We had been wanting to go to Florida for a long time and labor day weekend worked out the best with our schedules, so we decided it was the perfect time to go. On both to and from Florida we left at four in the morning because we wanted Tessa to sleep a lot in the car, which she did. We were a little worried about how she would do in the car for that long because she doesn't like to be in her car seat very much but she did amazing on the trip! She was such a happy girl and she only cried when she was hungry. We are seriously so lucky to have such a sweet baby!
Our hotel was right on the beach which was so nice because it made it easy to take her back for naps and for me to pump. Luckily, we were on the first floor of the hotel with a door that led to a patio with direct beach access so that made it even that much easier. When we first took Tessa into the ocean, she wasn't really sure what to think, but after a few minutes she loved it! She smiled and laughed the whole time she was in the water and we had a great time playing with her. Tessa is in the stage where she puts everything in her mouth and sure enough when she sat in the sand the first thing she did was grab a handful of sand and try to put it in her mouth. Fortunately we caught her before she got it to her mouth, that would not have been too fun if we hadn't.
We got to Destin Thursday about 5 pm and went out to the beach for 45 minutes or so after we had checked into our room. There was a pretty sunset that night and we were amazed at how white the sand was there, the pictures do not do it justice. The next day we rented a couple beach chairs and an umbrella and spent a lot of time hanging out on the beach and swimming. It was sunny outside and in the low to mid 90s but the constant breeze from the ocean made it feel really nice so we had a great time out on the beach. That evening at around sunset we went out on the pier and enjoyed a beautiful night and had an awesome time. While we were on the pier we saw dolphins swimming all around us, a big sea turtle and some jellyfish; it was neat to see those animals and we loved being out there. Saturday we spent the morning exploring Destin and went to the Harbor Walk Village, which is a big shopping center with lots of restaurants right on Destin Harbor. For lunch we went to Harry T's which sits right on the harbor and has an outdoor seating area that has a great view of all the boats coming and going. It was really fun to sit outside and enjoy delicious, fresh seafood while sitting just feet from the ocean. That afternoon we went back to the beach and played in the ocean for a while, there was a storm coming in so the waves were huge compared to the days before! We only stayed for an hour or so because of the storm, but that night we spent time relaxing and went out to the beach for another picturesque sunset. It was so fun to spend the weekend with my cute little family in Florida and I loved every minute that we got to spend together!
