Family Vacation to Destin

After months of worrying whether oil would hit the beaches of Destin and ruin our vacation we finally headed there for a wonderful OIL FREE trip.  Our original plan was for John, Elaine, Brett, Ryan and I to fly to Florida from Chicago and Mom and Dad would drive from St. Louis.  The Thursday before we were to leave I received a call from my Dad letting me know that our Grandmother Hattie Mae Isom had passed away suddenly.  We contemplated whether we would even go on our vacation but the family decided it would be best for everyone to take a vacation.  We all headed down to Southern Illiniois on Saturday and John got to meet the whole family for the first time at the funeral.  It was unfortunate that it was under such sad circumstances.  Later that day we all jumped in two cars and headed off to our Florida vacation.....let the Griswald Family Vacation Begin!

So it's 2010..cell phones are a normal accessory to carry HOWEVER...why not just use walky talkies???  We had one in each car so that we could communicate back and forth (more for the entertainment than anything).  We headed south and decided that we would stay the night in Prattville, AL actually in a hotel I have stayed in before when I worked at Cerner.  The next morning we headed back on our way through some very interesting towns in Alabama and finally arrived at Sunny Destin around noon. 

Everyone was really excited to take Ryan to the beach for the first time however after one mouthful of sand and a whole bunch in his eyes it was decided that he would stay at the pool for the rest of the trip.  Our condo was amazing with 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a deck that was the size of the first floor of our home!!  We had a great view of the Gulf :-)

My Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Jerry live down in Fort Walton Beach so we were able to enjoy time with them that we only get every couple of years.  It was a great week of relaxing, fishing, parasailing, having a few tasty beverages and just enjoying each others company!  Family Vacation = SUCCESS!  Here are some photos from the trip.