Destin 2008 - Day 1

Our first 24 hours here in Destin have been great! We started out by taking a plane ride to Pensacola, this was much easier than the normal 12 hour drive, especially on Kara. Once we got to our house in Destin, we spent the evening watching it rain, trying to go to the beach in the rain and making our trip to Wal-Mart. We topped our first evening off by going to one of our favorites, McGuire's Irish Pub. When we woke up this morning it was raining and continued to rain until about 10:30. As soon as the rain stopped we were on the beach. We hung out there for about 3 hours. The water was really nice and warm and clear. We did see some jelly fish. Some of them were pretty good size too...about the size of a grapefruit. We stayed away from them and they stayed away from us. Once we were done at the beach Kara, Emma and Evan came back to the house and took a nap. Ethan and I went to the pier and fished. We didn't catch anything but we did see a guy catch a saltwater catfish and a small shark. This guy was a local and said that a couple days ago he caught a fish and while reeling it in, a baracuda attacked the fish and won. He also said sitting up on the pier and watching the water below, the people swimming at the shore would be shocked at some of the fish that swim close by them. We came back to the house and caught a couple fish in the harbor, in the backyard. We then got cleaned up and went to dinner at a steakhouse. After dinner we went to a dessert restaurant called Shakes...and it was delicious.

The house we are staying at is really nice. It is a 2 story house with 6 bedrooms and sleeps probably 16 people. So, with it being just the 5 of us....there is plenty of room. We dont even really use the downstairs really. We have a boat and 2 waverunners that we have not used yet, but plan to do so tomorrow. Chris and Katy Byrne are in town so we plan to meet up with them at some point.

Great Wolf Lodge

The family all went to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. This place is great. It basically is a Hurricane Harbor but only those staying in the lodge can be in the waterpark. There are indoor and outdoor areas. There were no long lines and we had plenty of space to play in the water. Ethan rode every ride that he was tall enough to ride. He was very brave. Emma just wanted to swim. At one point I was holding her in the water and her heart was beating so fast I made her sit down for a little bit to rest. Evan loved the water too. There were several spots in the part that were only a foot deep or so, so he could walk around and play. We had a Kids Cabin room which has a cabin in it for the kids to sleep in. It had a bunk bed and another single in the cabin area. The rest of the room looks like a normal hotel room. Courtney, Leah, Morgan and Levi came to the park as guests of ours. The kids loved playing together, as always.The picture of mine and Kara's chest was taken by Emma. She wanted to take some pictures of me, mommy and Ethan. So, Emma says smile and she took the picture. We asked her how it looks and she said...well, I didn't get Ethan in the picture...or your heads. We all had a good laugh!

A Day at Splash Swim Park

We went to the Splash waterpark in Bedford. The E's love the water!!! Emma went down the slides at least 50 times in the 2 hours we were there!! Ethan played in all parts of the park, and this was Evans first time at the park. He played around in the kiddie section and even went down a slide a few times. We all had a blast.

Busy, Busy, Busy

It has been a while since we have posted anything, and we have been very busy. We have been on 2 trips and celebrated several birthdays since our last blog. Kara and I went with Jonathan and Amber to Boston and New York in early May. We went to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox and Yankee Stadium to see the Yanks. When we went to Fenway, it was freezing. The game time temp was around 40 degrees and rainy and we did not pack for weather that cool. I just had 2 windbreakers, Kara had a sweatshirt. Luckily for Kara, Amber had an extra scarf, and I wore 4 layers of shirts. Even though it was cold and rainy out, it was still a sell out and the crowd was very loud. We got to Fenway early and walked around and since there was a rain delay we got to see basically the entire stadium. We were able to go all the way down to the front row to take pictures. They basically let you walk around anywhere you wanted to before the game, since it is so historic. Yankee Stadium was like that too, but you could not get close to the field. It was a great trip and I would suggest going to both parks if you love baseball. Being a fan of the Red Sox, I liked Fenway much more. The average Yankee fan was definitely a blue collar worker, while the average BoSox fan was white collar.

While in NYC we also went to the Broadway play Mama Mia. In this play, they sang several Abba songs....so I had the song Dancing Queen stuck in my head for days!!! You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen. Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine. You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life. See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen. Hopefully now the song will be stuck in your head now...:) We went to the top of Rockefeller Center (67 stories up) one night and looked down on the city. It was absolutely beautiful to see the entire city lit up.

Jonathan and I went to an Irish pub called The Pig & Whistle and watched the 4OT game of the Stars in the Western Semi Finals against the Sharks. The game went until 2:40am EST. That was a great experience. We were there to watch the game but the other patrons at the bar were in there to sing along with this guy that performed. He was awful and butchered serveral good songs! The bartender was from Ireland and was a huge soccer fan so we talked to him about soccer much of the night. He gave us some Jaeger shots on the house when the Stars finally won the game!
Hopefully this doesn't incriminate them but...Kara and Amber went down to Chinatown and bought some "designer" purses at discount prices. They asked a street vendor if she sold certain purses and this lady said yes. She asked them to follow her and so they did. They followed this lady for several blocks and while she kept calling her husband who was following them, serving as a look out. Then they went down this alley to a van....AND GOT IN! They bought some purses and got out.

We also celebrated Emma and Kaitlin's birthdays at Incredible Pizza. Emma got a bunch of Hannah Montana stuff...so she was happy! The night we got home Ethan and Emma had gone to bed in Emma's room. I went up to check on them around 11:30, before going to bed. With the lights off and only a light in the bathroom, I went into Emma's room and leaned over to give Emma a kiss and noticed her cheek was really dark, almost like a bruise. So I turned her lamp on only to see that not only was her face dark, but so was her arms and legs....and so was Ethan's. At sometime during the evening, they got up and went into the upstairs bathroom and got ahold of CLOWN MAKEUP and decided to put it all over them. So...I woke them up and Kara and I scrubbed them down. Ethan had written his name down his leg and a stickman on his other leg. Emma just made lines and circles all over herself. Ethan tried to blame the writing on his leg on his sister that can only spell her own name. That was fun to do at midnight!

Ethan has started mini-mites hockey and is getting really good. He can skate in circles, stop, shot (slap shots and wrist shots) and pass. They have not started playing games yet but should be soon. He loves it so much.

A couple days ago, we went up to Beavers Bend in Oklahoma. We went with Greg Carter, and Courtney and Leah Fuller...with their kids Morgan and Levi. Our first day, I caught 3 trout and let Ethan reel one of them in. He was pretty excited about that. While out at the river it was extremely humid so Ethan took his shirt off. A little while later he got his shorts wet and asked me, "Dad, can I take my shorts off?" I told him "Son, we are IN Oklahoma....not FROM Oklahoma!!!" I don't think the locals liked that comment too much but Carter got a good laugh! The next day, I caught 8 trout and Courtney got one. He also had caught a walleye in Broken Bow Lake. I took Ethan golfing and both he and Emma horseback riding. Ethan rode by himself and Emma rode with me. They both did really well. They put Ethan on the biggest horse and Emma and I on the smallest. I felt like my feet were almost dragging the ground. It was a rough couple days for Evan though. The day we got there, he fell down some stairs and got a little knot on his cheek. Then the next day, the kids were playing on the porch of our cabin that wrapped around the house. Morgan came in and said everyone come outside Evan is doing something funny. He had got his head stuck in the slats of the railing of the porch. We could not get his head out...so I had to rip of one of the slats. The poor guy got a knot on the side of his head and scratches on his ears. The day we left...he was running to the door to go outside and tripped over a rug and headbutted the door. I think he was ready to come home.


Sorry for taking so long to post....but as you can see we have been busy.....