Knee deep in the water somewhere

 I'm really not even sure what we did with our summer, but I do know that we've had these last 3 weeks full of going places. I just can't believe that this time next week for the first time EVER, both of my kids will be full time students.

Yeah. I'm not even gonna go there right now.

So, last Friday after Robbie got off work, the 4 of us loaded up and hit the road to Destin for our last summer get-away. We drove to Jackson on Friday, which was a little under halfway. The ride Friday was uneventful, unless you count the spilling of my Dr Pepper into my purse. That was NOT my favorite part of this trip, but I'm happy to say that after all the cleaning I've put into that purse in the last week, I'm not sure it's ever been more clean.

Which is really not helping my "I need a new purse" argument.

Four people + one week of stuff = one full car

Saturday, after driving around to avert traffic in Mobile, only to find worse traffic AND after Austin asked about 3,543 times "are we there yet", we finally made it to Destin. We met my parents there because this was kind of a family reunion trip where we got to see some of my cousins that we only see once a year.

I'm just going to mention very shortly and sweetly that we had some MAJOR time share issues with the place(S) we stayed, but it's a part of this trip that I hope to forget. So I'm going to just leave it at that.

My favorite part of Destin was riding jet skis. Robbie and Aaron rode on one and Austin and I had another one. It was SO FUN! I didn't get pictures of this because (1) I've only had my iPhone 4 for about 2 weeks now, and I'm not ready to give it to the ocean (2) If I'd have been taking pictures when I was supposed to be driving, I may have gotten to know some fellow jet skiers or boaters too personally. And it wouldn't have been pretty.

And it's not possible to talk about being a vacation and not talk a little about the food we ate. We went to this place called FudPuckers for lunch one day. It's the kind of place that you hope there's a wait to eat so you can go do everything there is to do while you're waiting.

They had lots of gators you could watch swim around in the water.

The boys even got to hold a live gator. Watch out Swamp People!

LOVE this pic of Robbie and Austin!

OK, I was looking all kinds of rough, but I was having too much fun to care about what I looked like.

We drove to Fort Walton Beach one day to eat at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. I had seen it on Diners, Dives, and Drive-ins and really wanted to try it.

Aaron tackled this bacon cheese dog!

I just realized that's the second place in the last 3 weeks I've eaten at a place BECAUSE I saw it on that show.

Good job Food Network. Good job.

We also spent some time at The Track, where we rode bumper boats, bumper cars, and go-carts. The bumper cars was one of Austin's favorite things about this trip, except for when we were on jet skis and he would yell WOOHOO!! every time I gassed it. He was a little disappointed, however, that he couldn't convince anyone to parachute out of a helicopter with him.

I'm sorry. But I do have limits.

One evening it was raining and we were looking for something to do, so we went to an arcade to let the boys play for a while. They both had a blast there.

Aaron won 250 tickets in one play!

Another place that I have to mention is the laser tag place. I didn't play and didn't get any pics, but my 3 boys did and they all had fun with it. Aaron did it twice and wanted to go back again. He was disappointed when I told him there wasn't one in Texarkana. He said it was in his top 3 favs of the trip.

Last but not least, we spent lots of time swimming at the pool and on the beach. There's just nothing like standing at the foot of the ocean, smelling the ocean smell, and feeling the breeze and the sand between your toes. Love it.

At one point Austin and I were holding hands standing in the ocean looking out across the water and I said "isn't this beautiful, Austin?" He said "yes, it's very romantic momma".
Romantic? How does he know this word??

Just had to get this one of Austin's feet covered in sand

It was really nice to get away for a little while and the boys have always loved going to the beach. I'm not sure I like Destin as much as Gulf Shores, but we all had a good time, and that's what matters.

I'm going to do a little plug for the people that take care of my dogs every time we leave town. If you live anywhere near Texarkana and want your furry babies to be taken care just like you would take care of them yourself, Doggie Diva's in Genoa is the place to go. I've had terrible experiences in the past with leaving my animals with other people while we are out of town, but I never worry about that anymore. They are a full service dog grooming shop, and can board them for as long as you need. They did not ask for this plug. I just wanted to do it for them because it gives me peace of mind when I'm gone knowing my animals are well taken care of, and I know that's not an easy thing to find.

They treat my Bea like the princess she is. Thank you Doggie Diva's!