So I am using a new computer for these blogs, and it has resulted in the pictures being loaded backwards, which is a major irritation for me, but not so much that I will completely reorder them. At least not yet. This year, our family pictures with "Twig and Olive" were down at the beach in Destin. Knowing that we were cutting back on many vacations this year, I was excited to plan for a small break of 2 nights down at the beach.
We drove down early on Saturday and arrived at the hotel around noon. Since I am in top tier with Marriot, they had an upgrade available that included an "ocean view", but it was not ready until 4PM. So, not a problem, we can wait for an ocean view room, we drove over to the state park with beach access to enjoy the waves for a bit before our room was available. This was great, and ended up being our most time on the beach. Magan soaked up some sun, Davis felt at home in the waves, and Sam was dealing with another horrible case of poison ivy. Ruby told me that she loved the waves, and she especially liked the "soapy ones", referring to the foam from the waves crashing. Davis and Belle loved body surfing on the big waves. Ruby loved picking up seashells and finding treasure, until she picked up a slimy "snake" and decided she didn't care anymore for seashells.
After our fun time on the beach, we went back to our hotel where our room was ready finally. And there is a picture below of our ocean view...it was definitely a view...across the 6 lane highway, across the trees on the state park, in a small V in the trees, you could see out on the horizon some blue that was the ocean. Magan said that at least we could hear the ocean when the door to our balcony was opened, but that turned out to be steady car traffic. That night we hit Mimmo's Italian restuarant, but we are spoiled with Bertelones in Birmingham...it was good, but not Bertelones good.
The next morning we visited the Destin church, and sat on the social distancing left side, while the right siders were the huggers. It was a good service and lesson, but I mainly remember the gentleman that provided the closing prayer and announcements. He definitely was a right sider, as during his prayer he spoke about us recognizing that we had good immune systems, and this Corona virus was not a big deal. Which is interesting as so many people have died from it, but to each his own, and I think I got his intent. Magan and I traded looks after the Amen, both raising our brows a bit. But then it got even more interesting, as that same man shared news of a potluck that evening where everyone would bring meat and veggies for a big stew. It was at this point he got very serious, and told everyone to be careful bringing anything with MSGs in it, as that might cause headaches for some of the members. He then made a simple suggestion that the veggies be organic for the stew. So weird, and kind of funny, but really not funny. I left with a good lesson, but not interested in any stew they were cooking up with this group. :)
We then made Magan's dreams come true with a visit to the outlet stores, but with only 2 hours before we needed to get to our picture session, the outlet shopping was not near enough for her. While she shopped with the boys for some clothes, me and the girls went to the Disney store, where we had to wait in line to enter. This was my first experience at waiting to go into a store, and it was about a 10 minute line. It was then time for the photo session, where we again got Doug for our family. He was our photographer last year, and it awesome. I can't share any of the pics, as those are probably christmas cards, but Doug is Magan's celebrity, and she was excited to meet him again. He did excellent with the kids, and made ruby laugh alot. He did get me and the boys doing the same shot we did last year by staring out at the water...maybe we will tell him next time, he needs a new trick here, but he does travel the world taking pictures, so may not be interested in our little tips.
Doug was done with us with about 15 minutes of daylight, and I could see it in Davis' eyes...the need to have those feet in the ocean. We gave them about 25 minutes to change and play, and they used every minute. Afterwards, we got cleaned up and went out for an excellent Mexican dinner. The boys got a HUGE burrito and shared it, and even sharing it, it almost took them both out. A fun trip...USS Alabama on the way home!
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