Beach Time

After our great visit with family we made the day long trip through some nasty storms up to Destin..."Rain rain go away" was the theme song running through my head for the entire drive! We arrived late that evening and had a late dinner at Ruby Tuesday and then headed to Eglin Air Force Base to spend the next two nights...we were put up in the family lodging that was just a stone's throw from the beach!

I love this pic of all of our footprints!

Wednesday morning Jason was going to take Riley outside while I showered and got ready...I didn't know he was going to take her to the beach for her first experience with sand. I was kinda sad I missed it but then he pointed out that he missed many "firsts" while he was deployed and since he spent much time at this same beach as a child it was special that he got to be the first to see Riley eat sand!

When they came back I thought she had thrown up she was so covered in sand! She definitely had a great time and we had a mess to clean up! She screamed when the door shut because she wanted to go back and play...but since she had a late night and it was starting to get yucky outside we bathed her and put her down for an early nap!

After her nap we headed to Destin to have lunch, shop, and have more fun at the beach. It was not the greatest weather but it wasn't bad either so we ate at The Back Porch right on the water and they had a nice beach area along with a playplace in the sand...perfect!

We got out the beach toys and Jason started showing Riley just how to build a castle!

She has so many great facial expressions!

Whoa...here comes the waves!

After lunch and playing at the beach we headed to Destin Commons...a great shopping area! After Jason went to Bass Pro Shops and I got some ColdStone ice cream we headed for this great outdoor play area that had...it was made out of really soft material and Riley could actually hold her own.

It is so fun to see Riley play and interact with others...she is quite the social butterfly! She made many friends in this short play time! Here she is with all of her little friends!

After our afternoon of shopping we took a little drive down memory lane. Like I mentioned earlier Jason spent a lot of time on the beaches of Fort Walton and Destin as a little tiny baby. His grandfather lived in Fort Walton and Jason and his mom would come visit them every weekend. Jason's Grandpa Brown was a great man and I wish I had gotten the chance to meet him. He was a highly decorated Vietnam veteran and a brave pilot. He flew Forward Air Control aircraft and his plane was shot down on a mission. Fortunately, although he was injured, he evaded capture and was rescued the next day. He eventually retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. Grandpa Brown was a great American and and awesome Grandpa. Jason has many fond memories of their time together. Here is a picture of the house where Jason's Mom and Aunt Michelle grew up.

After driving by Grandpa Brown's house we headed for Makong for some great Thai food! After dinner Jason broke out the CAT truck he bought for Riley...she LOVED it! Her first truck...Jason's so proud!

Thursday we met up with my best friend Becky and her family to spend the next couple of days. We started out at the mall so her daughter Sydney and Riley could play...it was still rainy outside!

This is how Skeeball is supposed to be played, right?

After the mall we headed to lunch for sandwiches and gelato! Guess what kind of gelato Jason had? PISTACHIO!!! Literally minutes after eating lunch we were in the car listing to Fox news and they came on with the news about the salmonella break out in pistachios...obviously he's fine but we had a little chuckle about that!

After lunch we headed to Matt and Becky's house and put the girls (plus Jason) down for a nap while Becky and I kept watch for tornadoes...that's right TORNADOES! I can't seem to get away from these stupid things...we were actually under a tornado warning for a short time but luckily nothing came of it...sheesh!

Becky cooked a great meal for dinner and after the girls went to bed the adults broke out the Wii and played RockBand, tennis, and bowling! It was a lot of fun!

Sydney and Riley had lots of fun playing together...Sydney kept referring to Riley as "my friend"...it was pretty cute! Here they are playing in Sydney's kitchen with all of Becky's great felt food that she makes and sells on Etsy!

Friday we were finally blessed with some great weather...Becky and I took advantage and let the dads watch the girls and we went for a long run!

Then we all headed to the zoo...

Check out the tongues on theses cows...Riley wasn't too sure about them!

Family pic in front of my favorite...the giraffe!

Playing on the merry go round that was out of order!

After lunch and naps we headed out to the beach again! I can not get over how awesome the sand in Destin is...I grew up on Texas beaches which always seemed great to me, but after being in this super soft white sand I am not sure if I can go back!

Riley was all about playing in the sand!

The girls building sand castles!

Family pic with a little girl who did not want to be held but rather be in the sand playing!

Love this pic...

After our afternoon at the beach we headed to a Harbor Docks...a great restaurant on the water! We enjoyed sushi and great seafood! They even had a cowboy roll...sushi with steak in it! It was all great and it was so fun to be sitting by the water!

After dinner Becky and I got to have a girls night! We made the short drive to Pensacola to have dessert at The Melting Pot!

Oh My Goodness is this place good! We had good coffee drinks and got the "regular" order of s'mores chocolate fondue...we had rice krispie treats, pound cake, brownies, marshmallows, graham crackers, cheesecake, strawberries and bananas to dip in the chocolate...it was absolutely sinful! I am proud to say that neither of us were able to finish but I think we each only left a marshmallow...ha! We had SO much fun just chatting and indulging!

Saturday morning we hit the road and had a long day of driving! Riley did absolutely fantastic! She napped the first two hours and then rode along as she ate some chicken nuggets and watched Veggie Tales! At our second stop we realized she had COMPLETELY leaked out of her diaper and she was soaking wet along with her entire car seat...but she had not even made a peep! We cleaned her up and got the car seat as dry as possible and back on the road we were. We tried to stop at a McDonald's with an outdoor play place along the way but they said it was closed because it was wet...Riley had already seen the play place and was politely signing and saying please to go play but not even that would lure the McDonald's employees...and then she even bawled and that didn't work either...so back on the road again and we pushed through so we could get home! We picked up some Pei Wei and headed straight to DiDi and Doc's house to pick up my car...Riley was ready to run around and play with CJ and Gaby when we got there so she was able to get her energy out!

We had a great trip and we are LOVING being back in our bed but I was dreading coming home because I knew our life would be crazy as soon as we got home!