Couldn't we stay there all summer?

We are back from our annual Brock family Destin trip. It was amazing! I would've been just fine staying there all summer...Each year Mom plans a week long vacation for us. She rents a house in Dunes of Destin. The house this year was perfect! It had a pool, lots of balconies, a nice deck, and was right on the lake. It was also very close to the beach (i.e. a few minute walk).

Here we are up with the roosters our first morning there.

Every child loved the sand this year! Yea! No screaming!

Finley enjoyed eating the sand!

We were so thankful to have Emily there for a few days. She really helped take care of the kids and added lots of fun!

Finley took some nice beach naps!

We did a lot of fishing! Can you believe the bass we caught?

My entire life, I have wanted to catch at least a 2 pound bass. The ones we caught were around 3-5 pounds. John even went and bought a scale because we were so curious what these fish weighed. By the end of the week, were would say, "Oh, that's a small one" when it was almost 4 pounds.

The pool was so much fun!

The kids turned the coffee table into a playdough station (takes me back to my childhood memories of Southbay and the peanut butter/Smurf table!)

Mom played cards with Braden.

Mom bought all of the girls matching bathing suits. They were so cute!

Nothing like a nice bottle on the beach.

Randy rented a kayak which we all enjoyed taking out in the ocean. The water was beautiful, fairly warm for June, and had lots of waves!

Addi was my helper. She pushed Finley in the stroller to and from the beach.

my biggest fish!

We went to eat at the Back Porch (twice), Captain Dave's, the Crazy Lobster, and another place that has slipped my mind. Oops.

The kids had so much fun at the Track!

Addi and Weston held a toad.

I used our Gap discount to buy this adorable bathing suit for Finley.

We cracked up at her in the hat...Randy decided she looked like a witch so he gave her a broom to take flight.

To get the girls in the ocean (knowing fully well that they would love it) we bribed them with shaved ice which was a good walk down the beach. Just as we thought, they loved the water and got in every day from that point on. We still walked down a few more times to get shaved ice. Even Randy, John, and Tucker ate it!

Aunt Glenda came to pick Emily up and spent the day with us. She loves to fish! Here was her nice catch!

This was a smaller fish but look how big it is compared to Finley!

Randy bought alligators for the kids to play on in the pool.

We took the girls and Eme to the Destin Commons to play. We went to the Bass Pro shop, the playground, and the toy store. Then, we went to Back Porch to eat (and the Candy Store).

We took the kids to Baytown to jump in the jumpies and see the fireworks. We waited in line for close to an hour to get their faces painted and to get balloons made.

Ellis did really well! They couldn't let her get too hot due to her heart condition but she spent time in the shade and in the pool.

At the beginning of the week, the girls would not get near the surf. They had to be carried to get in the water. By the end of our trip, they were begging to jump over the waves.

Sweet Weston loves the babies! He was always there to love on them.

We went to Harbor Walk to see more fireworks and eat dinner.

One of our favorite days of the vacation was the day we rented a pontoon boat. It was a beautiful yellow pontoon with lots of room! We stayed on it from 8:30-1:30. It was heaven on earth!

John and Braden fished some.

Addi and Grayson got to drive the boat.

Fin, Weston, and Addi took naps toward the end of our boat time.

We stopped off at Crab Island and let the kids find hermit crabs and swim.

We also drove to the jetties and swam there for a while.

Here are the hermit crabs that Braden collected.

sweet girls

sweet boys

Even though we spent 8 days in Destin, it flew by as it always does. What an awesome time we had! We did everything we wanted to do and had a great time together as a family. Mom, thank you for planning truly a dream vacation for us. We will always cherish these memories!