Manifest Destin-y, Part 1

Needless to say, we were ready for some beach time, come spring break. The plan was to meet Oma and Papa and Uncky Dan and fam in Destin, Florida, a 9-hour drive for us. We opted to make the drive in one day. It was a long day, but we soldiered on and got to the house before sunset. Let the fun begin!

After brief greetings, it was straight to the beach for us, which was just a short 5-minute walk over the dunes at the end of the street. The boys tossed the football, while the girls enjoyed the shoreline.

The sunset was spectacular, and the beach was already worth the drive! Even if they were doing a once-in-a-12-year dredge with unsightly pipes right off our beach... 

To cap off our brief, but perfect beach visit, we saw several dolphins not far off shore.

Then it was back to the house for family time and pizza!

The next morning was pretty windy, especially on the beach, so it made sense to make it a pool day. We did a loop around the point and back in to the complex on the boardwalk to check out the other (non-heated) pool and the pond.

I didn't get any pictures at the heated pool, which was just the next block over, but we had a good time. We spent the rest of the day close to the house, each unwinding as they saw fit - whether enjoying fresh air reading on the balconies or vacuuming.

Tuesday morning saw us boarding a pontoon boat with Captain Jenn! It was time for a high seas (or high bay) adventure.

Once we cleared the bridge at the harbor, we picked up speed in the bay. Soon we noticed lots of dolphins and followed them for a while. Spotters up front!

It was a family effort to keep Will aboard. :)

A little further on, the dolphins were gone and the bay became pretty shallow. We had some time to kill, so out went the paddle board. We took turns on it, with and without kids aboard. It is harder to dock a paddle board to a boat than it looks, but it was fun!

After all the paddleboarding, we had worked up an appetite for refreshments at Lulu's. They have a fantastic set up on the bayfront with a huge, covered patio and white sand beach play area with water and sand toys. The kids had a blast! I think we could have stayed there all day, but we had to get the boat back.