A Big Birthday

I've known this post was coming all summer long but unfortunately that isn't making it any easier.  This was a big year for our Ava.  She turned 5 while we were at the beach and we had a great day celebrating this big milestone!

She has matured so much this past year and we are so proud of the little lady that she has become.  She is such a great big sister to Keegan and he just adores her.  He is going to miss Sissy so much this school year.

Ava wanted a Barbie party so before we left on Saturday we had family over for pizza and fun!

So our sweet girl is headed off to Kindergarten on Monday.  The last five years have disappeared into the past, leaving behind precious photos and sweet videos of first steps and pumpkin patches.....  We are starting a new chapter of life.  Ava is so excited to start school.  She talks about the playground and music class and doesn't seem to get how life-changing this really is.  She picked up on how sad I was last month and pointed out "You are still going to pick me up and bring me home in the afternoon."  I laughed through tearful eyes because she's right but she doesn't understand how much I'll miss her during the day.  It makes my heart happy that she is so ready and excited.  I want so much for this year to be amazing for her but the letting go is so tough.  I will no longer plan our days and control our time.  We will send her off and we will pray. 

We will pray for her safety and her teacher.  We will pray she is kind and makes the sweetest friends.  We will pray that she loves what she is learning and takes it all in.  But above all we will pray that her little light will shine before others and she will stand strong in the Truth.  I can't go with her but oh how I'm thankful He can.

 

 

 

 

Destin Vacation

The four of us headed to Destin last weekend and spent the week as beach bums on Mirimar Beach.  I booked the condo back in February so we looked forward to our first beach vacation for over six months and I can't believe it's over!  The weather was mostly sunny for our stay and the water was absolutely beautiful just like we've always heard.  Although it's a lot of work traveling with kiddos, we had such an amazing time!

Our condo was on the third floor with an amazing view from the veranda.

We spent a lot of time out here just listening to the waves and drinking coffee.  The kids loved lounging and playing out there too.

We checked in around 4 and changed to head right down to the beach. 

It was just awesome watching the kids experience the ocean for the first time.  They quickly noted that the sand was much different than at the beach pool. 

And they watched the waves for a minute before taking off into them. 

Ava quickly declared that she loved the beach after only a couple of minutes.

Keegan couldn't get over the sand.  He was covered from head to toe and carried around handfuls of it for a while. 

He thought the waves were pretty great too!  He spent the week bobbling up and down in his puddle jumper :-)

We spent the majority of our week just hanging out in the sand....building sand castles, riding the waves on body boards, napping, playing baseball, and shell hunting.

 

 

 

The bunk beds did not disappoint and the kids LOVED sleeping and playing in them.

And Ava loved having her snacks and breakfast served up at the bar :-)

We played a couple of board games in the evening but Ava found the card game Old Maid in a basket by the TV and wanted to play it every night.  She still says that was one of her favorite parts of our trip :)

Our good friends staying in Panama City Beach invited us to come out on a boat with them on Wednesday so we met up with them that morning and had such a fun day!

We drove out to seashell island and collected some really pretty shells. 

The kids had so much fun with their friends....and so did we!

It started raining on us that afternoon so it became quite adventurous (and wet) trying to get back to the marina.  I tried to cover the kids up and huddle them close and they passed out on our way back.

We had really great seafood at the Crab Trap one night.

Jeff had snow crab and I had some of the best crab cakes I've ever had!

The kids loved the playground at the Crab Trap.  We let them play for a bit after we ate.  Pretty cool view for a playground!

We made it down to the Destin Harbor walk Village a couple of times.  It was fun to see all the boats take off and dock and we stopped for ice cream one night.

And Ava turned 5 while we were on our trip!  I'll have to post about her birthday soon. 

I don't think I have ever posted so many pictures!!  We had such a memorable time but a lot of the best memories I didn't even capture like playing games at night and swimming in the pool until dark.  The drive was long and the sand was all over pretty much everything we owned by the end of the week!  But it was all so worth it to spend time as a family in such a beautiful place.