The Lucky Layman's: Destin, FL ~ Part 1

So...our trip began Friday, September 13th around noon. We left my parent's house, grabbed some drive-thru lunch and chugged away at over half of the drive before stopping for the night in Jackson, MS. The next morning we got up with Elyse and headed out to finish our trip to Destin. Our "road trip" essentials will be for another post, but let's just say that Elyse did AMAZING!!! We tried to time things around her naptimes and this worked great for us! She certainly didn't sleep the whole time, but we were able to get some good chunks of driving done while she snoozed away!

We arrived about 3:30 on Saturday afternoon, checked in, and started the process of unloading--what you see below is only the stuff from Hubby & I's car--my parents car was full as well!

We headed down to the beach late in the afternoon just to give Elyse a feel for what the rest of the week was going to hold. She definitely wasn't a huge fan of the sand or the ocean at first...understandably. I think she most bothered by the fact that the sand made her feet & hands "dirty." Thankfully she warmed up to it and was a completely different little girl by the next morning!

First family pic on the beach of 2013

We spent almost all of our days on the beach rotating with who went up in the afternoon for Elyse's nap. Let's be honest, Hubby took most of those shifts, but my dad & I helped out a few days!

My peaceful place

Not so sure about those crazy waves on the first day...clinging tight to momma!

We went out for dinner most nights, but got pizza one night and BBQ another--part of vacation for us is eating out and eat out we did!

Family pic!

These two melt my heart!

Before we left, Elyse had started struggling with the her afternoon nap--and I think it was because she was still taking a short morning nap. So...we decided to sacrifice the morning nap for more beach time & it seemed to work great for her! Most morning she would sit down in the shade for 20-30 minutes about halfway through the morning, but then she was ready to go, go, go again!

Chilling & snacking!

Checking out the water

Think someone's having fun?!?

Oh how I love this picture of my two loves!

We couldn't go to Destin and not eat at McGuire's Irish Pub--and we also left a dollar bill on the wall with her name on it!

Elyse's $ bill!

A little bit of a difference from last year to this year!

A beautiful rainbow we were able to enjoy on Tuesday evening.

By the second day on the beach, Elyse was an old pro! She seemed to love the water & the sand, and definitely got into playing in it! She would keep telling all of us "out" and pushing us out of our chairs if we were sitting still for too long!

A girl and her sand toys!

Pure joy!

On Wednesday night, Hubby planned a surprise date night for us and we left Elyse with Gigi & Papa and went to Beach Walk Cafe at Henderson Park Inn. It was an incredibly restaurant with wonderful views & just a great evening for Hubby & I to have to ourselves! The sunset was stunning that night which made it even better!