Family Vacation

I made the mistake of telling Abby on Tuesday that we needed to get ready to leave for Florida ( She did not realize that we would be leaving on Thursday instead of right after her bath on Tuesday-- she thought I meant get ready to leave right then ). So, of course, she cried for a good 30 min. screaming, "I want to go to Flowida, I want to go to Flowida ". I learned that you never tell a toddler anything ahead of time. She asked me the whole way there if we were in Florida, yet.

I thought we would never make it to Florida-- 10 1/2 hours and we were there !!! Praise God for the mini-van (Can I get an Amen from the mini-van moms ). Surprisingly, the girls did great. We spent most of the time singing songs, telling stories, and playing "head-knocker , eye-winker" with Aleah about 27 times :0. (Poor Gifford)

The weather was so beautiful the first day we arrived. I always love going to Destin. Thebeaches are pure white and the water is literally crystal clear.

The first day we were surprised to find out that there were a lot of jelly fish, though. One of the surfer guys blamed it on global warming. Mark and Lance spent a lot of time catching jellyfish--not me-- I stayed on the float. Sweet Kylee girl, who is 6 now, got stung pretty bad, but she toughed it out, and got back in the next day. Gifford, my dad, Marla, and I played frisbee ; Well, I guess you could call it that. Marla and I almost took a few people out. It was the wind ; Otherwise, it would have gone where we wanted it to go.

Kylee and Mia had a blast riding the waves; They are truly the best of friends . They were so cute to watch-- They would giggle and giggle everytime time a wave would come and splash them in. Big Daddy would take them out and let them ride the waves back in. Abigail and Tara loved building sand castles in the sand as well as splashing around in the kiddie pool . (Abby kept calling it the kitty cat pool -- imagine that ) Aleah preferred viewing the ocean from the condo patio -- She didn't much like the sticky air.

My mom and sisters and I spent time relaxing, sun-bathing, swimming and talking with one another when we weren't busy playing or helping with the girls.

My mom is probably the most selfless, giving women I know. She helped all three of us girls with our children and cooked most of the meals for everyone. Not to mention, she always takes the time to listen to her three daughters when we just need to talk or get something off our chest. She is always very encouraging and responds with, " Well, You know I am praying for you "

We all love Granda and Big Daddy so much-- Daddy helps keep everyone happy and plays with the girls until they are climbing all over him !!!

The guys spent the last day tackling the waves as they rode them in and tried not to get swept away by the current. They waves were pretty strong, considering the red flag was up all day (green represents calm conditions ) Guys love some adventure , though. They didn't mind being tossed around a little bit.

The evenings were spent relaxing. We would walk along the beach hunting crabs or playing at the playground with the girls. When it got too dark, we would all venture inside for some chocolate chip cookies that Monica made and watch the Olympics. We were all pretty pumped up about Michael Phelps.

It was a good thing we left the day that we did because you could not even see the ocean from our condo it was raining so hard. It looked like hurricane conditions. ( I am probably exaggerating, but it looked scary to me ). It is always so much fun spending time with the family. Even though we are all so different, we love each other beyond words.