We immediately hit the pool upon arrival. Our resort had 3 pools, 2 of which were very kid friendly. We spent the overwhelming majority of our time in the kiddie pool, which featured fountains, climbing areas, and a pirate ship water slide. There was also a shaded play area next to the kiddie pool that Joe enjoyed playing in. 
Dean and I took turns spending time with Ben down by the pool and shuffling after Joey as he walked around and made trips back and forth from our condo to the pool. Joey definitely took advantage of the relaxing potential on vacation and took 2 naps every day (each at least an hour and a half long) and slept for at least 11 hours every night. Good boy, Joe Joe!
Joe was not a fan of the beach. He would stand with feet firmly rooted and refuse to move and just whine and throw his hands up into the air, demanding to be picked up!!! He REALLY wanted nothing to do with the ocean and neither did Ben, which is actually fine by Dean and I as we are not big fans of the ocean either!!! I do enjoy walking on the beach though and was able to talk Ben into joining me for a walk a couple of times, but wish I could have spent some more time on the beach. Oh well. I was able to look at it from our room everyday so I suppose that counts for something!!!
As I said, Benny loved the pool. He was the life of the party, quickly making friends and organizing adventures whenever he was at the pool. Joey spent his time working the crowd. He was especially popular with the grandparents and would wander around smiling at people and looking cute.
On Tuesday we decided to take a break from the pool and beach and went to the Gulfarium to see some marine wildlife. I was a bit dissapointed upon first glance; it seemed really small and depressing, kind of reminded me of the marine park in "Free Willy." However, after the first show featuring the sea lions, it quickly became apparent that the staff/trainers were very knowledgeable and the animals were loved and cared for and seemingly quite happy. They had several animals who had been born in the gulfarium and many who had lived there for over 30 years! We saw a sea lions show, dolphin show, and a "multi-species" show featuring a sea lion and two dolphins; it was so cute seeing how they interacted...though the trainers did say they probably would have no interaction if they were in the wild. Joey really liked the wild birds and got in a shouting match with a pink cockatu! He also enjoyed the sea lions. Benny liked the alligators best. gross.
By Wednesday the novelty of being on vacation seemed to be wearing off. Joey was not in the best mood and Benny was not on his best behavior so they were quite the pair. Dean took Ben down to the pool to swim in the morning and Joey and I came down to join them for about 10 minutes before Joe had a meltdown and wanted to go back to the condo!! Dean took bug back upstairs and I stayed with Ben at the pool..until he found it impossible to share with another little boy at the pool and had to go back to the condo to spend some time in his "time out" bunk...he has been spending quite a bit of time in this spot the past couple of days!!! Joey likes to put himself in time out and go sit with Ben, so it quickly turns into less punishment and more play time!
After lunch at the condo the boys and I convinced Dean to take us out for ice cream and Joey and I polished off a hot fudge sundae and Benny enjoyed a reese's peanut butter cup milkshake/blizzard thing. Yummy!
Another cool thing about where we are staying is that we are near Eglin Air Force base so there are frequently (often several times an hour) fly overs of Army helicopters and fighter jets. It is really loud, but pretty cool too.
On Wednesday night Dean grilled out steaks at our condo and we attempted the beach one more time as a family for sunset. It was a cloudy night, but our time in the sand went much better. It is probably an overstatement to say that Joe enjoyed the beach, but he did tolerate the experience with much more enthusiasm and even mustered a smile while dumping handfuls of sand on his brother's lap!
On Thursday morning Ben and I went for a walk on the beach and collected some shells to show Nana and Oma when we got home and saw a huge fish head washed up on shore. It was nasty but the walk was delightful. I loved spending time with Ben sitting in the sand and staring out at the beautiful ocean. It was one of the highlights of my entire trip.
As I said before, the resort we stayed at was VERY family friendly and we became fast friends with several of the families that hung out at "our" pool as often as we did! Ben's "best" friend was a little girl named Louise. They were practicaly inseperable most days. Here they are saying goodbye our last day!
Dean and Ben played putt putt on Thursday afternoon and after much discussion Dean and I decided that rather than drive 12 hours during daylight all day Friday we were going to leave Thursday night after dinner. We packed and spent the rest of the day chasing the boys around the pool and soaking up some more time in the sun (slathered in sunscreen of course)!
The drive home went surprisingly well. Here we were at the beginning of the trip...all fired up and ready to go!
We left Fort Walton Beach at 7:15 p.m. and pulled into our driveway at 7:10 a.m. Dean drove the entire way and I stayed awake and attempted to support him for all but about 45 minutes of the journey. Despite an intense lightening storm throughout the entire trip through Tennessee and massive rain in northern Tennessee and Kentucky AND Indiana...we made it and were really glad to be home. Today was a long day of cleaning, laundry, and putting everything away...and of course naps! The boys are already in bed and it is not even 8:00 p.m. and I don't think Dean and I are very far behind.
All in all, we had a great vacation and built many memories to last a lifetime. We are so blessed by our boys and cherish every moment spent with them...the good, the bad, and the exhausting! 
1 comment:
Wow! What an amazing vacation... can I come next time?
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