July 4th - Destin Style

As soon as Karlee woke Friday morning, we hit the road to Destin to celebrate the July 4th holiday with just our little family of 3 1/2. We arrived to a chaotic scene of firetrucks and ambulances zooming by us on Hwy 98. A stunt plane had crashed into the water about a mile off the shoreline while performing. We kept driving to find that it had happened right near our condo. We ate lunch at Pompano Joe's and watched the scene unfold with coast guard boats surrounding the site looking for the plane and its passengers. Unfortunately, the two men did not survive the crash. What a way to start our weekend.



We stayed in the same first floor unit at Huntington by the Sea as we did last year for Memorial Day. It was again perfect to just walk out and be on the beach or at the pool with a 2 year old that loves the beach. Flags were surrounding the grounds and Karlee went straight for them. She had her own little flag parade by walking around with one, putting it back, and getting another one. The parade even made it down to the beach!



We enjoyed pretty nice weather, no oil, and huge waves. I think Hurricane Alex caused the rough waters. The current was strong and I had a hard time just standing in the water. Karlee had to have strong daddy hands on her when she wanted to venture out above her ankles (which was about every 2 minutes!).



We saw fireworks on Saturday night at Harbor Walk Village after dinner. Karlee liked them from a far since we were in our car by the time they started. She had danced the night away with the band and was just about asleep on her feet before they started. We headed to the family fun at Baytowne Wharf after dinner Sunday night to see the real show. Man, do they know how to do fireworks. This was probably the prettiest fireworks show I have seen in a very long time. There were lots of them, and they were huge. Karlee actually watched them this time but had her ears covered. We had an amazing view and they were really loud where we were sitting. She would say "Wow!" at the big ones. When they were over, she said "do it again." We had to bribe her with ice cream at 10:00 at night to get her to leave the area. She really wanted to see more.



Since where we stay is so small, there were only a few kids on the beach around us. Karlee was attached at the hip to a 6 year old named Lexie from Arkansas. She had a 2 year old sister but she whined a lot so Karlee stayed away from her! They built sand castles and ran in the water. Just looking at them made me know that Karlee is going to be a great big sister.

Monday brought about a new little girl. Lilly was 9 years old from Atlanta and took right up with Karlee immediately. She had buckets and showed Karlee how to catch coquina shells when the waves rolled in. I have always seen these on the beach but just thought they were seashells. They actually have something living in them and bury themselves in the sand like crabs when out of the water. This literally kept Karlee occupied and in one place for about an hour. A much needed still hour for pregnant mommy!! She would let out a big laugh every time one buried itself.



We are home now and trying to settle back in to reality. Chip and I are so fortunate to have a child that loves the beach as much as we do. The sand and salty water does not phase Karlee one bit. We'll see if we are just as lucky with little Madelyn when she arrives. I took a zillion pictures so just some of them are in the slide show below.



I hope you all enjoyed your 4th celebrations as much as we did.