I made memories over our summer vacation this year. Memories that I will forever remember and cherish.  My family and I went to Destin, Florida for the 3rd time within the last 4 years.  We had, I have to say, the most amazing time that I’ve ever had while on vacation.

We got up early that Sunday morning and were on our way.  The kids did what they always do.  They alternated between playing games on their electronics, eating, chatting together, and sleeping.  Everyone was in good spirits as we headed to see our beloved ocean.

We arrived at our condo at about 3:00pm and Mimi and Papa showed up a few hours later.  We immediately checked out our condo, unpacked our luggage, and headed straight to the beach where we could barely wait to put our feet into the sand and into the ocean.  You see…my family loves the water.  We love swimming.  We love the waves knocking us down and splashing upon us.  We probably should have been born by the water.  My 3 sweet children have no fear of the water…I think they get that from their Mimi.  Even though that sometimes scares their mother…I’m proud of my 3 little “fish”.  My girls are a bit more adventuresome than my sweet son when it comes to the waves of the ocean, however.  They love to “ride the waves” as they call it.  They love to feel the wind through their hair…the water on their skin…feel the sunshine glistening on their faces…and the sand sift through their toes.  They do…I do…we all do.  We absolutely love the beach.  I think it’s great to see different areas but to miss out on seeing the ocean for a summer would be upsetting to say the least.  It is what we love.  It is our little bit of peace while we make memories together.  That first night was spent with flashlights and the sand beneath our feet…and our very first experience with what we later found out were called “sand fleas”.  My brave boy would soon find himself picking them up, tossing them around, and catching countless of them throughout the week.  They didn’t bother me too bad until the tide would rise some and they would come in droves onto my feet.  That freaked me out a little and was not something that I could easily get used to. Overall, that first night was amazing and wonderful but we were exhausted so it was off to bed we went..

The next morning was beautiful.  The weather was impeccable.  We couldn’t have asked for a better day.   That morning we went down to the beach and the kids began swimming out in the ocean.  We were out there for probably 30 minutes when Justin walks up to me and says “come on.  We are going parasailing.”  Justin had mentioned to me off and on that he wanted to take me parasailing and I had before this moment not been very agreeable.  So…all I could think was “what….right now?”   We had just gotten settled in at the beach but before I knew it, he had the kids and I halfway running down the beach so we would be ready when the boat was available to pick us up.  He was smart I have to say.  He did it so suddenly that I didn’t have time to process what we were about to do, much less argue about it haha.  We rode the banana innertube thingy out over the waves to reach our boat.  I remember holding my watersport video camera in one hand, holding on for dear life with the other, and continually telling my babies to “hold on tight” while praying that no one fell off.  When we got onto the boat, the reality of what we were about to do began to sink in. I remember I just kept thinking “really?”…I’m not overly fond of heights and couldn’t believe that this was about to happen.  The guys on the boat were really nice and got us all hooked up to our gear.  When they had us positioned where they wanted us, they said stand up on your feet, lean back…and there we went. Flying up high till the next thing I knew my babies were barely little specks in the boat below us.  In all honesty, Justin knows just how to “push” me outside of my comfort zone which allows me to discover amazing and wonderful experiences.  We were floating up in the air with his arms wrapped around me looking out over the ocean, Destin, the beach…in complete awe.  It was pretty funny because if anyone knows me very well at all…they know that I’m addicted and obsessed with pictures and now video.  So, me doing what I do, I found myself attempting to video us as we floated in pure bliss.  Unbeknownst to me, I was about to get the surprise of my life and would later find out while looking through videos that I videoed the whole thing.  I honestly have no recollection of it but so glad I kept that video going.  On July 8th, 2013, my love for 4 years now professed his love to me and asked me to be his wife.  Sappy to some maybe…but sometimes the life you lead makes you even more appreciative of the great things in life that come upon you.  This is me.  A person that takes in every memory, appreciates living…I mean REAL living, and isn’t one bit ashamed of being open and honest with my happiness, joys, blessings, and every other positive emotion that you could possibly imagine feeling.  That’s why when he proposed to me…when he incorporated my children in our beautiful memory as they held up a “Marry Me” sign from the boat…I once again took a mental “snapshot” of what was before me and pray I will always remember that exact moment in time.  After returning to the boat, my oldest daughter was sweet enough to video him placing the most beautiful ring onto my finger.  I have to say…that day…5  happy people got onto that boat and 5 VERY happy people got off.  When we returned to the safety of the beach, the kids ran back to where Mimi and Papa sat to announce the happy news…and Justin & I just continued doing what we try to always do…make memories as we walked upon the beach hand in hand.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach and later enjoyed a good meal at “Fudpuckers” and the kids enjoyed feeding the alligators, which seems to be a continuing tradition for us now. They also enjoyed playing games in the game room and later spending the tickets that they had won.  Lauren won the jackpot and found herself in ticket bliss. Ha!

The next day we had another beautiful day on the beach.  The kids found themselves splashing in the water and building sandcastles while their Mother always stood close by either snapping pictures, taking video, or putting everything down just to join in the fun.  The kids absolutely loved playing in the sand and I kept catching myself wanting to remember exactly how they looked, laughed, and played.  I’ve always known that I was an “old soul”.  My sister and I both have such a strange sense of reality and have always been able to “see” life, people, situations, everything really for more than what other people may see.  So, when I spend these moments of my life with the people that mean the most to me…I can’t help but want or even “ache” to remember every detail.  It’s just how I am.  It’s “who” I am.  I’m an emotional, sappy woman that wants to hold the memories of my children always close to me….and that’s exactly what we did that day.  Made memories.

That night we ate a wonderful meal prepared by Papa including lemon pepper chicken, corn on the cob, green beans, and garlic toast.  We then walked across the street from our condo to a fun little place to enjoy a night of race car driving, putt putt golf, bumper cars, and bumper boats.  We finished up the night with fattening ice cream that tasted oh so good.  It was a great day.

The kids woke up the next day with a bit of soreness from so much sun exposure so we spent some time exploring Destin and spent some time down at the Harbor Walk Marina.  We enjoyed looking at the cool cruise ships and little shops that were along the way.  We even came across some super big fish that were caught while deep sea fishing and Logan is determined that we go someday lol.

That night we ate at Bubba Gumps and enjoyed a good meal.  It was Raegan’s favorite meal of our vacation as she got a $22 plate of ribs lol.  She absolutely loves ribs. 😉 By that point in the day, the rain had found us but it wasn’t much and it didn’t last long so we did have the chance to walk up and down the beach with only a slight drizzle for part of our walk while the kids enjoyed playing with their nets and buckets that we picked up at Walmart and I, of course, got some great pics of our group.

We awoke the next morning to rain.  Rain and clouds that promised even more rain.  I could under certain circumstances have been upset and let it put a “damper” on our day…but instead I told the kids to grab their buckets and nets because we were headed to the beach.  We spent the next 5 hours “playing” on the beach…and the whole entire time it rained.  I have to admit in all of my life I can honestly say that this is something that I have never done…or at least for that amount of time. Playing in the rain just hasn’t exactly been something that was on my bucket list…but it turned out to be one of the most amazing memories of our trip.  We caught little bitty fish, more “sand fleas” and even caught a crab.  The kids built a whole sandcastle “town” which included ponds for the fish we caught to swim in.  We ran and romped and laughed and loved every minute of it.  I got some great video and pics with my watersport camera but it soon ran out of battery and when it did…I just remember closing my eyes, taking it all in, and thanking God for such a beautiful day and wonderful memories.  The rain was such a blessing that day.

Later that afternoon, with the rain all gone, we went to the Harbor and enjoyed a wonderful meal at AJ’s Seafood and Oyster Bar and went on the Southern Star Cruise Ship.  We had the most amazing time seeing dolphins play, watching the waves, and seeing the most beautiful sunset.  We would all later agree that our cruise ship experience was definitely on all of our lists of great experiences.  After a 2 hour cruise, we found ourselves back on the Harbor just in time to watch Justin dance with the girls awhile as we listened to a saxophone player play and then sit along the pier and watch some beautiful fireworks.  It was a wonderful way to end our vacation.

The next morning we got up in time to spend a short time on the beach one last time before heading back to Tennessee.  Overall, it was an amazing vacation full of wonderful memories that will last us a lifetime…but I have to admit, I’m already ready to go back. 😉