Seagrove Beach 2013

We had a wonderful vacation in Seagrove Beach, FL this year. On the way, we stayed in Tuscaloosa and went to see Bryant-Denny Stadium at The University of Alabama.  Boo, SEC, but it's fun to see other college campuses anyway.

We arrived in Seagrove on Saturday.  The kids were sooooo anxious to get to the beach.  We had to make a run to Publix to get food for the week, then came back and headed to the beach! That evening we just got Bruno's Pizza since no one was ready to clean up and go out for dinner.  One of their highlights of the week was riding together in the grocery cart at Publix! Silly kids.

Sunday was Father's Day!  What a way to celebrate!  Here are the kids enjoying a gourmet breakfast of cereal and Eggo pancakes.

They took turns burying each other in the sand!

"Mini Man, takin' on the jellies!"  (Nemo, anyone?)  This particular day, there were a lot of jelly fish washing on shore.  Noah was "saving them".  He'd scoop them up and throw them back in the water.

Brandon got a pound of shrimp for lunch from Goatfeathers Seafood Market.  We all had to endure the smell, but it was Father's Day, he got to choose.  That night we had yummy Mexican food at La Cocina at Seacrest Beach.

That night after dinner, the kids wanted to head back to the beach!  Elli looks too old in this picture!

Monday, it was back to the beach!  We are so thankful we had some nice neighbors who insisted we borrow some chairs and umbrellas from them!  What skin savers they were!  :)

Elli befriended this little crab sand mold and played with it all week.  She had to know where it was at all times when we were at the beach.  She carried it around in this little basket.

That night we ate at Local Catch and went to find some ice cream!

Tuesday we decided to take a break from the beach.  We headed to Destin to the Air Force Armament Museum  near Eglin Air Force Base.  AFTER a stop at the Donut Hole. Yum!

It was fascinating to look at all the old retired planes and war planes.

 Pilot Noah flying a jet."Off we go in to the wild blue yonder...."

We ate dinner at Flip Flops Grill.  Elli loves being motherly and having someone/something to take care of.  She was feeding Noah the rest of her mac and cheese.

After dinner the kids wanted some beach time!

Making a "sand angel".

This is as brave as Elli Belle was.  She didn't want to go in the water and most days ran from it if it got close to her.

She had a blast this particular evening and ran up and down the beach saying, "YAY! Woohoo!"

Elli was daddy's girl all week!  She was his little shadow.  This picture sums it up.  It's not posed (she wouldn't have done it if I'd asked her :)

Wednesday, we ate lunch at Seagrove Village Market Cafe.  They had a Grouper Po' Boy that was named one of 100 things you must eat before you die.  Of course, I had to try it.  It was delish.

 We made two or three trips to Seacrest Beach for some Orange Leaf yogurt!  Noah doesn't eat ice cream or frozen yogurt so we just get him Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  Elli gets the weirdest concoctions based on color of yogurt alone.

They had a neat gathering space outside and a "stage" that the kids enjoyed.

Probably how Elli felt about having her picture taken all week!

One of our other neighbors rented a stand up paddle board and offered to let Brandon try it.  I was so envious, he stood up on his first try.  I kind of wanted to give it a try, but he returned it.  Besides, I would have been beyond frustrated if I'd fallen off!

 

This tenacious boy fished with his little net until he finally caught one!

It's so tiny you can't see it, but he caught a fish!

Beach beauty!

Noah loving the water!

Making a pool?

I wanted to make sure we got family pictures on the beach this year!  Last time, I think our only family picture was us in our bathing suits with shiny, sun-screened faces.  So after dinner at Angelina's Italian restaurant, my family graciously obliged.  I think I promised them more Orange Leaf.

I was prepared with the tripod, but our neighbor to the rescue, again.  He took a few pictures for us.

Sweet baby girl.

Another sweet couple walking by offered to take our picture.  She wanted to make sure the photographer(s) were in a picture! 

I wanted to get a few more of Elli and Noah and turned around to find this!  That boy.  :)

Busted.

Noah finally got up the nerve to ride the waves on the raft.  Then he had a blast!

Thursday night we ate dinner at The Perfect Pig (Brandon's favorite!) and then breakfast there on Friday morning!

We got the crazy idea that we wanted to drive the entire trip in one day so Brandon would have a day at home before he headed back to work.  We did it!  We pulled away from our condo at 6:45 AM and 16 hours later, (after crossing the country's longest bridges like this one in Florida, this one in Alabama,  this one and this one in Louisiana. :( EEK!) we were home sweet home!  After looking at our pictures a few days later, we were all ready to go back. Maybe next year?