!? 
The kids got to play in the “sandbox” which was such a neat feature to the house. 
We had dinner that night at a great BBQ place and visited the Bass Pro Shop. AB LOVED the huge fish tank with the massive saltwater fish and DW shopped for some new binoculars.
By Tuesday, the storm had passed, the sun was out and it was BEACH time!
I LOVED this board and block letters in the house. I’d love to have one! I made a little note for Lee on it! :)
Because of the dune restoration, you can’t access the beach right in front of the homes, you have to use a beach access, and while it was really close to the house, when you have a kid, you have A LOT of stuff… So, we borrowed my in-laws yard wagon to haul everything down to the beach every day.
Our days were spent pretty much the same way everyday… beach, pool, nap, beach, dinner. Then we’d wake up to do it again the next day. Absolute Perfection.
We played in the waves…
Played in the sand…
Hunted for seashells…
And laughed at AB doing “Sneaky Pete” all week…
The pool was a shared pool by all of the houses in the Destin Pointe Community and it was PERFECT for AB! It had the gradual entry and one whole side of the pool was no deeper than 3 foot. She was able to walk all around and LOVED it!
She thought she was even more grown than she already does!
The warm, crystal clear water on Florida’s Panhandle beaches is hard to beat.
The neat thing about the clear water, too, is all the sealife you get to see… we saw a small school of needlefish, 
On Tuesday night, we went to the harbor to see all the boats and watch the sunset.
DW had to head back home on Wednesday night, after dinner, but told us to just stay the rest of the week with my parents. I KNOW, I KNOW… I married a really great guy. We all hated to see him go, and missed him like crazy the rest of the week…
That night, after we’d had dinner at Longhorn (if you haven’t had the Wild West Shrimp appetizer there, get it…so good), and said goodbye to DW, we took a drive down the coast through Watercolor and Seaside. SUCH fun little beach communities.
The famous row of “Baked-Potatoes” in Seaside…everything from smoothies, to BBQ. I saw these in Southern Living a while back and had been dying to see Seaside in person!
Thursday we beached all day, took a little fieldtrip to “Old Time Pottery” where we got a few things, including these pilgrims for $5.00, and this fall ribbon for $1.00!
That night, we had dinner at The BackPorch.
It’s right on the water and was an open-air restaurant. The breeze was so nice and hearing the waves while you eat great seafood is pretty close to perfect.
Friday was our last day and we soaked it up all day and even watched the sunset over the water.
We went out for a late dinner and started packing up…
Saturday morning, we enjoyed one last morning on the back balcony
AB riding with some luggage on the elevator. That might have been her favorite part of the house!
Such a great week to end Summer! 
~amw~
7 comments:
i am so glad ya'll had so much fun!! we missed you much but love the pictures. happy you had some good days. the one with annabelle in the sunset is my fav!!! glad you are home safe. luv u all... nie-nie
Looks like a fantastic way to spend time with family! Love all the pictures. And sharks? Oh merciful heavens...I'd have hightailed it out of there, LOL.
Looks like a wonderful vacation! We went to Seaside and Watercolors for the first time back in August. SOOO cute!!
What a great way to end the summer. Love all the pictures. AB looks so grown up. Very cute mermaid (: and I love the board that you left "Lee" a message on. I would love to have one of those boards for my house.
what a memorable trip!
i'm glad y'all made the most of it, and miss priss is adorable for the record.
that pic of the seaside trailers has me drooling for a gourmet grilled cheese.
Annie, I can tell this was a GREAT vacation! We MUST visit a beach in the panhandle one of these days...it's on my bucket list. :) I've been dying to visit Seaside...wanted to go there this year but it didn't work out. We pretty much keep the same schedule when we're at the beach...beach, pool, nap, beach, dinner. Ha! The pictures of sweet Annabelle are precious as always but the one of her with the sunset in the background is my favorite. I could go on and on about your pictures, girl! :)
What a fun trip! The beach was beautiful and that beach house, oh my! I know y'all had a great time. I can see it all over Annabelle's face in that one picture where she's playing in the water with your dad. I know he was lovin' it!
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