Beach Vacation 2013

The day after I arrived in Tallahassee, my Mom, Kyndall and I headed to the BEACH!!  A sweet, sweet friend of ours offered up her beautiful beach condo in Destin/Fort Walton for us to use as a way to escape and enjoy some precious family time prior to my upcoming surgery.  Since I'll pretty much be in recovery mode for the rest of the summer, this was likely our one and only beach trip for the year.  (Oh, that and the fact that we now live in the middle of nowhere, with the closest beach being hundreds of miles away!  Boo hoo!  This Florida girl is not happy about that!)  Anyway, the only thing missing from this beach trip was Matthew.  Sadly, he had to stay behind in Jackson and work while the rest of us enjoyed the sun, sand and relaxation.  He was a good sport about it, but I know he was wishing he could've been with us.

Beach bound and SO excited about it!!

We arrived Wednesday night to a BEAUTIFUL condo right on the beach!  We were just a few steps away from the Gulf and had a great view of the ocean from our private balcony.  Truly, we couldn't have asked for anything more!  So thankful for the generosity of our sweet friend!  You know who you are and you know how much we love you!  =)

Our first morning at the beach, my little sleepy head who NEVER wakes before 9:00 a.m. was WIDE awake at 6:00 a.m.!!!!  Can you say excited?!  I really don't think we've been up this early since her infancy days!

Ready to hit the beach, at 6:30 a.m.!  Who is this child??

The only good thing about being on the beach at 7:00 a.m. is that the lighting is just perfect for pictures!  =)  There's no harsh sunlight and no crazy shadows.  I took full advantage!

Our home away from home!

So happy to be in her element---sun and sand!

Everywhere she goes, Kyndall makes friends.  We met Ellie and her Mommy Anna on the beach early that morning and the girls had so much fun playing together!  You would think they'd been best friends for years!  Turns out Ellie's Mommy is a dental hygienist as well and we share a love for taking pictures and all things monogrammed!  =)  It's too bad they live in Louisiana because we really had a blast hanging out with them throughout the week!

So sweet!!!!!

After a couple of hours on the beach, we hit the pool ........

After spending the morning on the beach and in the pool, I set this little kiddie pool up on the deck for her to enjoy while we took a break from the sun for a while......

Our view!

Back on the beach after a short break and a few Oreos for a "nack"........

I think she shoveled two or three tons of sand that day......

Back to the pool again............

..........Then back to the condo for some lunch and a nap!

Nothing like a good peanut butter "sammich" after a long morning on the beach!

That 6:00 a.m. wake up started to catch up with all of us after a while.....

"I wuv you Dammy" (Grammy)

Knocked out!

When she woke up, we headed out for dinner...........

You can't go to the beach without making a trip to Alvin's Island for some cool beach "junk"!

We did some night digging on the beach, then headed back up to get ready for bed......

One of the treasures we found at Alvin's were these post cards which we sent to Nonie and Poppie and  Daddy.  We missed all of them!

Day 2----Up again at some ungodly hour of the morning!

This girl could build "tand tassels" all day long!!!

Ellie wasn't on the beach yet, so she made another friend---Natalie =)  I'm telling you, this child will surely be a politician when she grows up.  She talks to everyone and never meets a stranger!

Back to the condo for lunch.....What a gorgeous day this was!!

Popsicles on the patio

That evening (Friday), the rest of the crew arrived---Aunt Kelly, Uncle Michael and of course G-Daddy!

One of my goals every year when we go to the beach is to have a little photo shoot of Kyndall at sunset on the beach.  You can see last year's here.  I didn't have the best lighting this time, but I still got some pretty cute shots of her posing on the beach in her very own Lilly Pulitzer dress!  (Thanks, Leigh!!)

When we got down onto the beach, Ellie's Mommy was doing the very same thing!  (Told ya we had a lot in common!)  I couldn't resist getting a few pictures of Kyndall with her new little friend.  They were just too cute together!!

My favorite!!

A little too much lovin' and down they went!  

Kyndall cooperated pretty well for my little photo shoot and although I'm not very happy with the lighting, I love her facial expressions!

"Ankle Michael" became my photography assistant for the evening =)

Doing a little beach ballet.....

My little beauty!  I think this might be my favorite!

No photo shoot would be complete without some bribery, in this case jelly beans!

Photo shoot is over and she's one happy girl!

We spent the rest of the evening watching the sunset and Kyndall got her first fishing lesson from Uncle Michael and Aunt Kelly........

Ever the performer, Kyndall used Michael's rod holder as her "microphone" and put on a show for us.....

Learning from the best!  (Aunt Kelly came straight from work, hence the scrubs on the beach!)

Kyndall loves her some Aunt Kelly!

........And now you see why!

Doing what he does best!

Saturday morning, ready for another day on the beach!

If my toosh looked that cute I guess I'd probably show it off too!

Digging for treasures with Aunt Kelly

This is what a BEACH BABY looks like!!

Chillin'...........

Back to the pool........

Aunt Kelly gave Kyndall her very first french braid and it looked SO cute!  I have been itching to get her hair trimmed (we've never cut it) but after seeing the braid, I'm convinced to just let it keep growing!

That night, my parents treated us all to a nice dinner on the beach.  I got Kyndall all dressed up in her adorable little smocked whale dress, hoping for some cute photo opps before we headed out......only to have one cranky toddler on my hands!  

Mommy's kisses did not help, just in case there was any question.....

............Nor did my usual bribery tactics.......

But guess what did cheer her up??

"Ankle" Michael, of course!

Sunset dinner at the Crab Trap!  I love this place!!

My, how our mood has changed......Thank goodness!!

One of the many reasons I love the Crab Trap is this awesome beach playground that they have for the kids to run around on!

Had to take this one for a comparison shot.........

Here we are on this very same playground two summers ago in 2011---Kyndall was just 10 months old!

After dinner we took Kyndall to our family's favorite hang out spot in Destin, "The Track".  It's like a small amusement park, complete with kiddie rides, go carts and mini golf.  This was the first year Kyndall was old enough to ride and boy did she have a BLAST!!!!  She rode every single ride in the park and giggled the entire time!  =)

Michael volunteered to hold my bag, so how could I resist this picture?  Good "Daddy training"!

He also volunteered to "wide the twain" with Kyndall so that I didn't have to!  =)

Kyndall's entourage and fan club......

She didn't seem to love this one, but she stuck it out the entire time despite us asking her if she wanted to get off.  I was sure she'd puke from all that spinning, but thankfully she didn't!

One of my favorite things to do at the beach is ride go-carts!  I really didn't think Kyndall would be tall enough to ride this year but to my surprise, she was!!

So excited for her very first go-cart ride!!

Shortcake couldn't even see over the steering wheel =)

She really thought she was driving!

She had SO much fun!  So much in fact, that this was the scene which unfolded as we pulled our cart into the pit after the last lap..........

Oh yes, that's a full blown tantrum, in case you were wondering...........

Learning the hard way that all good things must come to an end......And learning that Mommy will not always give in, which in this case would mean paying 8 more bucks for another 5 minute ride!  Nope, not happening!

I mean, what can you do??  You shell out tons of money on kiddie rides and spend your evening doing everything in your power to make fun, lasting memories and you still end up with a tantrum.  Such is life with a toddler, I guess!

We made a quick exit after that, and had a little chat in the car......So what if I bribed her with an Icee??  Hey, it WORKED!!

Icees just make everything better!

We changed back into our play clothes and took our Icees down on the beach for some night fishing with Uncle Michael!  

Sunday was our last day at the beach, so we took advantage of our time and made the most of the day.  The great thing about staying in a friend's condo is there's no check out time!  We spent nearly the entire day on the beach and in the pool, before packing up to head home.

Having fun with her "wadda duns"

Why does it always seem like your last day of vacation is the prettiest??  The water was so calm this day and for the first time all week, they removed the red flag and replaced it with yellow.  Figures!

Me and my best girl!

So sassy!!

It was sooooo hard to leave this beautiful place!

We had a great week and made some wonderful memories that I will treasure always.  Like I said, I just wish Matthew could've been there with us.  I am so thankful for this time I had with my family and for the few days that we were able to escape all of the "yuck" in our lives right now and just enjoy some relaxation and fun.  It was nice to just put all of the stress and worry in the back of our minds for a few days and focus on soaking up the GOOD things in life!

To our sweet friend who made this possible for us, I cannot thank you enough!!  You are an angel on Earth and I am thankful for your generosity to our family!  We love you!