DESTINation.

Okay folks, it's currently 1:37 p.m. on a Saturday, and I haven't served lunch yet. No one's complaining, and I'm hoping I can get away with skipping it altogether. But I'd bet the farm that what will actually happen is everyone will cry about their starvation, and we will spend the rest of the day eating.

So I have to be quick before the cries of starvation commence. Here goes.

We went to Florida for a solid week. A Wednesday to the next Wednesday. Not a long weekend. A full week. This is very unlike us. And makes me realize that the new "us" is way more fun than those old stuffy people we usually are. New "us" throws caution to the wind and skips school and eats an entire box ice cream bars the last day of a vacation so that nothing goes to waste. New "us" is chill and fun and goes to the beach. New "us" doesn't set an alarm or pay bills.

This new irresponsible person is who I was truly meant to be. I'm reaching my full potential now.

And if I really try, I can teach my kids to be totally irresponsible too.

So let's break this trip and its millions of pictures down.

First, the PLACE:

Destin, Florida. In a condo, right on the beach. Every morning, we would eat breakfast on the balcony overlooking the beach and listening to the waves (Yes! There were actually WAVES in Destin! Amazing!) crash onto the shore. Kinda like every morning in New Jersey when we eat while listening to personalities crash into each other at the breakfast table over whose turn it is to put the clean silverware away.

 Yes, exactly like that.

On the beach, we did what anyone who goes to the beach with Dan Jolley always does--they get buried in the sand. Dan LOVES burying people in the sand. I am not sure why--maybe it's a psychological thing for him? Maybe he's plotting my demise?

And like I said, we had really great waves the first few days. We rode on our boards. This is June's favorite activity, and she shows no fear. She wants to stay out doing this the whole day, trying to go farther and farther away from the shore. You have to reign her in or you would be stuck in the middle of the ocean.

And Harris and Gwen love playing in the sand and with the toys. Gwen was feeling pretty artsy fartsy while we were there and kept concocting the weirdest things with toys. Here is her installation art exhibit.

Other PLACES we visited besides the beach (which was almost every day):

We went to the Pier. And Dan did the zipline. 

He asked me if I wanted to take a turn when he was done. Nope, I really didn't. I'll just die when you bury me in the sand next, thanks.

Here he is, a changed man. This is the look of a man who didn't have to go to work for a week. This is a man who shed his minivan life for a rental suburban. This is a dad living on the EDGE.

I wish I would have taken a picture of my own face during this moment. Because while Dan was ziplining, I was ice creaming, and the man who served me my ice cream gave me the tiniest scoop of all time, and I was most displeased. Like Lady Catherine de Bourgh displeased.

Another off-beach site detour was to the free Air Force museum. We loved looking at all of the planes, and I especially loved looking for all of the typos and grammatical errors a free museum offers. All snarkiness aside, it was most enjoyable, and I highly recommend.

Here we are in front of the MOAB, or "Massive Ordinance Air Blast", more commonly known as "Mother of All Bombs". Insert your own 7th grade joke here.

And we went to church in Destin. I forgot to take a pic from the condo, so here were are en route. That ward never knew what hit 'em.

And also, we just lounged around and read books and watched movies and played games.

2. The WHO:



No, not the band. Our PEEPS.

I didn't expect this when we planned the trip way back in February, but we were able to see a lot of friends and family on this trip to Destin. First off, my mom came with us for the first few days, and that was a real treat.

Yes, my favorite nightie also made several appearances on the trip. It's comfy!

This picture is funny because my mom is not a card player. Neither am I. I bought Old Maid so that I could teach the kids while on the trip. Number of times I played Old Maid with the kids: Zero. Number of times I played Old Maid with my mom: a trillion. I don't know why, but we just kept playing and laughing our brains out because when you play Old Maid with only two people, it's pretty obvious who has the Old Maid. We made Dan join for a few rounds, and it was still totally obvious who had it because my mom turned BRIGHT RED anytime someone took it from her. She's so fun.

The same day my mom left, two of my cousins and their wives drove with their kids to see us. One family lives in Destin, and the other used to and was visiting. We hit the cousin jackpot!

They stayed all day and we beached and pooled and watched movies and ate and ended the night with ghost crab hunting.

All of the adults were using shovels and buckets and whatnot, while the kids really got the job done just using their hands.

Creepy little critters.

And then another night, we drove about an hour away to see some friends who used to live near us in Tampa but have since relocated to Destin. They have a pool and donkeys and 35 acres, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them.

3. The CRITTERS.

Ghost crabs and donkeys were just a couple of the critters we saw. My kids LOVE critters, and seeing them brought up the old "Mom-can-we-have-a-pet" discussion that never ends well. They seem to forget my heart is made of un-meltable ice. Mwahahaa. 

We also saw dolphins! And a dead jellyfish. And some other crabs. 

And Gwen caught this snail with her BARE HANDS.

It stained her hands purple. It also stained the sand it was resting on purple. I wanted to vomit.

And every night ended like this. A huge bath to get the remaining sand off (pool first, or "pre-shower"), and then stories and bed. Everyone was so tired every night. One night, Dan was doing to the baths and he set Gwen down on the bed to grab another kid out of the bath, and Gwen was asleep by the time he brought the next kid to the bed. I get it; I'm still sleeping it off, days later. 

And now we're back and slowly digging ourselves out of suitcases to be unpacked and put away, grocery shopping to do and bills to pay. Back to our old boring minivan driving selves. It was fun while it lasted.

And I'm already thinking about where we should go next year.

The End.