Monday, July 25, 2011

White Shirt, Tan Shorts Pictures

Much to the men's disgust, we made them dress up in white shirts and tan shorts for the traditional beach pictures on Wednesday night.  We ended up waiting too late and ran out of light and so we made them do it AGAIN on Thursday night!  You can only imagine how thrilled they were with us!

And the funny part is that in the end we still didn’t get any GREAT pictures.  Maybe next time my parents will take my suggestion of a professional photographer!

Anywho, here are some of the best ones we got.

DSC_1191DSC_1195DSC_1202DSC_1206DSC_1210DSC_1217DSC_1219DSC_1227IMG_7473IMG_7477

IMG_7500IMG_7538DSC_1246IMG_7547IMG_7558IMG_7567IMG_7578IMG_7630Take two on Thursday night!IMG_7978IMG_7998IMG_8007IMG_8035IMG_8078IMG_8174IMG_8203IMG_8215IMG_8285

Dolphin Excursion on Waverunners!

Thursday morning we went on another adventure.  This time we rode waverunners out in the Choctawhatchee Bay and they took us to a cove that had dolphins!

Amy, Lee, and Hayley rode one waverunner and Drew, Shelly and I rode on the other waverunner.  I have to admit, I was kind of nervous!  I’ve only ridden one a couple times and that was a long time ago.  The guy told us we had a greater chance of flipping it with three people on it.  Great!

Drew did a great job driving us.  I don’t know if he’ll admit that he was a little nervous too.  The only times I was kind of scared was towards the beginning.  You got through the harbor in a no wake zone for a good 10-15 minutes.  Then you can open it up.  At the beginning everyone is trying to figure it all out and we got caught in a couple wakes.  I was holding on for dear life and was pretty scared a couple times.  Thanks to Drew’s driving he kept us all on!  Once everyone got comfortable and picked a spot everything was pretty smooth. 

We pulled up in a cove and you could see dolphins jumping.  We were able to drive right up next to them.  We had a waterproof disposable camera and I was taking pictures. 

It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.  They were so close!  You’d see them and they would disappear and then they would come up right next to you!  We stayed out there for 30 minutes following them around. 

After pestering them enough we headed out and into another cove and we made a little stop at a place that had a rope swing and a bunch of people played on that for awhile.  We loaded back up and headed back for the harbor.  The ride going back was MUCH rougher than going out. 

R1-02322-021AR1-02322-019AR1-02322-018AR1-02322-011AR1-02322-014AR1-02322-000AR1-02322-001AThis one was SO close!R1-02322-003AR1-02322-004AR1-02322-005AR1-02322-006AR1-02322-007A

Seashell Cruise

Wednesday afternoon we headed down to the Destin Harbor and we boarded the Explorer – a large pontoon boat that was going to take us out to look for seashells.  There really were no seashells on the normal beaches. 

We had a funny captain who took us out for a little ride in the Chocotawhatchee Bay.  The funny thing about this boat ride was that it had free beer and wine but you had to pay $1 for soda!  Go figure.

After our little ride our captain docked the boat and we got off and looked for shells.  Everyone kind of headed for the shore, because that is where you usually find seashells but the shells were actually just out in the shallow water.  Everyone was given a baggie and told you could fill it up but leave all the ones with hermit crabs in them.  Which was most of the shells we found!  It seemed like everyone around us was finding tons of shells but I wasn’t finding too many.  I decided to give up and started making my way back to the boat.  I got around the boat and started looking around and I found the mother lode of seashells!  We found a ton out by the boat that were really neat and didn’t have hermit crabs in them.  

Lindy and Will enjoyed the boat ride and playing in the water.  It was very shallow so they mostly played.  It was a nice little afternoon adventure for all the kids!

Got his fishing hat on and ready to go boating!DSC_1082DSC_1084DSC_1088Can you see the excitement in Drew’s face in the next two pictures?  I didn’t realize how excited he was until I saw these pictures SmileIMG_7426IMG_7427DSC_1097We went under the big bridge that connects Destin to Fort Walton Beach.DSC_1099DSC_1101DSC_1111DSC_1113And they’re off…… to find seashells!DSC_1115DSC_1126DSC_1131DSC_1132DSC_1139DSC_1147DSC_1152Another crazy Drew face.  He was full of them that day.DSC_1157DSC_1158IMG_7433IMG_7434IMG_7435There he goes again.IMG_7437DSC_1160DSC_1162They let the little kids ‘drive’ the boat.  Only Rylee and Lindy would drive.  Hayley and Will didn’t want to.IMG_7439Apparently right after this she put her feet up on the steering well.  The captain supposedly said something funny about her driving with her toes next.IMG_7441IMG_7445Our seashell haul!  Not bad, not bad!DSC_1169DSC_1170