In much more pleasant news, we recently got to go to Destin! For a minute we were highly concerned Orin’s injuries were going to make this trip impossible but thankfully that was not the case. It was paid for by Korey’s company — every year they do a big retreat for the employees, last year was in Nashville — and I’d never been to the gulf before so I was anxious to go. Especially because the kids had never seen the ocean before.

The place they picked to host us was absolutely gorgeous!

It was held the San Destin resort and although Korey’s company tries to discourage families from going, it was perfect for a families haha. I hope one day we have the money to stay there on our own. The room was HUGE, with a separate room just for us and a full kitchen and washers and dryers and everything you could want.

On top of that, it was only a short walk down to a little “town” area with a huge playground, several restaurants, ice cream shops, a carousel, among other activities for kids and adults. The kids were pretty much in heaven with the playground after a six hour car ride. 😉

Korey had to go to an event that night so we were pretty much on our own but the kids were very well behaved and we played, got dinner and ice cream, and ran around the hotel room for a while.

I actually have a lot of fun with them, so I didn’t mind not being able to go to the events with Korey. 😉

But the next day he didn’t have anything specific to do so we all got up to go to the beach. (Not that his company didn’t have events — most people apparently took pontoon boats out to a bar that was on a literal sand bar in the ocean! But clearly I wasn’t letting him go do that without me… 😂)

Poor Orin — because of his healing skin, he had to wear a hat so that his face was fully covered. So we all got hats to support him. 😉

It was super nice because we got to take a shuttle to the beach. With three kids there’s honestly no better vacation than not having to worry about driving. Seriously!

While I’m honestly not hugely fond of the beach — despite how much I love the ocean — we had a great time! Orin ended up being terrified of it — it kind of jumped up and touched him when he wasn’t expecting and he flipped out. 😂 But he was head over heels for the sand.

Izzy and Zelda though absolutely adored it! They both stood out in the waves with me, screaming and laughing as each one rolled by. Some of the most positive memories of my childhood involve jumping in the waves in Lake Erie and seriously, nothing could’ve made me happier than recreating that with my own kids.

They were all so exhausted when we got back to the room that even Izzy took a nap — which she hasn’t done for probably six months. 😉

But then we headed down to dinner and to ride the carousel and dance on the lawn. My girls wore their matching dresses and were soooo cute!

After dinner Korey left to go to a company event and we got ice cream. Again. Because I’m the best mom — obviously. 😉

It was getting dark by the time we started heading back to the room. Almost immediately though Izzy spotted a frog hopping across the path. Well — it was far from the last one we saw! There were tons of them hopping their way across the path and every single one she chased after to pick up. 😂

When we got back to the room I let her go out on the patio since we were on the ground floor to search for more and she even found a green tree frog — which she called “the one that sticks to the window.” 😂 I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one in real life before! I remember seeing lizards on our honeymoon in Saint Croix but not frogs. Anyway, watching Izzy and Zelda in their little dresses running barefoot across the patio searching for frogs was like something out of a Miyazaki film and I couldn’t have a more beautiful memory of our trip than that. 💕

Unfortunately it was only a weekend trip and so we had to head back the next day. Driving twelve hours for forty eight at the beach might not have been worth it for most people, but after the horror of Orin getting hit by a car we definitely needed a mental break from the norm and I had been looking forward to this trip since they announced it would be in Destin. I love the time we got there though and I hope in a year or two we’ll get to go back for a little longer!