High 80’s + perfect water temperature, color, and calmness + my family and friends = one of the best vacations in a while 😀 :D.We arrived safely! 😀

We were all in a happy mood :D.

Figuring out the tv. I really like this picture of my parents, by the way :).

And I just love my parents in general :D.

Going to the beach means wearing flowy dresses when we go out to dinner :D.

All dressed up and ready to go :D.

The Crab Trap is our favorite restaurant in Destin :D. You get to wait out on the back deck right on the beach :).

See?

I took the opportunity to go down to the water and try to capture the wondrous beauty of it.

Sand pipers!

The first night in Florida, our group consisted of my parents (John and Michele), my brother Jay, and his best friend Brad Rychlik (he’s pretty much family 🙂 ).

And THAT is where my brother Daniel proposed to Emily last year! They are now happily married 🙂 :). They couldn’t make it this year, but hopefully next year :).

Of course we always take pictures on the beach while we wait for a table :). My parents are awesome :D.

And good looking! For real!

Love it!!

Dad was a trooper; he doesn’t really like his picture taken, but he knows it makes Mom and I happy :).

My mom looking cute :D.

Then she took some of me :).

Hehe :D.

Haha! Yes, I can be very goofy…like you have no idea. Haha :D.

Mom: “Take some pictures of Brad!” Brad is like a big kid and he is ALWAYS smiling. Haha. He’s fun to have around AND very sweet…, Ladies ;).

The next day. The weather in Florida is sooo random! Dark clouds come, it rains for a couple hours, then it goes away and it’s really pretty out!

Thankfully the rain didn’t churn up the water; the water was continually glorious :).

This is the sign that told us we were “home.” :).

That afternoon Allix B. and her parents joined us for the rest of the trip!! They settled in, they looked at the ocean (Allix had never been before…she was speechless 😀 ), then we all got ready to go eat :). We ate at a sushi/hibachi place: Osaka (the Brunsons had never had good sushi…oh, and let me just say, I like sushi, but it doesn’t thrill my soul. Now you know in case you were wondering 🙂 ).

Our chef was sweet and fun :D.

Then we finished the night out with…

…the Slick Track! We’ve gone the last two Florida trips and we’re kinda making it a tradition :). And hey! There’s Allix :D.

The drifting was fun :D.

Haha, Mom loved it :D.

Look at that sky!! I love tropical skies :).

Gooood morning, you beautiful third day! The third day was by FAR the best we had. The weather was PERFECT almost all day! We went out in the water three times :D. It was just altogether marvelous 😀 :D.

Allix fishtail braided my hair :).

Eagerness! Hehe :D.

Everyone else was still asleep that morning (around 8:00, I think), so the Brunsons and I went out to the fabulous sea :D. Look how cute they are with their body boards!

We were on the 2nd floor of that mint green condo :).

Aaaah, morning light at the beach…

I was happy :D.

Allix got these Izzes because they looked really cool and maybe she would like them. Well, we both agreed this flavor tasted bad (the low calorie factor probably didn’t help), but they DO look cool! Haha. She let me keep two bottles which are now in my room :).

Dressed up for another evening in Destin :).

We kids (Allix, Brad, and I…Jay’s too tall. lol) took turns riding in the very back when we all piled in our suburban to go eat.

And here’s all of us!! At Fisherman’s Wharf :D. I love these people :D.

The guys in front of the cool sign (which I didn’t get all of…I’m sorry…).

And here’s us girls! I really love this picture; it shows how happy we are :D. It’s the joy of the Lord, people!! Children of God are the happiest people on earth :D.

Our moms are buddies :D.

Yaaay Bro. Ryan and Mrs. Darla!

Hooraaay for my parents! And it’s not often that I get to capture Dad’s genuine smile; hooray once more :D.

After we finished eating, we walked out to the back to look at boats and things :). Hooray for married love here…

…and here :).

Allix and I! :D…and Brad’s bokeh in the background cracks me up. Haha.

Our feet are hidden. Haha.

Then (another fairly recent tradition of ours) we went to the Krispy Kreme shop to get donuts :D.

It’s always fun watching them being made :D.

Then (a much older tradition of ours) we went to the Bass Pro Shop :). Well, this picture isn’t of Bass Pro; this is of the shops opposite of it.

This is inside of Bass Pro. Pretty sweet chandelier, right?

Aaand good morning to our last full day at the beach…what beautiful colors and shapes…

This day we had the roughest and biggest waves…I was not a fan, so I dug a hole (another slightly old tradition of ours). Hehe :). Left to right: me in the hole, Mrs. Darla burying Allix (see little dark spot Mrs. Darla’s hand is on), and Bro. Ryan walking towards us; the couple in the water were gathering sea shells.

We usually go to the Crab Trap twice because of how fun it is, and we HAD to this year because the Brunsons weren’t with us the first night; they had to experience it :D. It was more stormy, but it was still neat :). I would have taken lots of pictures of the Brunsons while we waited, but they had our table ready in like 10 minutes! Usually it’s around 45.

The red flag means: “Extremely hazardous ocean conditions with large powerful waves and strong rip currents. Only expert swimmers and surfers with proper equipment should enter the water.”

We had a nice table by an open wall :D.

Haha, Brad is so happy :D.

I finally got a nice picture of Jay!

We went out to the beach again after dinner. Haha, I like this picture.

Hooray for a picture of my family and I! Eeet sure was weeendy though! Lol. (Right after this the Rubys and the Morgans showed up and I took their family portraits!).

The next morning, we headed out. Thank you, Lord, for such a wonderful time :).

With a smile,

{ Rachel Leigh }