It has been nearly 10 years since Matthew and I have taken a real vacation. Yes, we have done weekend trips to Nashville and Pittsburgh, and other places. But we haven’t packed it up and gotten out of town for longer than 2-3 days.
Last summer we were visiting friends who had just gotten back from vacation. After a few adult beverages, someone suggested that we should all go on vacation, get a house with a pool, and have fun. Matthew and I agreed it would be fun, but didn’t actually think it would be something that would truly manifest itself (especially with our outlandish requests for the dream vacation). The next day, Brian begins sending property rentals that would house 13 (6 adults and 7 children), with a pool, and close to the beach. Honestly, my mouth hit the floor. They were serious!!! This is really happening. They are holding these drunken dreams accountable. We are actually going on vacation with the kids.
Fast forward 8 months. It’s midnight, 3 cars meet in the parking lot of Kohls in Spring Meadows. We are on our way. It is happening. We are on our way to the Ocean. Destin, Florida here we come.
Our first big adventure happened roughly an hour into the drive. All of our phones start going on. There is a tornado in your area, seek shelter, avoid mile markers 110-118. Brian calls. What should we do? Brian is a trained firefighter and EMT. I reminded him that he is our emergency professional and should make the call, and he wisely pulls over to wait out the storm. And what a storm it was. I had never seen rain coming down with that force and with that much wind. When all warnings had expired, we got back on the road only to be detoured off the highway around mile markers 110-118. On the drive home, we saw why. A small tornado took out a greenhouse, jumped the highway, and took the roof off a building on the other side. We barely missed it. I had never been so thankful for phone tracking and GPS in my life.
The second adventure happened all through the state of Alabama. You see, I65 is the only major interstate to that part of the Gulf Coast. And every Saturday people are headed either to the coast or packing up and heading home. What should have been a 5 hour drive, turned into nearly 10 hours due to bumper to bumper stopped traffic. So what do we do, we reroute and take some back roads. Driving through parts of Alabama we saw it all: Farms, plantations, horses, small towns, larger suburbs. It is cool to see more than just the interstate. But, a few things happened on that drive. First, Matthew and I decided that we were leaving Friday, instead of Saturday to avoid the Alabama traffic. Then we decided that we would stay the night in Nashville on the way home to break up the trip. It proved to be a good call and a much more pleasant and rested drive home.
Since Saturday was spent in a car, when we arrived to our house in Destin, there wasn’t much time left to explore. So we unpacked, ordered pizza, ordered some immediate groceries through instacart, and checked out the house. The house was perfect. It was called the Stairway to Hammock Heaven. We were about a block from the ocean. It had 3 main bedrooms and a bunkroom for the kids. Jack and Lily immediately took the top bunks. Out back, a pool with a spa. The kids put on their swimsuits and we swam for a few then everyone went to bed. It had been a long 24 hours.
The next morning our vacation was rolling. We went to the beach. I will never forget Jack and Lily’s face when they saw the ocean for the first time. Nor will I forget Matthews’s excitement as both of the took their first steps in the water holding his hand. We swam, played in the sand, looked for sea shells. Then it happened… real dolphins jumping out in the distance. It was so cool. After the beach we went back to the house for nap time, and a chance for the adults to socialize. Then we all packed up and went to Fud Puckers for dinner. There we saw alligators! We even got to hold a real life baby one and take our picture.
The next day we visited the boardwalk. We ate, played, and watched the charter boats come in with their latest catches. The kids play area was Jack and Lily’s favorite because not only did they jump around in bouncy houses, but we ate frozen pineapple. After the boardwalk it was back for naps, swimming, and grilling out at the house.
The next morning we woke up to checkout a breakfast joint then came back to the house to swim and play. Unfortunately, as we were planning to go to Destin Commons for dinner and then the Go Kart Track, Jack got sick. So we stayed behind to let Jack rest while the other families explored Destin Commons. It was sweet that they all decided to wait to go to the Track until Jack felt better.
Which he did the next morning! On Wednesday, however, it was Mom’s Getaway day. We booked a Tikibar Cruise to Crab Island. And let me tell you from about 8:45 am- 2 pm, us moms had a BLAST. The Tikibar boat was driven by Captain Kirk. He is a Destin native and a former funeral director. But decided to get out of the business and enjoy life’s happiness on the gulf. With a few beers and time, the three of us were in the water playing beer pong and other games, and listening to music. Crab Island is a must. I can’t wait for when the kids are bigger. I would love to rent a boat with a slide and let them have fun at a sand bar.
After Crab Island, we were off to the Track for Jack. The kids were tall enough to ride in the Go Karts while the parents drove. We were off to the races. It was so much fun. There were also other rides for the kids and bumper cars.
Thursday was Dad’s day to go golfing. While they were hitting the links at one of Destin’s beautiful golf courses, we packed up the kids and went to Target. We knew that we were going to have to jam pack a lot into our last full day. So when the boys got home we went to the beach and did more swimming and playing. Then we got dressed and went to Bayharbor Wharf for dinner. I wish we had more time to explore the wharf. We could have easily spent a whole day there exploring and playing. But, it gives us a reason to go back.
Unfortunately, Friday came fast and there we were packing up to head back to Ohio.
I am just so happy we did it. And I am so thankful to my Katie, my sister in law, for watching Tucker. It happened. We vacationed. And we will do it again!
