vacation day 2

Sunday, November 28: Day 2

It seemed to be a good, restful night for everyone. Reed did wake up around 2am but a session with mommy pacified him and he went back to sleep. It was a little after 6am when the whole crew woke up and got out of bed. I did my best to sleep in a little longer but by 6:30, we were all up and at 'em. Mommy was up early enough to experience the most beautiful part of the sunrise but I got to see just enough to motivate me to get up for tomorrow's.
For breakfast, Amanda made cinnamon rolls and her infamous fruit and veggie smoothies. While the kids finished breakfast, Amanda left for a run. It was around 8:30 and Cooper and Reed were ready for their morning naps. While those two slept and mommy ran, Avin and Parker seemed to enjoy just having a few hours to watch TV, play Leapster, play Yegos (Legos) and just hang out in the condo. After her 45 minute run that took her through most of the resort, on both sides of the highway, Amanda called from the beach and told me to bring Avin and Parker out to the balcony. The boys saw her waiving from the beach and got excited, wanting to go to the beach themselves. We were able long enough for me to get a quick run in. I decide to run barefoot on the beach. I headed west for 2 miles and turned around and ran one mile back and walked the last mile. I learned that running on the beach barefoot is all novelty. It's pretty exhausting and you really can't enjoy the surrounding simply because you really can't ever safely take your eye off of the path directly in front of you.

After the run, we got Cooper up (she took a 3 hour nap; awesome!), we ate an early lunch (10:30) and we got our "play in the sand" clothes on and headed to the beach. Avin & Parker were pumped and took to the sand like it was just a giant sandbox. Cooper, not so much. Any effort to put her in the sand resulted and screaming and crying. So, Amanda, Reed and Cooper spent the time on a blanket or in the beach chairs while Avin, Parker and I played in the sand. Cooper, at one point, did figure out a way to play in the sand without leaving her spot on the blanket and she would hold her shovel in the air and say "I did it!"
It didn't take long for Avin & Parker to discover the water. Not content to simply get their feet wet, their "play in the sand" clothes soon became their swim suits. Parker enjoyed getting just far enough to sit and let the water wash over him, Avin, however, just crept farther and farther until we had to tell him to come back. At one point, while Avin was in and Parker was out, I noticed a jellyfish about the size of a football washing up. Everyone's interest in the jellyfish was short lived and Avin went right back in the water saying, "Tell me if you see anymore jellyfish dad!"
At one point, while the kids all played, I noticed seagulls flying right past us, one right after the other. It seemed very odd until I noticed just west of us someone was throwing bread to them. What amazed me (and why I consider it noteworthy) was the fact that one guy throwing crumbs of bread drew what seemed like hundreds of these birds to him as if the first group got on their little seagull cell phones and called all of their seagull friends to come join the party. Ok, enough with the ode to the albatross.
Seeing that the kids obviously wanted to swim, we decided that Amanda and Reed would run up to the condo and get actually swim suits while I got Avin, Parker and Cooper gathered and cleaned up. Amanda's trip was made a little longer when she realized I had the key but she was quick to get everything and meet us at the pool. We decided to let them swim in the adult pool as it's heated and the kidding was definitely not. For the most part, the three of them just hung around the steps which we encouraged since neither Amanda or I really had a desire to get in. There was one little incident when Cooper slipped and little and ended up with her head under water. she struggled a little and Amanda panicked. We reached down and puller her out. She was a little shaken up but I praised her saying, "You went under water like a big girl." I could tell Amanda didn't care for my casual reaction to the incident but, in hind-sight, we both probably should have reacted a little differently. All is well though, and that's what really matters.
While at the pool, Grandma Reen called. When I told her we were at the pool, she said "where are you that you're swimming." I told her she needed to do a better job of keeping up on Facebook. After a brief chat, we gathered up the kids and headed up to room to clean up.

After cleaning up and changing clothes, we headed across the highway to the Baytown Warf. This area is part of our same resort complex but located on the north side of highway 20 on the shores of a large intercoastal. We drove through the area for a little while seeing what Amanda had seen earlier on her morning run. After a quick tour, we parked at the warf and unloaded the kids. From the car, it was a quick walk acrossed a wooden bridge to a large playground much like the kids kingdom playground back home. The kids loved it but Parker had some issues. First, he slowly walked out of the playground towards us saying, "I went poopy!" After a punishment and a cleaning, it was back to playing. All was going well until Amanda & I looked over at Parker as he proceeded to completely saturate his jeans with pee while staring right back at us. Needless to say, we were pretty frustrated with him at this point. Parker has been potty trained for a long time now and this was just completely out of character for him. So, it was time to leave. Avin was upset to have to leave in such a hurry but he understood his brother had made a bad choice. While walking to the car, I did my absolute best to block Parker and his pee-soaked pants from anyone we walked by. Fortunately, we weren't far from the condo so we headed there to get a change of pants (a and backup pair).
It was about 3:30 at this point and we decided to head west for an early dinner. We decided to go to Fudpucker's as it appeared to be a fun place to eat. The kids got really excited as we pulled in because they could tell from the exterior of the restaurant that it was going to be a fun place. We made our way up the stairs and past the alligator pit to the main level. You could really tell this was a fun place. From the friendly staff to the guest signatures that covered every square in of the interior and exterior, it certainly was a unique restaurant. The manager Keith sat us and really engaged with each of the kids. From their, Mike waited on us and was awesome. He interacted with the kids and even made small comments that gave me a good sense that he was a believer. I learned that Mike was from the Tampa area and has lived several places including Tennessee.
At one point, we asked Mike where the best place to get ice cream was in Destin. He answered just as I thought he would, "Well, your at one of the best spots." He then proceed to list several, including a place called the Marble Stone Creamery. It was then that he mentioned the "great Christian people" that owned the shop.
After dinner, we left the main dinning room of the restaurant and went out to the patio that contained a playground (also covered in signatures) and a gator pit. The pit had about 10 very small alligators in it. Along the walk way, there were small, alligator related exhibits. One of these exhibits was a large aquarium housing an albino gator. After the tour, we left and head to Target for the second night in a row.

We decided Target was a necessary stop tonight because we failed to bring any of the kids floaties for swimming. With floaties, and several other things, purchase, it was time for ice cream.
We initially passed Marble Stone in route to another shop called Bruster's. We decided not to get ice cream there, however, because it only had outdoor seating and it was just a little too chilly for that. In the end, we landed at Marble Stone. I'm convinced it was all part of God's great ice cream plan for us because this place was AWESOME. The kids each got a small cup of ice cream and I got blend of sweet ice cream, chocolate chips, butterfinger, and caramel served in a homemade waffle bowl. Needless to say, it was amazing.

After ice cream, it was time to call it a night. It was about 5:45pm when we got back to the condo. We decided to let the kids watch Bee Movie while straightened up and got everything ready for bed and for tomorrow morning. The kids were all great and you could see them growing more and more tired (especially Avin). At about 7:30pm, with their new vacation pj's on, we put the kids to bed. Avin was a little upset that I didn't let them have any time to read before bed, but I did let them all stay up later than usually to watch a movie. Anyway, they all went down easily and all was quiet. The rest of our evening was spent talking about the day and cleaning things up a bit more. Now, it a little before 10pm and I'm watching the colts play and listening to Reed cry. I guess I should go see if he's alright.
Until tomorrow...goodnight!