2021 30A Summer Beach Trip - Days 6, 7, & 8

Happy Monday!  It’s the third and final beach recap!  If you missed the others, you can see them here and here.

Thursday, June 10

Thursday morning, B got up and went to Donut Hole one more time to grab breakfast.  (Oh yes, we did get donuts again!  Haha.)  The wait was really long on Thursday, so I was able to squeeze in a workout and read for a bit while he was gone.

After breakfast, we all got ready and headed down to the beach, where we played and relaxed for a couple of hours.

We had sandwiches and fruit in the condo again for lunch, and then it was back down to the beach for a couple more hours.  We had gorgeous weather on Thursday, and we wanted to maximize our time there. 

The kids invented a game where they threw shells back and forth, and that kept them busy (and kept Olivia happy since she couldn’t go in the water) for the majority of the afternoon. 

We headed up mid-afternoon to get ready, and then we headed out to do some exploring.  We tend to visit the same restaurants that we know and love over and over again, but Thursday we headed into Watercolor (the tiny beach town just past Seaside) to see what it had to offer.  We’d never gone that far down the strip (aside from passing through to head to Destin a few times), so it was nice to find some new things to do!

There’s a lovely restaurant in Watercolor called The Wine Bar, and it has the quaintest little sidewalk courtyard under strings and strings of twinkle lights, so we thought that would be a fun option for dinner.  When we arrived, both kids (mostly Olivia) were a bit cranky (probably overtired since we were nearing the end of the trip), but we told them they could hang out by the fountain at the end of the court yard until the food came, and they perked right up after that.

We grabbed an appetizer to start – the black bean hummus – and it was delicious.  B and I love trying new wines, so we each grabbed a glass of cab to start, and then we ended up grabbing a second glass of a different brand so we could sample another one.  A bonus to eating dinner so early – they had happy hour prices for the wine!  ;o) 

Olivia didn't like the black bean hummus, and she was so hungry that she wanted to try the parmesan cheese and red peppers in the packets that they'd brought for our pizza.  Spoiler alert – she did not love either of them.  Lol.

For dinner, B and I split a supreme pizza and it was so so delicious.  The kids were happy because they had buttered noodles, and it was a nice dinner outside. 

The kids had spotted a candy/ice cream shop on the way in called Candy Bar, so we walked to that after dinner.  The kids both opted for candy for dessert, and B and I opted out completely because we were both too stuffed.  The shop was adorable and it had all kinds of unique, cute, and plain odd novelty candies (peep that fried chicken candy, those shitake mushroom candy canes, and that beer cotton candy – YUCK) and the kids both grabbed a couple of unique items that we don’t normally see anywhere else.  The candy ended up costing AN ARM AND A LEG (there were no price tags, so we had no clue until they rang them up), so we told them they better enjoy it because we probably won’t ever be going back there again.  Haha.

After dessert, we headed back to the condo and watched some America’s Got Talent, and then we went out for another sunset beach walk.  The kids came upon a huge sand alligator that somebody had built, and they thought it was the neatest thing!  We looked for crabs on the way back in and saw one, and then it was time to head back inside for bed.

 

Friday, June 11

Friday morning was donuts in the condo followed by some reading and hot tea, and then we headed down to the ocean bright and early because it was our last full day there!  The kids were inspired by that sand alligator we’d seen the night before, so they both decided to make some sand creations of their own. 

They ended up doing a fish, a turtle, a crab, and another fish with sharp teeth and they all turned out SO GOOD.  It’s hard to tell from the pictures, but they were just great!  And very large, too. 

We had a quick lunch in the condo and then headed back down to the beach for the rest of the afternoon.  Again, the kids played in the sand all afternoon, and this time they made a huge sand fort.  It was huge and it had little hooks (sticks) to hang their shovels, a little table made of sand, and a flag made of seaweed.  It was so cute and creative, and it kept them busy the entire afternoon, so B and I were able to relax for a while. 

Once we were all beached out, we headed back to the condo, got ready, and then decided to head to The Hub one last time for dinner since there was nothing else on our radar.  Olivia was still hoping to see Luke Bryan so he could sign her cast – LOL – but we never saw him. 

We all had Duo’s for dinner again, followed by the same ice cream that we love so much, and then we headed back to the condo.  Our condo was a disaster, so I spent the next 30 minutes tidying and packing since we were leaving early the next morning, and then we headed out for one last sunset walk on the beach to end the day.  The kids were excited that their sand fort was still there!

Saturday, June 12

Saturday morning, we were up verrrry early with the hope that we could get ready, get the car packed up, and beat the crowd to Big, Bad, Breakfast so we could eat a hearty breakfast on the way out.  Unfortunately, the wait was already pretty long at 8 AM – 45 minutes – but we ended up waiting it out because Jacob was dying for some pancakes.

The service ended up being super slow and the whole ordeal ended up taking nearly two hours, but we were all able to load up in the car with full bellies, which is exactly what we had wanted.  Just look at that French toast!

We arrived home mid-afternoon, grabbed a suuuuper late lunch from the Chick-Fil-A drive-through, and then we headed back home sweet home where the rest of the day was spent unpacking, doing laundry, and getting caught up on everything that had been neglected while we were gone. 

All in all, it was another wonderful trip even though Olivia was in a cast, and we can’t wait to go back to our happy place once again next year!

Happy Monday, y’all!

*Linking up with My Glittery Heart, The Other Side of the Road, and The Sirois Family for Hello Monday.