Clan Campbell: Florida

So, Grandma had a big birthday last month. Grandpa Doug called us early on to see if we would help celebrate. Of course! We offered to make our way to Michigan for her party. But, when Grandma got wind of it, she outvoted everyone with all of us meeting in Florida. So, we packed ourselves up and headed to Florida. Again. (That was Forest Gump, did you hear it in there?) But this time we went to Uncle Joel's new place of residence, Destin. For the first time on a long time, we flew hassle-free. We arrived on time and were off and running. We spent the first night being spoiled by Uncle Joel. He took us to his club for a special dinner and then the kids got to stay and watch him play piano. (More on that later because I have to get the pictures from someone else.)

Friday was a beautiful day so we took full advantage of it. Once we were all up and ready, we headed down to the pool. Well, after we stopped off for a quick ride on a pelican

and a dolphin.

Sad location, don't you think? Not! It was beautiful every which way you looked!

Everyone got in a little jumping.

After lunch, we decided to hit the beach. We were a little concerned we would never make it out of the parking lot. Can you see all the butterflies in these bushes?

While not all were Jakes, there were certainly a lot of them. So, so pretty.

We eventually coaxed them over the bridge to the beautiful beach. They went with butterfly [crab] nets in hand, just in case.

However, they quickly lost the nets for lure of the sand. Abby started this sand slide, but soon all were involved. They didn't go anywhere fast but they sure had a lot of fun with it.

And in to the great Gulf they went. It was a LOT colder than the pool water. But the waves made up for that, I think.

See that face? Someone is not a fan of salt water.

And a couple of parents were not fans of the jellyfish...

Mommy didn't really want her jumping in the waves without hands-on supervision. (Yes, I am a stick-in-the-sand. I will be the first to admit that. I am not ashamed.)

Before we left, Noah had to get buried. Little sister thought that was big time fun.

Got ourselves cleaned up and out to dinner in time for sunset. They actually shoot a cannon at the exact moment the sun is officailly set.

A really bad picture of all of us enjoying our dinner.

One little boy just wanted to finish dinner so he could watch the World Series. Is this not the saddest picture ever?

The boardwalk provided a little feathered entertainment after dinner. Only one boy was brave enough to hold them all.

But this one was cute enough to try a little one.

We tried to get Abby in on the action. She didn't want any part of them sitting on her. The bird man suggested she hold him in her hands. Big brother wanted to demonstrate. So happy to demonstrate. She, however, did not want any part of it.

Saturday, Uncle Scott took us to the Gulfarium.

Then we were off to lunch at Fudpucker's. This is a name just begging for mishaps, don't you think?

This restaurant's claim to fame is its live alligators.

We tried feeding them.

They were not interested. Too busy warming themselves in the sun, I guess.

Saturday night we decided to hit the beach one last time. In truth, we were searching for crabs. Unfortunately, we were a couple of months too late. But they had fun digging and flinging anyway.

Our hotel from across the waterway.

Sunday before we headed out, the boys had to check their online portfolios. From the looks of it, things were not good. (In reality, I think they were playing Dora video games. That is usually what they do on Grandpa's computer.)