Destin 2022

Friday, July 8th we loaded up the van after I got off of work around 530 and drove all night to Destin.

We stopped briefly at Western Sizzlin' for dinner.  The boys had too much fun with their dessert :)

We made it to the Emerald Grande around 1 am, got to our room and passed out! 

Saturday morning we woke up with the intention that we were going to go to see the Blue Angel air show.  After I started reading about the do's and don'ts we found that it was way more than we planned to do so mom and I went grocery shopping and the boys went to the pool.  

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Our actual view of the pool from our condo.

When we got back from the grocery store I made some creamy jalapeño and salsa that I always make on vacation and then went to meet the boys at the pool. We hung out there until about 4pm and then we went up and showered to get ready to go eat dinner.  We decided to eat downstairs at East Pass in the Harborwalk Village.  

After, we walked around the shops along the harbor.  We found some ice cream even though we were already stuffed.  

Reid & Kane decided they wanted to zip line.  Liam was totally against it and decided he wanted to climb the rock wall.   

Kane

Reid

Liam climbing the wall...

... and that's about as far as he got.

While I went into some stores to shop, Ryan and the boys did some axe throwing.  I snapped this beach chair picture before we went our separate ways. 

My reality ...

This view is absolutely breathtaking!

When we got back to the condo Reid and Kane wanted to night swim so I took them down and watched them for a bit.  We also had a "party in the elevator" on our way down.

It's so awesome that they will have a forever friend with each other.  I showed them this game we used to play when I was their age.  I noticed them playing it throughout the week. 

Sunday morning we went back and forth because of the kind of weather that was being forecasted and we decided to just go for it and go to the beach.  We have to take a shuttle over to the beach since our condo is on the harbor. 

The wait didn’t take long and the towels, beach chairs and umbrellas are provided. We hung there for a couple hours until about 430ish when this big dark cloud started forming ahead of us. 

We hopped on the next shuttle out of there. We caught the tail end of the rain while on the shuttle.  We all showered and went downstairs to the Harborwalk village to eat dinner at Harry T’s.  After dinner we grabbed ice cream >again< and stopped in a little shop and got the boys a necklace. The boys played a laser game where you are locked in a room and you have to make it across and back without touching any beams. Surprisingly Liam did the best!!  Then we were back to the room for relaxing.

Monday we decided to hit the pool again.  Ryan took me to Destin Commons that morning to try on some different sizes of bathing suits at American Eagle before I ordered them online. We grabbed some Starbucks and by the time we got back mom, dad & the boys were at the pool. We spent all day until the rain kicked us out around 4pm so we figured it was a good time to shower and find somewhere to eat. We decided to drive down to Old Bay Steamer in Ft Walton.  It’s a place we ate last year that had crab legs.  The boys talked all day about wanting crab legs. 

So we had to make it happen!

After dinner we came back and took the boys night swimming.  The boys made so many friends this week!

I swear these boys are like the energizer bunny.  They play so hard during the day you would think they would just crash at night…. But they don’t! I have to make them go to bed at 1030-11 every night. 

Tuesday was perfect waterpark weather.  Overcast and in the low 80’s! We decided to go to Big Kahuna water park.  I remember going there as a kid and it was so much fun! After we spent the day there we decided to just go to dinner straight from there instead of go back to the condo and take showers.  We decided on Fudpuckers for dinner.  We waited 1.5 hours to eat!!! They did have entertainment while you wait.  There were live gators, hula hooping, a playground, gift store and live music! 

It was a serious competition!!!

Wednesday we woke up to rain :( We stayed in the condo all day and did a bunch of nothing!

At about 4pm when we decided to get moving and go eat early.  We went to Louisiana Langinappe.  After dinner we stopped at The Yard for you guessed it - more ice cream. 

We laid around at the condo to let our food digest and then took the boys to the pool to watch Moana.  They had popcorn, candy and drinks available too!

Thursday was dad’s 65th birthday.  We spent a full day on the beach.  Weather was absolutely perfect!

 For dinner we ate at the condo by the pool.  We watched the air show while in swimming in the pool then came up, showered and played a couple rounds of what the boys call "D-Bo"before the firework show. 

Friday we hung at the pool all day. Liam and I went shopping on the harbor to find him a hat that he had his eye on. It started pouring rain on us around 4ish which it seemed to do daily at that time. So we went up and got ready for dinner.  We initially drove to The Boathouse but it was definitely not family friendly so we decided to go to Mcguires which is actually across the street from our condo.  I’m so glad we did because it was really good food!  It was the best meal that the boys ate all week too!  

It is said that there is over 1 million dollars hanging all over the ceilings and walls.

We ended dinner with a frozen Irish coffee. It wasn’t an Erin Rose New Orleans frozen Irish coffee but it was good!  After we got back to the condo, Ryan, the boys and I went back down to the harbor and played putt putt, got ice cream and played one last 7D video game! 

Saturday morning we woke up and started packing for our trek back home.  We were on the road by 1030 leaving mom and dad behind.  They were going on down the road to meet up with some family and friends.  We stopped at McDonald’s just in time to catch breakfast. We kept driving until we reached Alabaster, AL to find a burger place.  We found a local burger joint called Chubbfathers.  

Kane has been asking to try boba for the last few days so I got on Yelp and found the coolest boba shop about a mile down the road called Boho Tea Bar! Ryan got Taro, I got cookies and cream, Liam got a Big Mike’s, Reid got a bomb pop and Kane got an Icy Hot Tea. Mine, Ryan and Liam’s had tapioca pearls and Kane’s had popping pearls.  Reid’s was frozen and didn’t have any boba in it. 

Well... that's a wrap for the 2022 Destin vacation.  I'm ready to plan and get next years family vacay on the books!