Photo Credit: © 2006 Lynne Holder

Sunday, April 29, 2012

D12: Family Reunion

If I were to make a movie of our week in Destin, that's what the title would be.

And here is the movie poster photo:

Left to right: Kate, Laurie, Natasha, Justin, Jennifer, Jon, Leland, Me, Chris, Alison, and Ross 
When Leland and I arrived at our fantastic beach house for the week, the first thing to do was get our hug tanks filled. The next occasion was to greet our son-in-law-to-be, Ross, when he and Laurie arrived. Sidebar ---> Welcome to the craziness, Ross!

There was so much laughter, so much fun. The weather was perfect. The beach was perfect. The water was beautiful shades of blue and green, and clear--like glass. There were even waves, much to Leland's surprise.

It was almost this deserted while we were there--so relaxing. Photo credit: Jon McCalmont
This sand bar was a favorite spot. Photo credit: Lynne Holder

Kate had never seen the ocean before and it was wonderful to watch the awe on her face as she took it all in for the first time--the sight of a vast, blue ocean, the sound of the surf, the feel of the soft, white sand on her feet, the seagulls, and sandpipers scurrying along the edge of the water. Being the nature girl that she is, she loved the birds, and was fascinated by the starfish Aunt Ali found in the shallow water.

The ocean was a little overwhelming for her, so her place for most of the week was a safe distance from the water, in her beach chair.



The rest of us made camp under 2 canopies, with all the necessities of beach lounging: chairs, towels, sunblock (still, red stripes were abundant), coolers stocked with drinks, and tunes. Ladderball was the most strenuous activity of the week.

Kate decided to ref for Justin and Chris

I think Chris might have gotten bored with all this relaxation at one point, because he started digging a hole under our canopy. It got big, then bigger. Kate had a great time disappearing and popping out of the hole.

Photo credit: Lynne Holder

The hole continued to grow, until it got big enough for Justin to fit into, so he decided that he would hide in there and surprise Kate when she returned from her potty break. Here's video of the surprise. FYI, the elephant noise Justin made was one of Kate's favorite things. He did this all week and she never got tired of it. I was pretty amused by watching him decide whether or not his drink was worth consuming at the end, as well as with Kate's reaction to finding Uncle Justin.



There were so many funny things going on all week that kept us all laughing ourselves silly: reciting movie lines from all their favorite movies (Kung Fu Panda was the movie of the week--Skadoosh!), Kate dancing and everyone dancing with her, vacation stance (you had to be there), body surfing sand rashes (Chris beat Leland, with the bloody forehead). And there was the unbelievably sweet gesture from the kids, treating Leland and I to dinner at Louisiana Lagniappe.

In an effort to keep this recap a reasonable length, I will post "D12: The Sequel", soon. More to come!

How blessed am I? L to R: Jennifer, Laurie, Justin, Alison, and the happiest mom on the planet.

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