Family Vacation

We always like to take our family vacations as soon as the kids get out of school.  This year was no different.  However, due to the time that we could rent our house in Florida, we decided to break up our trip down to Florida and make a stop in New Orleans.  On Thursday, June 2, thirty minutes after the last child got home from school we started our vacation and drove towards New Orleans.  It was an adventure getting there because of the rain.  Basically the whole way to our hotel it rained off and on with several periods of heavy rain and traffic.  We did make it not too much later than we had planned.

Our first night in New Orleans we ate at our favorite restaurant, Zea Rotisserie & Grill, which we found on our last trip to New Orleans.  On Friday we visited Oak Alley Plantation.  I have always wanted to visit a plantation and this one was beautiful.  I have always thought that plantations were wide, but learned that the ones here along the Mississippi River were long.  Many of the plantations next to each other were owned by the same family and gifted as wedding gifts to children as they married.  Before heading back to our hotel to get ready for dinner we had lunch at the restaurant on the plantation.  What is a visit to the south without a virgin mint julip?  Yummy!  For dinner we took the kids to Commanders Palace in the Garden District.  We all had turtle soup.  Alyson tried it, but didn’t finish it.  Dinner was a fine dining experience for the kids.  Bryon said that even though the food was good and he enjoyed going, it was too much for him. 

Saturday, we headed out to our final destination, Destin, Florida.  We saw a billboard along the way for Lambert’s Café and we decided to stop there for lunch.  We knew that there was going to be a wait, but decided that we did not want to wait at least an hour to be seated.  Therefore, we went back up the street to Mellow Mushroom.  After lunch instead of driving back up to I-10, we took Highway 98 into Florida.  We had more rain and traffic was awful.  We finally made it to our rental and loved it.  We were about three blocks to the public beach access.  We walked down to the beach and walked a ways at sunset.  It was beautiful with the white sand and the blue-green water.

Sunday, we went to church.  Since it was a Fast Sunday and we were in a ward where we would not see anyone again, both Bryon and Lauren bore their testimonies.  They both did a really good job.  After lunch we took a drive along 30-A.

Even though we had an itinerary for this trip, we made several changes along the way.  One major change was that we were on vacation and we wanted this to be a relaxing vacation.  So, instead of always being on the go we decided to sleep in as late as we wanted therefore, several of our morning plans changed.  Monday, we slept in and basically relaxed until it was time to get ready for our family pictures on the beach.  We decided to have professional pictures taken since the last time we had professional pictures taken was 19 years ago at the Dallas Temple when Scott and I got married.  Every other time we had pictures taken they were taken at Sears, JCPenney, Walmart or taken by friends or myself.  It was time to have professional pictures taken.  I am really excited to see how they turned out in about three weeks.

Tuesday, we went to the beach.  The water was a bit rough because of Tropical Storm Collin and swimming was not allowed.  (For those who are wondering, Tropical Storm Collin did not affect us.  We just had rain off and on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.)  We were able to sit on the sand next to the water and let the waves wash up on us.  We did wear sunblock, but apparently not enough because we all got sunburnt.  Scott kept commenting that it was a good thing that we had our family pictures taken before we went to the beach. 

Wednesday, we did some shopping and went to the Village of Baytown Wharf.  We were not at the wharf for more than an hour because it really wasn’t that exciting.  Yes, there were several restaurants, shops and activities, but nothing that really enticed us.  We did all have virgin daiquiris which really hit the spot on a hot afternoon.

Thursday, we had to get up early so that we could go parasailing.  Everyone was excited until the boat left the wake and sped up.  Alyson was getting really nervous and telling me that she did not want to go.  I was a bit nervous because of how fast the boat was going.  You could go up as doubles or triples.  If you went up as a triple you got more fly time.  So, we went up in triples.  Alyson, Bryon and I were the first group to go up.  Alyson was nervous about being pulled off the boat backwards, but as soon as we got up there she was a completely different person.  She let go and put her arms out loving every minute of it.  It was beautiful up there and it was so peaceful and calm.  Alyson said that we need to come back every year and go parasailing.  Everyone loved it except for Madeline.  She enjoyed it, but she loved the fast boat ride more and wanted to go ride a jet ski as long as she was the one driving.  She is my adventurous girl.  Madeline is the only one of the girls, myself included, that loves roller coasters and other such thrill rides.  After we came back to the house and cleaned up we went to see the movie X-Men: Apocalypse and to do more shopping.  We are having a hard time finding a modest and long enough dress for Lauren to wear to Matt & Katie’s wedding next week.  If we can’t find anything I just might have to make one.

Friday, took a drive down 30-A again and stopped for lunch at Nick’s on the Beach for lunch.  The sign said that they had the best shrimp on the gulf.  Their shrimp were really good.  Scott and I went out for dinner at the Beach Walk Café for our anniversary.

Saturday, we began our trip back to Houston.  It seemed as if everyone else had the same idea of heading home.  There was a mass exodus out of Destin.  There was so much traffic that a normal 5 hour trip from Destin to Baton Rouge took almost 8 hours.  We stopped in Baton Rouge for the night.

As we drove back to Houston on Sunday morning we shared the road with several people going to the Power Tour 2016 in Baytown.  There were several vintage cars as well as older model Mustangs and many other cars.  Who knows, maybe we will join the tour sometime.  Now it is nice to be home and not driving in this storm like we did at the beginning of our vacation.