First Day of Pre-K

Madden moved up to Pre-K this Fall at his school.  I really cannot believe how fast his little life is flying by - PreK already?  Good news is that he will do PreK twice.  Since his birthday is at the end of July, we will not have his start Kinder until he is 6.

All I got were cheesy grins this early morning....oh well! 

 

Our Summer Vacation: Destin, FL to Lake Whitney, TX

Way back in April, we decided to plan a family vacation.  I had been wanting to take Madden to the beach and Marc finally agreed!  We found a great place just a few miles from Seaside, FL.  It was bigger than we needed for the 3 of us, so we invited our friends - Brad & Laura Currey (and their adorable daughter, although they decided to leave her at home - boo!)  At the time, we didn't know I would be 21 weeks pregnant - so that was fun!  Ha!

All summer, I had the beach on my mind.  We had booked the last week of August and were going to be there for 6 nights and 7 days.  Glorious!  I had shopped all summer here and there to make sure everyone had swimsuits, cute clothes, towels, beach toys....all the 'necessities'. 

One night about a week prior to our departure, we were watching the news.....and our favorite weatherman came on and was talking about a 'hurricane like disturbance' named Isaac south east of FL.  He mentioned that it looked like it would be headed to the Gulf, but it was too early to say for sure.  WHAT?!

Over the next several days, we carefully watched the weather patterns.  Things did not look in our favor, but we decided to go on with our trip in hopes it would turn the other way. 

Marc and Brad left on a Friday in our van with all our stuff for their roadtrip.  Laura, Madden and I flew on Saturday and the boys picked us up - perfect way to travel!  :)

We arrived to our home away from home around 6pm on Saturday evening.


We quickly unloaded things, checked out the house and then headed for the beach.  It was about a 3 minute walk!  I was anxious to see how Madden would react - would he like the sand or hate it, would he like the ocean or be too scared, etc.....

Well, he LOVED it!  Absolutely LOVED IT!  



Our only family picture on the beach.  I had brought oodles of cute clothes for us to wear and get a 'good' coordinated picture - but instead, this is the one we have.....in our travel clothes.  Oh well - still love it!

Brad & Laura enjoying their moments of kid-free responsibility!  

After being on the beach for about 10 minutes....someone 'accidentally' fell in - hmmm.... :)

AMAZING SUNSET!

As the sun was going down, we went back to the house and changed clothes - then headed to Seaside for dinner.  We found a unique pizza place and enjoyed a nice dinner.  I was amazed at how much Seaside and Destin had grown since I had been there (about 10 years ago).  So much to see and do!

After dinner, we dropped the boys off at the house and Laura and I went to the store to buy groceries for the week. 

The next morning, Madden was up early and we were off to enjoy the beautiful day at the beach.  It was absolutely gorgeous!

We got busy building sand castles right away!

Madden had a BLAST!  He was more into running in the ocean than playing in the sand.  We really had to keep a close eye on him....

Yes, that is Madden out there under those waves....I was a nervous wreck!  Relaxing beach vacations sure are different when your kids are there - no more relaxing! :)

Laura trying out the boogie board....

Look at how beautiful it was!  Does it look like a hurricane is coming?  We didn't think so!  But, while we were at the house for lunch, the property manager came by to let us know that the sheriff has sent an email requiring a mandatory evacuation for residents and a voluntary evacuation for guests.  And, so then we got busy on what we should do.  We continued to monitor the hurricane and it did look like it was headed for the Gulf on Tuesday....but would it really?  Was this stupid hurricane really going to ruin our vacation that we had planned for months?  What is a hurricane like - could we 'ride it out'?  So many questions!

We spent the rest of the day on the beach enjoying the time we did have.  Marc cooked steaks for dinner so we could be sure and start eating the food we had bought!  That evening, we received an automated message from the sheriff stating that there was a mandatory evacuation for both residents and guests for Monday.  At that point, we knew we had to leave.  We considered going a variety of places since we all had taken off the entire week from work.  I cried a few tears of disappointment and had MANY talks with God asking him to turn that hurricane somewhere else.

Monday morning we woke up to a cloudy, gray, still day.  We had decided to pack up and just head back home.  Instead of flying back, we ALL piled in the van together.  It had started sprinkling and the winds were picking up.  We enjoyed one last lunch at The Crab Shack.  Then, it was time fo rthe 12 hour car ride....and we had no idea how Madden would do.....

Luckily, I had brought some entertainment - it's amazing what you can do with pipe cleaners!  Ha!  We watched movies, played, ate snacks.....and the adults took turns driving.....and by 7pm, Madden was asleep!



Madden slept the whole rest of the way home - from 7pm-1:30am.  He was the perfect traveler.  I hated that our vacation got cut short - we were ALL disappointed.  But, we were thankful for the 36 hours of beautiful weather that we did have.  We had talked all summer about going to the beach and we went!  Madden loved it and he didn't know whether we were supposed to spend 1 day or 6 days.....that's the beauty of kid thinking!

We got home about 1:30am and all went to bed.  Tuesday was spent unpacking what we had just packed.  I was in a BIG BAD MOOD.  Here it was....Tuesday....I had the rest of the week off....and we were at home....the place I was looking forward to taking a break from! 

Well, Brad and Laura were also feeling the bad mood and invited us to their parents lake house in Whitney, TX.  Not exactly the beach, but it would be a place to go and relax and just be away from home.  So, we went.....and it was EXACTLY what we needed!  It was such a wonderful place - relaxing, peaceful, room for Madden to run and play.  The Curreys picked up their daughter, Brynn too - so Madden had a playmate! 

Soon after we arrived, we went out on the lake for a boat ride....

We cooked dinner and relaxed the rest of the evening while the kids played!

The next day was another relaxing one - we went down to the lake for a swim - and Madden loved it!

Brynn - not as much!  She preferred being on the boat...



What looked to be a ruined vacation because of Hurricane Issac turned out to be a fun week.  Not the vacation we had planned - but we made lots of memories and enjoyed a week with family and friends away from all the hustle and bustle. 

We got home on Friday and still had a 3 day weekend to enjoy before heading back to work on Tuesday.

Hopefully we will get back to Florida next summer....although it will be a little different with a new baby.  One thing I do know is that we won't plan to go during hurricane season!