Vacation

There's nothing quite like a vacation. I can't believe we've already been back from our annual beach trip with my family for nearly three weeks. We had such a relaxing time in Destin at what has become our favorite condo. The pool area is amazing, though we were fortunate to also have several beautiful days on the beach - with no oil in sight. The whole crew was there: mom and dad, Kyle, Alison, and Isabella, Dave and Shelby, and Ryan and his friend, Nick, who was part of the family by the end of the week.

I was proud of how many pics I managed to take during the week. I was also proud of how well I let myself relax. I finished Pat Conroy's South of Broad (which I'm reading for my book club; more details in another post but, yes, I said book club, and it's turned out to be one of my best ideas to date. Not lame at all, and I was actually pretty worried about it being a total bust. But I digress...) I also nearly finished Dan Brown's Deception Point. Nearly two books in one week is pretty much a record for me. So we all rested, napped, read, napped, ate, napped, ate again...It was the best.

This year, each "couple" had one night to prepare dinner. This was a great idea of my mom, and really made the whole week easier on everyone. We ate at our favorite dinner spot, The Wharf, one night, and also watched the fireworks over the bay. It may have been the first time in my life I haven't spent the 4th of July in Birmingham, but it turned out to be a great week to travel. We did a Thursday to Thursday schedule which gave us a nice, long weekend to recover before the first Monday back at work. Pure genius, and sure beats traveling on a Sunday.

I've uploaded a few pics from our trip in random order below. One you'll recognize as the new blog pic of Robert and me. I'm actually not wearing a speck of make-up in that photo, and I posted it as the bog pic for all the world to see. Who's says vacations aren't freeing?

With my sweet brothers before the fireworks show.

I think we all spent most of our time, day and night, on that balcony. We were on the 11th floor and had a beautiful view of the ocean.

Daddy and Isabella in her cute patriotic swimsuit.

The night we all dressed up for dinner. Managed to get several group shots. The rest are at the end of the post.

Goofing around at the outlets. We are all pretty big shoppers, especially the boys in my family; we can divide and conquer outlets for the best sales. I actually got a great pair of banana republic linen pants and a cute top. Then I scored some new Nike Shox tennis shoes which I love. Robert got some new tennis shoes and some cleats.


Playing in the water and sand with "Aunt Nana" and "Mister Mark"



Ladder ball was a big hit. Lots of fun on the beach. We also played some mean paddle ball matches.




Alison and Kyle



David's famous back flip.

Group photo. This one turned out really well. Poor Isabella had an ear infection and wasn't having the best night but shortly thereafter was back to her perky self after her antibiotics kicked in.





We realized on day two that Robert's cousins were going to be in Destin the same week we were. We met up with them on night and had the best time catching up. I can't believe how much they have all grown. They have a precious family.


And we actually paid to have these birds put on us. None of the boys volunteered. Speaking of the boys...


And somehow it turned into a tummy fest. David gets the award for most likely to be asked, "When's your baby due?"