Destin, Florida trip: Part 2!

A typical morning in Destin consisted of donuts, bacon, and other yummy, extremely healthy treats. :) Holden loved the powdered donuts.

Holden was so happy to wake up to a whole condo full of people every day! There was always someone to play with. He had to wait for Aunt Allie and Carly, since they took advantage of sleeping in. (Someday he will do that, right???) He and Aunt Allie were being silly doing leg kicks here.

I have a picture frame in my house with the saying, "Inside every Dad is a little kid who loves to play." So true of Jay with Holden!

Holden had so much fun with his new floaties. He loves being independent, and with the floaties on, he could practice "swimming" on his own. Of course he equally enjoyed being in Daddy's arms, Pepaw's arms, and being tossed into the air. He went back and forth between the pool and the hot tub.

Our family friends, the Browns, were also staying in Destin. Their daughter, Bailey, built sandcastles with Holden, and their son, Ben (the blond) and his friend, Dylan, helped him dig huge holes on the beach. Diane and Charlie Brown (yes, his name is really Charlie Brown and yes, he's heard every joke in the book about it!) are in the lower right picture.

Holden's favorite beach pastime was digging with his giant shovel. It was the same size as him!

We went to a place called Fudpuckers for dinner one night. It is really fun and different, with several levels indoors and out. There was a playground, live band, and the big draw was the alligator pit. You could hang a pole over the pit and put meat on the end to feed the gators. There were also big screen TV's with music videos in all of the eating areas. Of course our little rocker loved that!

Jay and I enjoying our daiquiris. Yummy!

Holden and his lady entourage. :) Aunt Allie and Carly are on the right, Bailey Brown is holding him, and her friend is the blond. He quite enjoyed all the attention they lavished on him.

Daddy and Holden in their matching shirts. (Pepaw's in the background.) They are trying to feed the gators here, but I think they had eaten too much; they just sat on the dock and stared at us! Holden was a little nervous. :)

"Got meat?"

While we were waiting for our food to arrive, I took Holden to the playground area. This cute little girl started following him everywhere, giving him hugs and kisses. He wasn't too sure what he thought about that; I give her points for persistence! Her mom and I were just watching and cracking up. I think they are pretty cute in their stripes!

After Fudpuckers, we headed to a local fun park called The Track. It had go-kart tracks, a putt-putt course, and other fun attractions for the older crowd, and a kiddie area for the youngsters. All Holden wanted to do was "ride the choo-choo!" Which we did. About 500 times each. He was in heaven! We managed to pry him away to the carousel, game room, and swings, but then he headed right back to the choo-choo. In case you're wondering, he didn't "measure up" for the big kid rides. How cute is he studying the feet?!

Not pictured was my bungee sailing with Ben Brown! It's where they strap you into a harness and you go sailing back and forth across the sky together. It was too dark and none of the shots turned out, but we have some lovely screaming video footage somewhere. Nobody would go with him and I felt sorry for him, so I told him let's do it now before I lose my nerve. I don't know what possessed me to do it, but it was a lot of fun after the initial drop! (During which time 12 year old Ben told me he thought he was going to cry, and I was sure we were going to plummet to our death.) I was proud of myself for taking a risk, since we all know the most adventurous I usually get is staying up past 9:00! :)