Fall Break Beach Days (Hello Nate!)

In October (right after I found out I was pregnant!!) we loaded up in two cars and headed down to Destin, Florida. We invited Gamma and Poppy to go with us this year and got a big 3-bedroom condo. The week that we were heading down to Florida, a tropical-storm-turned-hurricane Nate was heading up towards the Gulf. We both arrived at just about the same time and "lost" a day of beaching it because of the surf and winds. The pictures don't do justice to the force of the winds or the waves, it was really quite impressive. The condominium staff were quick to get most things back open within a couple of days so that the tourists could enjoy what they drove down for! In the meantime, we did let the boys run in the waves (they couldn't go out far because the current and riptides were dangerous) and we did some shopping at the outlet malls.

Everyone was excited to be in Destin, even if we had an unwelcomed visitor named Nate.

Little Maclyn was not a fan of the water....she did eventually warm up to it and by the end of the week was letting us take her into the calm sea. She enjoyed the pool so that was always an option!

Shopping at Wal-Mart with a couple crazy boys while the rains started coming down...

Stuck inside....but checking out our playground for the next week. 

After we got "home" from shopping at the outlets, the rain had all but stopped so the boys were itching to go out to the beach. We weren't the only ones excited to put our feet in the sand and water, lots of people were out despite the winds and high surf. The kids weren't going to let a little gloomy weather stop their beach vacation so Josh and I joined in! (well, I stood back and took pictures...it was a bit cool for my liking!)