The Beach 2012

When we got back last May from Destin, we couldn’t imagine doing it any better. We LOVED our trip last year- which meant there was a lot of pressure on this trip to live up to those high expectations. Well, it was perfect, y’all! This year was so different from 2011, and while I love those memories, I can say that 2012 was awesome, too.

We left on a Friday to drive part of the way, so we stayed in Baton Rouge overnight. Our original plan was to go to New Orleans, but when it got down to it, we decided it was a little too far out of the way and besides that, we decided that we would rather make a weekend adult trip there sometime soon. So, Baton Rouge it was! We had a great night there and ate at Walk On’s, recommended to me by my college roommate that lives there now. It was a perfect place for us! Then, Saturday morning as we were about to leave to make the last stretch of the trip, Carter, our friend’s three-year-old son, had an accident. He was playing in the hotel room and fell off the bed and hit his head on the wall. Y’all, it was bad! Four hours in the Emergency Room and THREE STAPLES later, we were finally on our way to the beach. We felt so bad for Carter {and his parents!} but he was a trooper and the staples did not bother him one bit all week! Praise the Lord.

As we drove in, we picked up Pizza by the Sea and checked into our beach house! This year we stayed about 20 miles further east of Destin in a little community on Blue Mountain Beach. It was perfect. Our house sat right on the water- it was just a short walk down the boardwalk and down a few stairs, and my toes were in the sand! Our house was a great layout and in a gated community that was very family friendly.

This was the view from the 2nd floor back porch. Yowsers, right?! Just INCREDIBLE. Every morning I drank my coffee out here while Jack {who woke up between 5:15 and 6:00 every morning} had his first breakfast of PopTarts {surprise!}. And I say “first breakfast” because he would always join the bigger kids for a bowl of cereal when they got up too.

I had lots of yummy coffee and Bible reading while looking at this beautiful beach. Every morning we spotted dolphins in the distance. It was so quiet and peaceful- not a person in sight. Ahhhh, can you tell I miss it?

Here are the older kids on the first day out at the beach. They all LOVED the sand and the water. They wanted to be in the water a ton this year, which made it really fun! {last year they were all pretty scared to go in the water, so they stayed in the baby pool a lot more than this year}.

Because we brought a babysitter again, we were able to go on some fun date nights with the Dempseys. Sunday was our first date night and we went back to Tommy Bahama, where they have the best chicken sandwich ever!

Our house was about 1/4 mile, if that, from Draper Lake. So, the next morning we waded in the water and caught crabs. The kids loved being so close to the lake because it gave them one more thing to do while out at the beach.

You can’t see it, but that bucket has about 10 crabs in it! Carter was so good at catching them!

We took everyone out to eat Monday night in Seaside- we had heard a lot about the famous Airstream food trailers. The first night we had an assortment- some from the taco stand and some from Shrimp Shack, where T and I got lobster sandwiches.  Oh my word- they were melt-in-your-mouth good! We loved being so close to Seaside. The atmosphere is quaint and friendly, and there were a lot of things to entertain the kids!

Every day we went down to the beach around 9am after the guys set up our little camp. We had 5 umbrellas, a baby pool, 8 chairs, and lots and lots of toys for the kids. We stayed until lunch time, headed up to the house for sandwiches, and then the kids would go down for their naps and we would get some adult time at the beach. This where we would try to cram in as much of the following as possible: ocean adventures, where T got bit {and shook} by a fish {right, T?}, catching an insane amount of jellyfish {and one trash bag that sure did look like a black jellyfish!}, napping, reading, snacking {Golden Oreos and Coke, all the way!}, boogie boarding, and did I mention napping? Then when the kids were all up, they’d head down to the beach and we’d stay until dinner time. We loved our little daily routine!

Tuesday we went on another double date to The Great Southern Cafe in Seaside. My shrimp and grits {pictured here} were the best I’ve had. And y’all know I love shrimp and grits!

That night we walked around Seaside and enjoyed checking out the menus on the trailers again so we could plan out our next night’s dinner!

And almost every night after we got back, you’d find us on the 2nd floor porch playing dominos. Those were some of my favorite moments of the week!

Here’s my boy eating his “second breakfast” one morning. The thing we ran out of the quickest on this trip? Lucky Charms. They were supposed to be the “kid” cereal, but that didn’t happen.

Wednesday night we went back to the food trucks for some fab grub from Barefoot BBQ and The Meltdown. See that sandwich?? It’s a grilled pimento cheese with bacon. I die. And those nachos? Incredible!

Then we had snow cones after dinner. Aren’t these two just so cute?!

Kite flying was another fun beach activity. Chloe, Carter, and Jack had so much fun seeing whose kite would go the highest, and the dads had fun chasing them when they would get dropped or blow away!

On Thursday night, we headed to V at Seagrove, recommended to us by Jenn and Richard, who vacationed in Seaside the week prior. Whoa. Great food! I had a cornmeal crusted fish, and T had chicken and waffles. Oh yes, he did.

By Friday, we were still nowhere near ready to leave. We stayed at the beach as late as we could that night, trying to soak in every last minute of the sand and the waves!

We had a little photo session the last night we were there. The kids did not want to leave!

Oh, beach. You are already missed. The BOB’s have still not gone away, and we can’t wait to go back!

And one more thing- I must also say a HUGE thank you to Lauren, our babysitter! She is the BEST, and we couldn’t have done it without her!

What a great vacation! So thankful for all of the memories we made!

 

Comments

  1. Lisa Williams

    So fun! I love the beach! What great times. I am so sorry about Carter’s head but glad you guys were still able to enjoy the vacation.

  2. hollyngreen

    Oh. My. Word. I am so jealous! Great pictures! Please take me with you next year. I’ll even go as your nanny! Love the new blog, too!

  3. Sherry

    Thanks, Holly! Yes, you can go with us next year and leave your 4 or 5 hooligans with KG. He’ll be fine!

  4. Jane

    Hi Sherry,
    My name is Jane and I’m with Dwellable.
    I was looking for blog posts about Blue Mountain Beach to share on our site and I came across your post…If you’re open to it, shoot me an email at jane(at)dwellable(dot)com.
    Hope to hear from you :)
    Jane

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