Our beach vacation

Jones 2010-Destin

We weren’t sure we were going to get to go to our beach vacation this year because of the oil spill in the Gulf. We have been talking to people that have been down there recently and checking the websites daily. We finally decided to just go and have fun regardless and that we did.

We didn’t see any oil while we were there. We swam in the ocean and had no oil problems and walked the beach many times and didn’t see any oil or tar balls or evidence of anything. What we did see though were workers there every day walking up and down the beaches with nets and plastic bags and rubber boots. They were looking for anything that might be suspect. So, if there were any small tar balls or any dead sea critters, they would pick them up. They were also testing the water daily. I told Dale that I wasn’t sure if them being there made me feel better or not. Regardless, the only problem we experienced all week was good ole yucky normal seaweed.


There were patches of beautiful clear blue water most days and we would swim out to it, but sometimes you had to go through a bunch of muck. It reminded me of life. We kept our eyes on “paradise” and kept kicking and we eventually got there. And it was so worth it once we got there. The first time Justin and I went out and Dale and Jennifer decided it was not worth it. We kept our eyes on the prize and kept kicking and kicking. I will admit there were times it was scary- even times that I couldn’t touch. But we had our float (the bible) to stay afloat. We treaded in some unknown waters but there were other people out there and you could tell they were standing up so I knew there were easier times ahead where we could touch and the water was beautiful with no seaweed. Eventually we got to “Paradise Island”!! We were able to stand up and enjoy the waves and jump and play in clear blue water. We waved back to Jennifer and Dale and urged them to come out to us. But they were already starting in. They had decided to come out at Jennifer’s urging that she couldn’t live it down if Justin made it out and she didn’t. Too funny! They did the same thing we did and they made it out to us. They agreed that it was worth going through the “muck” to get to the beauty. The Lord gave me the idea that it was a lot like life. Sometimes you have to go through deep scary waters and yucky stuff but if you hold onto your float(or bible) and you keep doing what you know you need to do and keep your eyes on the prize instead of looking down at the yuck you may be going through, you will eventually get to the prize (heaven). It will be beautiful and oh so worth the ride!! Also, it is much less “scary” and more fun if you have a partner with you for the ride. Thank God he has given me a great husband, fantastic kids, wonderful family, and awesome friends to help me “swim” through life!! AND when we get there to the ultimate destination (heaven) we are going to want to turn around and encourage our loved ones to join us there. We will want to yell to them to come on and let them know it will be worth whatever “muck” they have to go through to get there.


The last day we were there we walked way down the beach the opposite direction where there was a huge “paradise island” area of water. The water was crystal clear and you didn’t even have to go through to much to get to it. We stayed out there a long time. The kids had their goggles this time and they enjoyed watching the fish swim around us. We had seen a couple of really big ones earlier in the week, but these were small schools of fish. We had a blast with the huge waves and you could stand up very easily here. It was super clear and the prettiest blue.

We did a lot of relaxing this week. Our unit was right by the pool. As a matter of fact, we had a nice big balcony and could walk right out from our balcony to the pool. It was super convenient but also super loud if people were enjoying the pool while you are trying to sleep at night. We had some problems this week with a large group of people from Texas. They liked to party into the night. They had been coming there for about 15 years so the kids and adults felt VERY comfortable here. The kids –even little ones- could go anywhere anytime –to the beach or pool with their cousins or each other’s rooms. One night there was a group of little kids ranging from 5 or 6 up to 10 or 11 running around, screaming and playing and jumping in the room right above us until 1:30 at night with no adults around. Dale had to go out and ask them to quieten down and then they argued loudly about who was the loudest. Ugh!! It was frustrating to say the least. Where were the parents and WHY were these kids running around at that time of night?!?


The kids had a bunk bed built in the hall and we had a nice big master bedroom. The unit was pretty nice if you could ignore the noise levels at night. A few nights I did a load of laundry to drown out the noise level and it seemed to help.

One evening we went and played putt-putt. They had some huge koi fish where the kids got to feed the fish. Everyone shot really well, but in the end the winner was…..ME!! It is very rare that I beat Dale at anything with golf, but this course had several holes where you would shoot it in the hole and it would drop down a level to the next green where you had to get it in the hole and then it would go to the next level green. So, you had 3 holes to get it in on 3 different greens with par being 3 for the whole thing. We all celebrated with a big bowl of ice cream back at the house. Well, to be honest we had ice cream every night, but maybe we were celebrating vacation.

We also went to dinner one night at a seafood place called AJ’s Seafood. It was really yummy and they had a pirate come around and make balloon animals for the kids. Justin got a sword. Then we went out and looked at the boats in the marina. We saw a big crab walk on the ocean floor and a pelican and lots of fish!!

On the way home, we went to Bass Pro Shops. I know that sounds funny but I had always wanted to go in one and never had. And now that we have the wave runner and Dad’s boat, it seemed the perfect time. We had a blast just walking around looking at everything. There were 2 levels with all kinds of fun things to do and play on. We pretended to pick our favorite boats. The kids loved the aquarium in the middle.

And there is a great big shark out front!

Of course, there are the annual pictures on the beach. This year, I was a little late in planning what to wear since we waited until the last minute to decide, so I bought us these t-shirts. We got a few good ones.

I enjoyed reading 4 books on this trip and took my computer to keep up with work and life back home. But I blogged and made backup CD’s of my pictures all the way down and back. It was very nice to get some things done while we traveled. I loved having my computer with me this trip. The kids played some games on it and Dale kept up with work and his sports.

I got a few beach shots on the ocean. In case I haven’t ever mentioned how much I LOVE my beach umbrella, I LOVE my umbrella. In the past, I always wanted to lie in the sun, but since I got my umbrella, I am always under that. It has a SPF of 100+ and it is always like 20 degrees cooler under the umbrella than outside it. So, if you get comfy in your chair under that umbrella with a good book and an ocean breeze, it is quite nice. I like it so much that I even bough another one at Wal-Mart-down in Florida- for $15. I think I got the last one at BJ’s at home for way more than that.


Overall, we had a great trip. The kids got their first airbrushed t-shirts that they got to choose themselves. Sorry for the super long post, but I had plenty of time to blog and share my thoughts, right?!?