{Sandestin 2013: Adventures}

Our family loves visiting new places and exploring. Sandestin resort offered plenty of that. The village's closed proximity to our condo was perfect for our nightly stroll after a busy fully day at the beach.

Candy shops at the beach are always a big hit. The kids got some travel goodie money from their aunt...(lucky lil ones), so they were all too excited to grab them some sugar!

We had dinner one night at Hammerhead restaurant. The food was nothing to rave about, but it provided a great view of the bay.

The adventure land playground at village was so cool, and the kids had a great time exploring.

There are so many things to do at village. One night, we hang out at the adventure area and had fun watching people ziplining and sky bounce.

Samantha had a great idea of just enjoying the view and listening in to some good music.

Merry go round fun around the village.

Some great sno cones, to keep us cool in this hot summer day.

We've enjoyed some great dining around the area. When in Destin, McGuirre's Irish bar is a favorite. Bonus point, they were having Martini night and all were only $3 a drink.

Our favorite dinner from this trip was at Pompano Joe's. Delicious seafood and great beach view. Ed and I agreed that we should have gone to this place earlier and did a repeat during the week.

Yes, those oyster delish!!! Ed had their specialty drink Ed and it did not disappoint.

We lucked out and had great weather most of  our stay. So, what to do on one rainy day...check out one of the 17 Alvin's Shop near the resort, and let the kid wonder around and look at all the junk :)

{Sandestin 2013: Family Pictures}

The lawn at the Grand Sandestin is so gorgeous, and thought it'd be a fun backdrop for some summer family pictures. Love how the pictures turned out, even those taken with a self timer.

Our family.

Brothers and sisters.

Best buds.

I am blessed to be their momma.

Silly guys!

My people. I love them dearly!

{Sandestin 2013: The Beach}

This year's beach trip wasn't with our typical crew, and it was a great opportunity for some quality family time. We still wanted to stay at the gulf coast, but this time at a location with options for smaller condos and convenient location for activities. Sandestin resort offered just that!

We stayed at the Luau condos and had a great view of the bay from our living room. We enjoyed numerous gorgeous sunrises and sunsets.

The cool thing...one morning, we caught a glimpse of a deer leisurely strolling around the woods right in front of our window. The kids (and grown up) loved this.

Our condo was a lil further out from the beach, and we took advantage of the resort's tram service for convenience. Here's William and Samantha, eagerly waiting for the tram and get to the beach.

We had great weather for most of the days, and spent just about every time of our vacation at the beach. To say that we all LOVE the beach would be an understatement. I am just so happy that both kids are perfectly content at spending a whole day, having fun in the sand and catching waves.

Monica had a free day and drove to Destin, and spent a day with our family. It was so sweet of her and we all very much enjoyed her company. We don't see Monica and Clint much, but I love how the kids adore them, and can pick up where we left off.

Samantha pretty much walked back and forth from the water to the sand all day long. She had so much fun working and rebuilding sand castles.

She's  a busy lil girl!

This big boy spent most of his days in the water with his Daddy. He's so brave and loves catching big waves.

He also made friends with a big kid and was encouraged to try boogie boarding. All of these just keeps reminding me that he's no longer a baby.

{Back To School 2013}

One more milestone checked off the list, William started his "real" kindergarten this week and Samantha started with Pre-school I. I can't believe how fast my babies are growing.

We picked up a couple of new uniforms for William and a new backpack from Land's Ends big enough to carry his homework folder. Loved that he decided to go with orange and blue and we had his named monogrammed. This is such an exciting time for him. He's one of the first student for his school's German immersion program.

We met with his teachers at the school's open house and we couldn't be more pleased with our school of choice. He'll be spending half of the day with his American teacher, Ms. Fleming, and focus on Reading and Literature. The other half of his day, will be with his German teacher, Frau Miltner. They'll be focused on Math's and Sciences. Makes sense, because a number is a number. The intent is by the time that he is in 5th grade, he'll be fluent like a native speaker. Exciting! Frau Miltner DOES NOT speak English at all in front of the kids. When we walked in, she was speaking in German to us. When no kids were around, I heard her speak English, without a single hint of accent at all. They said kids learn language better and immersing them, they'll just absorb the change like a sponge.

Here are a couple of first day of school pictures of my big boy.

A sweet first day picture with Dad and a picture in front of school.

Big hug from lil sister to big brother on his first day at school.

The whole family, checking out William's classroom.

Samantha transitioned and had her first day of Pre-school I as well today. She is very excited to learn more big girl stuff. The class focuses on honing in on pottery training. Samantha has been pottery trained for almost a year. She was feeling like a rockstar, that she's one of the kids who are a Pro on this. She was so proud to show of her ribbon stamp from potty training. She also drew a backpack of William as his first day of school art work. How sweet!

A thumbs up from William for first day of school! When I picked him up from afterschool at Wieuca, he was so excited to introduce me to his new friends Rowan and Murry.

Here's to a great year William and Samantha! Enjoy learning and be kind to all the people that you will meet.

{4th of July 2013: Part 2}

The weekend of the 4th, the sun showed up in spurts and we took advantage of the moments to do some typical summer fun activities. Saturday, we drove to see the L family for some fun at that lake.
They had their annual golf parade. The dads and the kids had a great time riding!

It was fun watching the kids waved at us.

My kids have been looking forward to their boat ride at Mr. Bobby's boat. These 3 are seriously best buds. Can't wait for Lena to be up and about and join this crew.

Kids also had fun swimming at the look looking for golf balls near this hole.

Oh what an absolutely great time we had! So blessed to have friends who feels like family.

We were also ecstatic to hear that the Chamblee fireworks was on schedule for Sunday. The H family met up with us, and we had a great time. I love this fireworks show and a must for us every 4th.

The mommas!

The kiddos running around before the show.

The 7th of July celebration. Go 'merica!

Rockin' it out with the band to Livin' on  a Prayer.

Windin' down a lil before the big fireworks and Samantha deemed a nap was necessary.

Another great fireworks show, another great 4th. Blessed to be living in this wonderful country!