last full day [destin 2012]...

we wanted to get everything we could out of our last day in destin!  we spent a majority of the day at the beach, of course! 

sarah buried the kids [plus brad].

preston loved the water everyday, but especially on the last day!



we went to the back porch for dinner.  it was my favorite place we ate the whole trip. 

the weather was perfect and we got a table right on the water. they had a little playground right on the beach, which was perfect!  we were able to take the kids down there to play while we waited for our dinner.

we headed down to the beach afterwards to get some final [ :( ] photos.

we left early the next morning, and the kids rode with justin and i.  we joked that preston did better than his mom & dad on the 12 hour drive home :)  i'm so glad we finally made this family vacation a reality.  we had the best time!  I'm so glad we were able to share these memories with our favorite emerson's too! 

day 4 [destin 2012]...

we started off day for at the beach again.  it was overcast, but that didn't stop us!

with our vacation coming to an end, sarah and i opted to spend nap time at the beach.  it was SO relaxing!

after nap we all headed went to the beach.  sarah and the kids fed the seagulls, and i got some cute photos.  i couldn't believe they ate right out of sarah's hand!

after our beach day, we got dressed and headed to harborwalk village for dinner and a dolphin boat tour.  this dinner was definitely the worst we had, but seriously one bad meal out of all of them?  i'd say we did pretty good!  we made the best of it!

after dinner we walked around the village before getting on board the southern star!

heading out was a bit rocky [literally] but once we made it out of the port, it was smooth sailing.  we got to see several dolphins, and the kids loved feeding the seagulls from the back of the boat and spotting the dolphins.

the kids also got to drive the boat :)

another day down, and only one more to go before we wrap up our first family vacation!

chicago 2012...

i had a trip to chicago for work last weekend, and was able to meet up with my mom and dad :)  it was great spending some QT time with them exploring chicago.  from their first taxi ride, to north shore beach, to fireworks at the pier and everything in between...we had a great weekend making memories.