What We Did Over Fall Break

This was the first family vacation we took that we didn't end up somewhere to visit our extended family. I offer up this suggestion. If anyone wants to move to Fort Walton (or Destin) you can count on a visit from us every fall & spring break! We loved it! We didn't do much, but we LOVED it! Here's what happened....

We got there shortly after midnight. We were all tired. Mike took the girls down to the beach. I unpacked. I don't feel settled until I can unpack and get settled. Then I can go and enjoy. I just wanted to go to bed and wake up early and hit the beach. It was worth the wait.


We've discovered that Kiersten likes to dig holes...
Which do you think is her best?

#1


#2 (you can see Kylie got in on the action too, but I think this was her only hole)


#3 I think she was catching on to the whole sand in the pants thing and made a very wise addition to the hole.


Reagan hangs back for awhile until she's comfortable with a situation...


then she's off and running (so to speak)


she was the first to capture a sea creature


a poor hermit crab (we didn't keep it, I can barely tolerate our hamster...there's more to this story, but I'll leave it at that for now)


our little lifeguard saved a butterfly!


Mike and girls grabbed their boogie boards and hit the waves...


Kylie got the biggest wave, but I missed it. Some surfer dude caught the same wave Kylie did and he told Mike that he was impressed with how gutsy she was. Here are some attempts at long distance boogie boarding shots.

Mike


Kylie


Kiersten


Kylie helping Reagan


Kiersten helping Reagan


We did leave the beach for a little while to see what else was around.


Follow me! Reagan seems to be very excited about something.


Oh yeah, that's my girl. The girls were very impressed with how the fishermen could get the nails to pop out so many of the fish eyes. If you're squimish I'll warn you now to skip the next picture.


Yep. I told you it was bad. Just keeping it real.


The girls were pretty grossed out too. That didn't stop us from walking around and finding a dead shark in a trash can. Make that a jawless shark!


Let me cleanse your mental pallet with a more pleasant photo now. (just ignore the streaks of bird poo and I think it's rather a nice scene)


We also went for a long walk on a long pier...


Mike says that it's not a very good spot to fish because the fish were too well fed. We didn't see many people catching anything. But we did see two people land a fish.

I don't think this fish was one the guy really wanted to catch. Glad I didn't have to get it off the hook!


On our walk we saw lots and lots of jellyfish...




When we got the end of the pier some guy actually caught a fish!

I think the other fish are saying a quick goodbye to their friend...


Here he comes...


He put up a fight until the big hook got him...I think he looks pretty scared


He does have a nice smile...for a fish that is.


Again, I'll leave you with a more appealing photo...


Now back to the beach! We had to get some nets so that we could catch better shells and creatures. And we did!


a closer look...any ideas what's on its back?


Jellyfish are heavy...


a closer look at this jellyfish and we saw that it had captured a tiny silver fish. The fish was cuter than the jelly and I'm happy to say that fish got away!


We also built sandcastles...


after leaving them behind for the afternoon we were surprised to see them still standing when we returned later.

But that didn't last long...




Kiersten's last hole of the trip...






No hard feelings. She just sat back and enjoyed the last few minutes of beach time.