Destin 2004

Picture Album

Random Recollections
  • Mother and Dad had bought chairs for all of the little ones.
  • The house that we rented was about a block from the beach it was beautiful and spacious.
  • The house had four bedrooms and three full baths. There was a nice breakfast/television watching area upstairs where Laura, Jay, Melissa, and I slept. There was also a spacious kitchen and a nice pool in the backyard.
  • The house had six televisions, one in each bedroom, one in the great room, and one in the breakfast area upstairs.
  • Early on, we had to work on making sure the kids would not climb the stairs. A little wooden gate that one of the moms had brought worked well, but the kids did well enough that we didn't have to use that more than one or two days.
  • Everyone had a different night to be responsible for the meals for everyone. This way no one was stuck with all of the cooking and cleaning. It worked out great.
  • The house came with a free coupon for deep-sea fishing for one person. Jay made use of it and came home with fish that we cooked on the grill.
  • Shawn was also able to take advantage of a free coupon for golf. He had a good time.
  • Laura and I rented a two-person kayak while Jay was out fishing, and we paddled over to Dewey Destin's seafood restaurant for lunch.
  • Camille was always in the water either at the beach or in the pool.
  • We had a great time celebrating Shawn, Ellen, and Colvin's birthdays. We picked out a cake with a beachfront motif and had it customized with their names.
  • We gave Dad a handheld GPS unit for Father's day. He seemed to enjoy it, but we didn't have enough time to get it all set up to work with his laptop. He is using it by itself for the time-being.
  • Just after Mother and Dad arrived, Dad backed their new car out of the driveway and hit the neighbor's mailbox with the rear end. In Dad's defense, the road was quite curved just at the point where Dad backed out.
  • In church on Sunday morning, we ran into the Altman's who used to live in Abilene. Their daughter Donna, who I used to teach at ACHS, was there. She was doing well.
  • Everyone seemed to get in some good shopping. The strip malls in Destin had a large selection of beach wear, etc. We also found some things for Betty and JC while we were there. And of course everyone came home with a few souvenirs.
  • Jay was less than thrilled with the commercial nature of Destin. He was much happier when we were out birding or hiking. It was sad to see the loss of wildlife habitat in much of that area.
  • Destin was hit with a large hurricane in the fall after we left in June. We heard that there was a lot of beach erosion and other damage, but we haven't seen firsthand pictures or other confirmation. We hope they can put it back together in good shape.
  • The waters of the Gulf in the Florida panhandle reminded us of the waters in the Mediterranean at Nice. There were beautiful shades of blue, turquoise, and aquamarine. Unlike the rocky beaches in Nice, the beaches in Destin were made of soft, beautiful, white, white sand and the water was clear enough to see your feet with the water line at your waist.
  • We adults had so much fun watching the kids that by the end of the week we decided that we hadn't even talked to each other about anything other than little ones. Maybe we should have had a second vacation with just the adults so that we could catch up on all the news.
  • Randy had a lot of fun occupying the kids one evening by leading them as if they were in a chorus. They sat at the bottom of the stairs and he stood in front of them and led them in rousing anthems such as "Old McDonald had a Farm" with solos by selected chorus members. They really loved one particular song (which name escapes me now) in which I would rake my hands across their stomachs (sorta like "dash 'em in the pan") during a specific repeating chorus. They would just squeal with anticipation and glee.
  • Melissa did a great job taking most of the best pictures. She got good close-ups of all the kids and took some of the nicest pictures on the beach. She really likes to use the camera and does a good job with it.
  • Occasionally, to get away from the noise, Jay would sleep in the upper bedroom closet with the door closed. He worked on his new laptop computer that he got from the extended family for graduation at other times when there was nothing else to interest him. Dad, Colvin and Ellen, and Randy also brought their computers and we all had a good time looking at photos, etc.