Get away Weekend

after spending the 4th with family and friends we left Little Girl with my in-laws and took Golden Boy to my parents and headed to the beach.

The drive wasn't all that bad until right outside of Destin. It took us over an hour to go 8 miles. 

Thankfully McGuire's was right when you cross the bridge in Destin and that was on the list of places to eat so we stopped there. 

An Irish Wake was for sure on the list of things that we wanted to try and we wanted to try the beer sampler too so we split an Irish wake.

it's a lot to take in if you have never been there. not your typical Beachy restaurant. a dark bar but neat. after finding our seat i headed to the bathroom. i looked to the right and saw Men on the door and then looked to the left and saw Women and headed into the one that said Women. The two huge urinals should have told me that i was in the mens bathroom but we had been driving and i need to go so i went into the stall. after washing my hands and about to head out a man looked in asking if it was a womens room? i told him i thought so but was beginning to think other wise. when i stepped out and looked at the door i saw my mistake, 

absolutely no 

WOMEN

allowed

oops i missed that.

we were very hungry so we ordered an appetizer: Boxtys, think mashed potatoes deep fried.

AMAZING 

the brown bread with butter was delicious. i could have licked the putter off of the bread alone. when i was a kid we use to go to a restaurant called steak and ale and they would bring out a brown bread like this. i use to call it chocolate bread. 

the .18 cent bean soup was very good

and we split the lamb chops, which came with onion rings, some type of cheese stuffed pepper and two sides. The Hubby wanted Irish Fries and i got asparagus. 

our beer sampler was just ok. if we went back i would just get the red. that one was my favorite.

My hubby kept telling me that the condo was across the street from the beach. it was a street in the sense that cars could drive on it but it was more like a walk way. this path lead us there.

Sunset #1

as we were sitting on the beach and then at this restaurant for lunch (which was right by our condo, we walked) we said why would anyone go to any other beach. it was just beautiful.

this was our first full day there. after we ate lunch we loaded up the chairs and umbrella and headed down for a day at the beach.

we ran out for a pizza dinner in time to get back for sunset.

 Pizza dinner was at Fat Clemenzas

dessert at Culvers, a frozen custard place

and back on the beach for Sunset #2

our last full day there we headed to the beach early and spent some morning time there. i got to read some too. We were discussing again how amazing the water was and the couple that was sitting next to us said that it was their second day at Destin. They were from up north and had gone to Cozumel and said Destin was better (we agreed)

They actually had rented an Air B&B in Ft Walton but said it was too seaweedy so they came into Destin and happened to find the small section of beach that we were on.

Sunset #3

Perception

It is interesting to hear someone's perception of how they think things were or are going. Recently my mom mentioned how when she and my dad were visiting us, in WA state, years ago, we went out for dinner and when dessert came out we had ordered something that we were sharing and we attacked the dessert with a vengeance. I can't remember any of this happening. sure i remember them visiting a few times while we lived there and can even remember places we went but this specific instance is vague to me. I asked my hubby about it and he said that he doesn't really remember that either and that we probably just wanted to eat up the dessert because we love dessert. any how i like hearing her perception of us from that time. she saw how we were frugal. we just appreciated that we got to live is such a beautiful area of the country for 3 years of our lives. we had so many great adventures while we were there to. some adventures local and others to places we only dreamed of going. we connected with people who we still hold dear to our hearts. i am pretty sure it took a few years for us to like tuna fish again. that is the food memory that my hubby has of that time.  

Brave

she is so small and brave

she was asked to read a verse this past Sunday in both contemporary services

she said yes but then when i reminded her of it she wasn't so sure and told us she was nervous

i told her it was ok to be nervous but that i thought she would do great

the Wednesday before we went to practice

she had written out the verse. She had been practicing before that too

i told her that i heard the first kid the week before and how she asked the congregation to please stand for the reading

she looked at me and said i don't want to do that.

i asked her why, she said that she didn't want to tell adults what to do.

i explained to her that she would be asking them to "please" stand up.

here she is on Wednesday night waiting for her turn to go up and practice.

she did a run through of it two times.

when she was done she whispered in my ear that she wanted to do it again.

they let her come up and try again.

later that night she told me that she was nervous the first two times but by the third time it was fun.

on Sunday we were at church early for her to practice again.

she asked if all the seats would be filled.

i told her probably not.

she did great for the first service

when it was time for the 2nd service we were waiting on the front row and she glanced back

her eye got huge and she said there are so many more people here.

she did great for the 2nd service as well.

the picture below was taken before any of the services started.

it was a time of calm and quiet in a busy day

i am so proud of her

it was a short verse and she was only on stage for a few seconds but this is something i never would have done as an 8 year old. So happy she did. I was on the front row but my hubby was back a bit and recorded her.

Looking Back June Edition

You can see how we started our month here.

Then we were boarding a plane and headed to Orlando for Family Vacation.

Breakfast in the Airport.

Our Magical Express B47.

They look way to grown up here chatting as we were waiting to check in

This was only the beginning of Golden Boys obsession with Guitar Hero. You could find him here if we were at the resort and not in the pool.

Day 1 in the park gave us a bit of a scare. This is what i said about this photo on Instagram: Holding tight after a scare where we lost him. He stuck by my Side for a good while after That, received lots of hugs and told me multiple times how much his heart still hurt after it all. He talks about it as the time he lost his family. learning lessons and good things to do when times like this happens. Growing up and still young and close. The ups and downs of growing up are hard but good. 

My hubby's Uncle came for some of the vacation. It was his first time in Disney. Be brought great snacks for the kids and adults and we all had a great time with him. We worked really hard to get him to stay one more day. He did and the morning that he decided to leave the girls made one last attempt to get him to stay. 

It was a whirl wind of a vacation but a lot of fun. There are so many pictures to go through and loads of laundry to do.

after we got back we were in need of phone change so my sweet hubby took care of all the details and this was the first photo i took with my new phone. my case is a mint green color which is pretty but not the color that i would have chosen originally. i knew she would like it though and she did.

we had a birthday party to celebrate

a baby shower to attend

served in childrens church on sunday morning

shoes are from Avarcas USA

and attended another birthday party

Golden boy went for a week with Bear and Honey and Little girl stayed with Papa and Granny so hubby and i headed for the mountains for a few nights. It was a pre-birthday celebration.

never put me in charge of the snacks. i came back with all the things. coke icee included. it's a must. i posted this on instagram: "Dear Burger King, we are so over you. You have let us down too many times. From US"

Our Cabin, Dancing in the Moonlight (the names of these cabins crack me up)

the view

enjoying the view

day 2 involved a jeep trip

we drove the 49 miles of the blue ridge parkway that we missed last summer. making it to the highest elevation on the parkway.

our 12 hour trip in The Wanderer. the Jeeps name couldn't be more perfect.

we too Golden Boy to see Solo

I love, love, loved it. My hubby was going to take him the week before and kept asking me if i wanted to go. i didn't really care either way. i knew i would eventually see it. i am so glad that he waited and i got to go and see it too.

here is what i wrote about my thoughts on it:  *Love learning all the small things that make him who he is. *Love how he got his name Han Solo. * Love how he and Chewie met. *Was worried I wouldn't like young Hans. (I mean Harrison Ford. Come on, he is epic and dreamy.) Young Han though, just as cocky and yep, dreamy. Way to go on finding young Han. *The music was fab. I loved hearing small bits of the original score running through the movie. *I have been wanting a pant suit (or maybe they are called jump suits, IDK) all I know is that I wanted one before I even saw this movie but after seeing Qi'ra in her's, YEP I want one. *oh and she is Lou from Me Before You. *Sawyer said the Millennium Falcon didn't look the same, he was right and I would have never noticed (it looked the same by the end of the movie though) *He also said he was pretty sure that who we thought was Darth Maul wasn't. (i'm going to trust him, he has watched the movies more that I have. he said there were things about him that weren't the same (the light saber being one for sure))

Pretty much, I really enjoyed the movie.

we had a game of monopoly going and the kids were out pretty quick. it rolled over into the next morning and i was so ready to just quit but my hubby said we were playing to the end. Money kept changing hands and there were multiple times when one of us were completely out of money and then would come back. I ended up winning the whole thing.

the last day of the month we were invited to some friends back yards for a Summer Backyard bash

I said friends and yards because their two back yards but up against one another.

they have a gate between the yard so we could go between either yard to chat and hang out and for the kids to play. 

this is their second year to have this, we missed last years with all of our traveling. 

i am so glad that we were able to make it and hang out with everyone. the kids had a great time and so did we.

Shelved

We bought those two book shelves when we moved into our house 11 years ago. 
My parents told us they were bringing us their book shelves fathers day weekend. They are wooden bookshelves that survived Katrina in the New Orleans court house. They are way bigger than our other ones. 

My dad and mom Helped us set up and anchor the shelves after listening to Michael and I marriage squabble about how to set them up.
 

That TV is just for the playstation. 
That window frame has photos of all of our grandparents wedding pictures (minus one because we couldn't find one of my paternal grandparents) each of our parents wedding pic and us. It came down because it wouldn't be centered anymore but I've had it for 16 years so it's going back somewhere. 

We are hoping to repaint so the big putty spot where dad busted the sheet rock but patched it for me will be covered.
The Lego table will be gone soon. 😢 he just doesn't play with them anymore. I'm not sure why we ever chose that track lighting but since an ugly chandelier was there when we bought the house anything was better. We debated about a fan but decided on a school house light. 

And when we get a new entertainment center for the other side of the room, we will move that one between the book shelves because it matches better. This current one was a $10 Craig's list find but is in pretty rough condition. 
Wow that was a lot. 
There's still a lot to do. 
One step at a time. 

But first....ALL.THE.LEGOS

8 is great

She lives with a song in her heart

Is full of joy

Loves BIG

enjoys life

Happy birthday beautiful girl, you can do amazing things.

8 is great

Hair washed and cut

Making cupcakes out of her new cook book