...The Collins Clan... : Vacay to the Destin Area

On our way! We took a 5 1/2 hour drive to Pearl, MS and got a hotel room. Then did the next 5 1/2 hours the next day. With Sahara being 8 months pregnant, we didn't want to push too far of a drive especially with her swelling legs and feet.

I believe this ship was in Mobile, AL.

We made it!

1st steps in the sugar white fine sand. We checked out the beach while waiting for the cleaning crew to get our place ready. Check in was at 4 and we arrived at 4:08. The cleaning crew didn't leave until 5:30 😑. It was a long drive and super hot so we waited for the cleaning crew to finish and rested on the couch. Canyon fell asleep.

We check out our house for the week and find the hall closet packed with other guest's leftovers. We borrowed beach towels, hats, extra sun screen, tote bag, and poker chips. Kristy arrives this evening.

1st day on the beach and it was a hot one! It was also our only yellow flag day. Even with sun screen, we fried today. Kristy continued to cook into the night. She was a lobster by the time we went to bed!

Back at the house and Sahara is airing out the belly. She said Liam loves the water and is very active when she is floating around.

Caleb and Emily arrive the next morning and needed a nap. Then we headed out to lunch. We ended up at The Whale Tail and a storm was a brewing. We moved inside from the deck to eat. We also hit the beach. This storm quickly passed by and the rest of the day was beautiful, less hot and cloudy. We could stay at the beach and lay out for a lot longer.

The next day we went to the Destin Boardwalk and strolled around there and hit the shops. We ate at East Pass on the harbor. It was oddly empty but the food was good.

There was a lot of traffic back and forth in the harbor.

At the house, Jared fed this little guy peanuts by the back door.

We took some evening photos. A few years ago, I remember Caleb and Canyon being within a 1/2 inch of each other!

We are going to attempt to parasail today!

(Canceled due to a storm that lasted a whole 30 minutes but happened while we were in line to get our boat. 😞 Rescheduled for tomorrow.)

We are on the list to parasail today!

(Canceled due to gale force winds 1 hour before we were set to go. 😕 Say it isn't so! Rescheduled again for tomorrow.)

The storms are hit or miss, usually quick but intense. However there was no storm today, just wind. Hurricane Hanna is heading towards Texas. It's a good thing we didn't pick Galveston after all!

So we went to the Gulfarium instead.

It's mostly outdoors with walkway cover and some inside. A lot like the one we went to in Tampa.

Bubba Gumps. Sahara mostly wanted to come here to get a shirt but they only had small and 2x.

Flower garden we passed by to and from the beach each day.

This is the closest we got to Crab Island because you can only get there by boat. Rent a boat is over $500 for 4 hours. Water taxis are $50 per person. There is nothing to really do out there but party and pee in waist high water.

The flags for the ocean have been double red so we went bay side to Gulf Island National Park for calmer water and snorkeling. Lots of fish. We packed a picnic and we go to parasail from here in a couple hours!

(Canceled for the 3rd time, 😭 NOOOOOOOOOOOO) It just wasn't in the cards for us. It's not really the quick storms as much as the wind out at sea. Just too choppy with that hurricane looming. Next trip it's on the list!!

Jared and Caleb playing catch football and a heron came to visit. We stayed at this beach for a good few hours. The weather was overcast but completely comfortable out in the sun. Emily fell asleep for at least an hour.

Waiting for food at Kenny D's. Sahara and Jared went to the Crab Trap to meet Jared's co-worker who is also vacationing in the area.

My scampi was so good but made me feel icky later. Emily had shrimp alfredo and It made her icky too. Either the shrimp or the grease.

This squirrel would take french fries out of people's hands.

Food or alcohol poisoning got Jared this last day. He was a puker and didn't get to say good-bye to the beach with us.

It was another super hot day and Canyon only wanted to say good-bye from the entry dock.

We had plenty of sunshine this week. We went to the beach everyday. We had 2 or 3 downpours that blew over in 30 minutes or less. A couple of cloudy or overcast days which took the sting out of the heat. Other than the parasailing getting canceled, it was perfect!