What a week! We had such a wonderful time in Destin. We arrived on Monday afternoon and immediately headed down to the beach. It took Mason a few minutes to warm up to it, but then there was no stopping him. He absolutely loved the sand and the waves. Seth buried him in the sand several times. And he was the cutest thing ever trying to figure out how to ride the waves with his little boogie board. I regrettably didn't take my camera down to our first beach outing because it was Hannah Kate's first time out, and I wasn't sure how she was going to react to everything. That was a decision I later regretted. Anyway, Hannah Kate was not impressed. As soon as I put those sweet feet down in the sand, she started hollering. If she felt like she was going to be anywhere near the sand or the waves, she hollered. So I just sat there and held her. The next morning, we headed out to the beach again. This time we were prepared. We took our inflatable kiddie pool and positioned it under the umbrella for Hannah Kate. We filled it with water and swim toys. She still wasn't sure. It took her quite awhile to decide she was actually having fun. Mason, in the meantime, was everywhere! There was no stopping that boy. He would be in the waves one minute and in the sand the next. He was having so much fun that I decided to take him back down to the beach after lunch while Daddy and Hannah Kate took a nap. It was just a fun day at the beach!
The next morning we woke up looking forward to another fun day at the beach . . . but there was no beach! Although Hurricane Ike was miles away and churning towards Texas, he caused a storm surge on the Florida panhandle that pushed the waves up over the white sandy beaches and against the sea wall. The waves were the biggest we'd ever seen. In some spots, there were 15-feet breakers. 
Since we couldn't go out on the beach, what better thing to do than go shopping. We spent the day at the outlet mall. When we got back to our condo (which, by the way, Mason kept calling "our new house"), we ordered pizza for supper. By that time, the tide had gone out enough that some of the beach was back. So I took Mason out for what I thought was going to be a liesurely stroll. It turned out to be a fun time of chase and just watching the silliness of a 3-year-old. The sunset was pretty amazing, too.
When we woke up Thursday morning, the storm surge was even worse. It was splashing over the sea wall and onto the tennis courts. I was so disappointed. Remember when I said earlier that I regretted not taking my camera out to the beach on the first afternoon we were there? Well, I feel like I missed out on so many pictures. But I'm getting over that now. We really did have a great time. And Tuesday was such a perfect day on the beach. Anyway, we went out to eat a big breakfast and then headed to the boardwalk at The Crap Trap since we couldn't go out on the boardwalk at our condo. I tried to capture the grandeur and majesty of the waves tumbling upon and over one another, but my camera just wasn't good enough for that.
So after spending some time at the boardwalk, we went for a stroll through the Bass Pro Shop and Destin Commons shopping development. We ate ice cream and stopped to play along the way.
So one of the things I was really looking forward to was taking pictures of Mason and Hannah Kate on the beach at sunset. You know, the ones in the pretty white outfits . . . the ones where the baby sits booty-naked in the sand gazing out over the ocean (not that Hannah Kate would've done that anyway!) . . . well, we never were able to go out on the beach to take those pictures because we didn't know at the beginning of the week that Ike was going to change our plans. I'm trying not to say I was disappointed. I'll just say they didn't turn out like I wanted. Thursday evening the winds really whipped up . . . the air was full of sand and salt and sea spray flying everywhere (my camera did really poorly under these conditions, too) but the moments and the memories are still sweet none-the-less! Just try not to laugh too hard.
The next morning we woke up looking forward to another fun day at the beach . . . but there was no beach! Although Hurricane Ike was miles away and churning towards Texas, he caused a storm surge on the Florida panhandle that pushed the waves up over the white sandy beaches and against the sea wall. The waves were the biggest we'd ever seen. In some spots, there were 15-feet breakers. Since we couldn't go out on the beach, what better thing to do than go shopping. We spent the day at the outlet mall. When we got back to our condo (which, by the way, Mason kept calling "our new house"), we ordered pizza for supper. By that time, the tide had gone out enough that some of the beach was back. So I took Mason out for what I thought was going to be a liesurely stroll. It turned out to be a fun time of chase and just watching the silliness of a 3-year-old. The sunset was pretty amazing, too.When we woke up Thursday morning, the storm surge was even worse. It was splashing over the sea wall and onto the tennis courts. I was so disappointed. Remember when I said earlier that I regretted not taking my camera out to the beach on the first afternoon we were there? Well, I feel like I missed out on so many pictures. But I'm getting over that now. We really did have a great time. And Tuesday was such a perfect day on the beach. Anyway, we went out to eat a big breakfast and then headed to the boardwalk at The Crap Trap since we couldn't go out on the boardwalk at our condo. I tried to capture the grandeur and majesty of the waves tumbling upon and over one another, but my camera just wasn't good enough for that.So after spending some time at the boardwalk, we went for a stroll through the Bass Pro Shop and Destin Commons shopping development. We ate ice cream and stopped to play along the way.So one of the things I was really looking forward to was taking pictures of Mason and Hannah Kate on the beach at sunset. You know, the ones in the pretty white outfits . . . the ones where the baby sits booty-naked in the sand gazing out over the ocean (not that Hannah Kate would've done that anyway!) . . . well, we never were able to go out on the beach to take those pictures because we didn't know at the beginning of the week that Ike was going to change our plans. I'm trying not to say I was disappointed. I'll just say they didn't turn out like I wanted. Thursday evening the winds really whipped up . . . the air was full of sand and salt and sea spray flying everywhere (my camera did really poorly under these conditions, too) but the moments and the memories are still sweet none-the-less! Just try not to laugh too hard.
