We had the opportunity to go to Florida with my family. My parents and little sister went as well as my older sister and her family. We stayed in a time share condo– each family had their own. It was SO nice. We went to Destin again like we did in 2009 and it was absolutely WONDERFUL!!!!  We were a little worried because the weather report for the week said rain and thunderstorms every day. On Saturday and Sunday it was cloudy and rainy. We went to WonderWorks in Panama City Beach which was super cool, to stay out of the rain one day. Then the weather cleared up and was absolutely beautiful the rest of the week. So, the other days we basically hung out on the beautiful white sand beach, body surfing, skim boarding, tanning, feeding sea gulls, eating PB&J sandwiches, building sandcastles, collecting sand dollars, FUN…!!!! Seiuli has been working so much so it was nice he was able to take that time off, hang out with the kids and just chill. I think family vacations, even if they aren’t all the way to Florida, are so important.

Here’s a few pics. If you’re my friend on Facebook you’ve already seen a lot more than these!

 

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I finally got around to making a montage of all the family skimboarding. However I was disappointed to find that a lot of the video I took apparently didn’t get uploaded to the computer. I thought I got everything off the card, but it’s not here. And the memory card is now in Canada because we used Karlea’s camera most of the time. Sad when a 10 year old has a better camera than you do…
Anyway… I have no way of getting the other videos. Even if I had them here, with the way Sei’s ex is we’d probably get sued for them and they’d end up in Canada anyway… Yes – I went there.
So… for your viewing pleasure I made a montage with the pics and videos I DID have. I’m sad because I know I had Alec doing his 270 and Sei doing a lot more tricks. I also had Sei and Alec going at the same time and it was so cute.

I never finished my posts about Florida. Basically we  hung at the beach. All week.  BEST.VACAY.EVER. Wait, no… my cruise with Sei was the best ever, but this is the best vacay with the kids.

We got to go out a couple of times sans kiddos for some adult conversation… Here we are at Pompano Joe’s with my parents…

And I still need to make a montage of Alec and Sei skimboaring…  I should have it up by next vacation.

All thru out the week Sei kept calling the hotel in Biloxi to see if they had found Livie’s missing blanket.  Then one  morning, at 6:42 am, Sei’s phone started ringing. It was Jessica from the hotel. She was getting off work at 7 am, but wanted to call to let us know she had FOUND THE BLANKET!! She had searched in the laundry and asked the head housekeeper if she had found an old blanket. The lady said, “No, but I found this…” and held up Livie’s poor, abused, but dearly loved blankie!! Jessica even took it home to wash it. You have to understand that this blanket is IMPORTANT. All thru out the week Livie cried to go home and cried for her “white blankie.” We had bought a replacement pink blanket and it worked for a lil while, but it wasn’t the same…

So, on the Friday we left to head home, top priority was going to the hotel in Biloxi to get Livie’s blanket. She was so happy. And if you look at this pic I look like I’m on drugs. I’ll never tell if I actually was on  drugs or if I was just worn out… It’s funny how on “vacation” you are so tired and worn out. Sei and I didn’t even make out the entire trip. Seriously. I wish I was kidding. 

Anyway… that’s the story. We had a great trip. Livie got her blanket back. We didn’t beat or lose any kids. We made it home safely. It was awesome and I can’t wait for next year when we go to California baby!! (We must be insane.)

Really. They do. Bad. How do I know? Because while in Florida Isabel and Taj found a couple of crab legs. Not crabs- just the legs. So, what’d they do? They stuck them in 2 ziplocks full of water and stuck them in the bedtable drawer at the resort. I’m not sure how long they were in there, but I walked in their bedroom and was nearly knocked out from the smell. OMGosh. Y’all- it was BAD. I searched the room trying to find what was causing the smell. The kids were oblivious… “It doesn’t stink in here…” I finally found the baggies and hurried them out of the resort room. I dumped detergent on the carpet and vacuumed it up. It helped some, but the smell lingered for quite a while. Kids are so weird. What exactly were they gonna do with 2 crab legs?

….So, where was I? Ah, yes… I was at the beach. Everyday. For hours. It was so wonderful. That’s what we did the entire week. The resort was nice with a little village that had a park with swing sets and slides. We did visit the Gulfarium one day which is like a very mini-Sea World. The kids- especially Liv- loved the dolphins and petting the sting rays. We also ate great sea food, but I don’t really like fish, so I got more chicken than anything. We went to this cool restaurant called Fudpuckers. Yeah, say that fast 3 times…  They had alligators in a swamp area right there surrounding the restaurant. Taj pet an alligator and then 6/7 of my kids and 1 sister got to take a pic with an alligator with Kelsea holding the head, Taj holding the belly and Isabel with the tail. It was really neat. Later Taj and Livie fed the alligators with a fishing pole. Most of the alligators were so stuffed they ignored all the dangling meat, but Livie and Taj actually had a biter!! It was really a fun nite at Fudpuckers…

I attempted to skimboard on the beach. Yeah… I suck. I tried though, even after biffin’ it good a few times. And I pulled my groin muscle too. One time I fell so hard that all the kids came swimming towards me “Mom are you ok?!?!” Soooo embarrassing – especially since I wasn’t even hurt. They all thought I hit my head, but I only hit my shoulder blade. Then I noticed the people sitting near us on the beach were being entertained with my falls. Not cool. I should have faked like I was knocked out and floated out to sea…  I didn’t do too badly a few times.

Sei already knew how to skimboard- of course- and was bustin’ 360s. Alec was awesome too. He skimboarded all week with Sei and by the end of vacation could do a 270. I LOVE watching them interact together. They are like twins in the personality department for sure.

And Omar- I already told you on Twitter, but I had to let everyone else know that you were remembered while on vacay. Tristan bought Crocs- and we all know how much Omar LOVES Crocs.  Tristan picked some out and said, “Now I can have Crocs like Omar…” Thanks for setting such a great example Omar by wearing, to use your phrase “The Mullet of Shoes.” (*rolling eyes*)

During all this beach and skimboarding and eating Sei called the hotel Biloxi where Livie left her blanket and spoke to a few different people. Finally a girl named Jessica took an interest and said she’d check with housekeeping and search in the dirty towels… More later… I still need to tell y’all the crab leg story too…

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….

I could soooo be a beach bum. Totally. I’ve always believed this, but it was confirmed this past week. Sei and I took the 7 kiddos to Destin, Florida. My parents and little sister went as well because they have a timeshare and let us use some of their points to get a condo for our family. THANK YOU AGAIN!!!! Our resort was awesome. Our family had 2 bedrooms and a sofabed, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, washer and dryer… PER.FECT. And the beach… oh, the beach. In Destin it’s white sand and clear water. BEA.U.TI.FUL. I would have posted while I was there, but I didn’t bring my laptop. I will give a ton more details in my next few posts- I took notes on things to blog about. But I will say that I am brown, except for 2 huge places on my back that are peeling. (Yuck.)  And I have a pulled groin muscle from attempting to skimboard. I pretty much suck. I also wanna give a SHOUT OUT to Jessica at the Best Western in Biloxi, Mississippi for going above and beyond in her search for Livie’s lost blanket. That’s a whole post in itself, so stay tuned…