Jeremy had 2 weeks of block leave & because we had to cancel our Disney trip in November (long story) we decided to head to Destin to the beach. We rented a nice little condo just steps away from the beach, YAY to no sand in the car, & we had a great week; even though a certain 3yr old had decided after 4 days he was ready to go home to sleep in his Toy Story bed.
We got there Saturday September 15, just a little over a week after Hurricane Isaac was in the gulf. The water was murky & very lake like, which I HATE lakes. If I'm going to get in water I want to be able to see what's below me, hence my love of the ocean. It was red flag but the waves, however; were awesome.
We spent a few hours at the beach on Sunday where the waves calmed down a bit & it was atleast yellow flag. Jaydon was afraid of the water & waves but loved to chase the birds & play in the sand. Jaxon just loved it all. In fact, we couldn't keep him out of the water so much of our time was spent chasing him. To combat the chasing of babies Jeremy decided to bury them...we thought we might have our babysitter for the evening, that then became Jaxon's favorite thing-being buried. We'd start to dig a hole & in he crawled piling the sand on himself. Oh, & yes, he is eating the sand here...it wasn't a pretty sight when we got back to the condo to rinse off.
On Wednesday evening we took a pirate cruise on the new Buccaneer Pirate ship. The ship was just built (or finished rather) in July so it's only a few months old. It's all Jaydon has talked about since before we left for vacation so he was stoked to go. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the entire boat, guess I was excited too. The crew was in total pirate garb, down to their accents.
Their website said they would entertain the kids for the 2hr cruise while the parents relaxed & they weren't kidding. They started by raising the flag & teaching the kids, who were standing on the green circle, a dance & song. They fired a cannon & then they had water gun fights which the crew also participated in. Actually alot of us parents somehow ended up in it too just with no guns of our own.
Then whoever sang the song louder between the boys & girls won the chance to go get their pirate on while the losers had to swab the deck (aka clean up). The boys lost so they got to swab the deck. Yea, there's a camera guy there...no clue what they were recording for but they seemed to like Jaydon & Jaxon who hammed it up for them. I should probably find out what that was all about...especially since we didn't give any kind of permission to use our kids for anything...oh where's my lawyer brother when I need him?
In the few minutes we did actually get to relax I did get a shot of the sky...totally missed the sunset later in the cruise though. We also saw dolphins but unfortunately alot of the kids missed seeing them they were so involved in the festivities.
Anyone that's been to Destin knows the bridge from there to Okaloosa Island/Ft Walton Beach. This ship is so tall it was a close call from the bottom of the bridge...guess they have to keep a VERY close eye on the water levels.
After swabbing the deck & having sword fights the boys got to get all pirated up. We were actually surprised Jaydon let this wench paint on his face. But he loved it & kept saying "I look like a real pirate"!
We got flavored popcorn at Popcorn Jungle before the cruise started & Jaxon ate 1/2 my bag of dill popcorn. This kid is a bottomless pit!!!
They actually pulled in "real treasure" from the ocean & pulled it onto the ship. Then the kids got to pick 3 pieces of pirates booty from it.
We got to celebrate finding the treasure with some songs & dancing & the kiddos got instruments. They had alot of fun. Heck, we had fun, it was the best money we spent on this whole vacation. They have adult cruises on Friday evenings & if we would have had a babysitter we would have gone back.
No comments:
Post a Comment