Our vacation to Destin was so great. I really don’t know where to start. We left on Friday to make 9 of the 13 hour drive. Driving with 100 kids wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. That’s probably because Livie rode with my parents over 1/2 the time and it was wonderful. We drove thru Louisiana Swamplands which Taj thought was the coolest and we crossed the Mississippi River.  We stopped in Biloxi, Mississippi for the nite. The next morning we visited a memorial park- I can’t remember the name. But it had the USS Alabama Battleship, Air Force helicopters and more. The kids LOVED it!!

After checking out all the cool stuff we headed on. We stopped in Crestview or some other town that starts with a “C” to eat and that’s when it happened… Livie asked for her blanket. I knew at the hotel she had insisted on carrying it along with her “Gameboy” (aka V-tech toy.) But I didn’t remember seeing her with it in the car. CRAP. I dug thru the suitcase. Nada.  Looked thru my Yukon, my parent’s van… nada. Livie started to cry. I started to cry. I cried because it had been “her blanket” since she was born. I cried because I had all of my other children’s “fave blankie” from when they were little, but now I had lost Livie’s. She was more attached to this blanket than any of my other kid’s had ever been. I cried because she was sad and now we were going to be in an unfamiliar place and she wouldn’t have her comfort. I sat at the table in Arby’s and tried not to look like a crying dork, but Sei even said, “Babe, everyone’s gonna think we’re fighting…” Sei called the hotel and the desk clerk didn’t see it anywhere.  I cried some more. It was horrible.

But we continued on… and made it to Destin,  Florida. I tried not to think about the blanket at all. We unloaded our stuff- which I must brag… I was able to pack for a family of 9 in ONE big suitcase and a big duffle bag. I pretty much rock. When you know you’re gonna be in swimsuits and have a washer and dryer there’s no need to pack a lot. Anyway… we unloaded at our fancy resort with walk in tubs, changed into our swimsuits and headed to the beach. White sand, clear water… I was able to stop thinking about the blanket for a lil while….