Destin Diary: Vacation Day 1

We made it!  My family has begun our annual beach vacation in Destin, Florida.  We got here last night around 6:30 and we immediately ran out to greet the ocean.

We unpacked pretty quickly, and then we ladies (sans Alli who had to hit the pool the second we arrived) headed to Wal-Mart to get the groceries.  The Destin Wal-Mart at 8PM on a Saturday night is a mad house!!  I've never actually gone Black Friday shopping, but I have to imagine it's something like that.  Instead of elbowing people for flat screens, you're elbowing people for ketchup and frozen pizzas.

Once that was done, we came back to the condo (which is just gorgeous, it's probably my favorite one we've ever stayed in) and unloaded while Mom fried up crab cakes and made the corn and crab bisque that I will be enjoying every single lunch for the rest of the trip.  I'm a soup girl, what can I say?

The best part about the new condo is the wet bar where Ryan has set up shop for the week.  How awesome is this?  (Home decor friends, please note the white seahorse at the top of the bar...love).

We got up this morning around 8AM and started prep for the beach.  Ryan fired up the Maragaritaville machine to make the ladies' drink of the vacation - the innapropriately named but ever so delicious Sex on the Beach.  I lathered up Alli and packed the beach bags, and we headed down around 9:30AM.  Alli immediately ran out to the ocean.  Ever since her first trip when she was 3, Alli has been a big fan of the ocean.  She's oh so brave and I am constantly having to call out "Don't go any further!!"

I love beaching it up with my family because they are all so good about rotating shifts with Alli so that Ryan and I can have some down time too, because Alli just doesn't quit.  She goes nonstop.  Pool, sandcastles, boogie board, swimming in the ocean.  It never seems to end!  I got a little downtime on the beach myself to work on my tan and read my book.  And sip my dranky drank.

After about three hours, several of us headed up to the condo to eat some lunch.  We reheated Mom's soup (yum), and then I ended up taking a nap on the couch.  I haven't been sleeping well, so I guess I needed the rest!  Everyone else spent more time on the beach, but then we all got dolled up and headed to The Back Porch (Alli's favorite place to eat in Destin).  We ate at the same time my grandparents used to sit down for dinner, but we beat the crowd and had a great meal.

After that, we went back to the condo where Alli, Ryan, and John swam and Mom, Lindsey and I headed back out. We first went to see the Marler Memorial Cemetery where the founding families of Destin are buried (my mom has a weird thing with cemeteries, and my love of all that is old is well-documented).  Mom then took me to her favorite place to eat in Destin - Dewey Destin's.  It looks like a shack with a dock and a trailer for cooking food (because that's what it is), but the view is to die for.

The we hit up the HarborWalk where I bought another beach bag (it has a crab on it - obsessed!) and Mom got a crab wine bottle stopper and some artwork from Don Sawyer.  When we came back, everyone was winding down so I knew it was the perfect time to document our first day (my goal is to document every day, we'll see how well I do).  I'd say today was a complete success, and I'm looking forward to more of the same tomorrow!!