Destin, FL - Day 5

We enjoyed a morning swim before Abigail and Ansley took their morning nap. While they slept in big girl beds, we loaded the car and got ready to leave. Again, the ride home took much longer than it used to. There is no longer such a thing as a short pit stop. We now enjoy the double diaper change, snack or meal time, and a little time to let them burn off some of their energy. We were very unsure about taking them to the beach being so young without extra help, but we are so glad that we did. We can't exactly say that it was a relaxing trip because everything is hard work with two, but we were able to do everything that we used to do with just the two of us there...it would just take us a while! We were so blessed with a wonderful trip and so many special memories with our sweet angels!

Some of the girls favorite memories were:

- The elevator rides. We were on the 1oth floor right on the beach. They LOVED standing right against the glass and looking "ow sy" (aka "outside") as we went up and down.

- Throwing the beach ball into the sand and watching Mommy chase it down the beach.

- Daddy tossing us up in the air in the swimming pool. (And there was no lifeguard to blow the whistle to tell him to stop like at Maryland Farms!)

- Riding the waves in the ocean.

- Trying to grab everything on the racks at the store while strolling through. We were very good at it by the time we were finished.

- Climbing in the kitchen cabinets and trying to close each other in.

- Standing on the balcony and looking through the rail at the beach. (DON'T WORRY...Mommy and Daddy did lots of testing before letting us stand at the rail...and we were always supervised!!!!) It wasn't the Michael Jackson moment you are thinking of!!

Some of Mommy and Daddy's favorite memories:

- Singing "If you're happy and you know it" over and over again. (Abigail and Ansley loved to clap their hands and stomp their feet...and they would make their "faces show it"!)

- The girls mooching Mommy and Daddy's donut filling. (Ok. They were especially yummy...from the Donut Hole.) They found out they loved ketchup. (Thanks to Daddy leaving his Whataburger french fries and ketchup in the floor!)

- "Moving in" on the beach. We had so much stuff! Daddy enjoyed hauling buckets of water to the girls' pool, especially when we drove such a long way to enjoy the ocean. Instead, they had their own pool just feet away from the ocean! :) The girls loved the pool, though, and would play for hours! Did we mention that every muscle in our bodies ached from carrying the girls and all of their stuff across the sand to our "camp"?! Whew! What a workout!

- Making it through dinner each night without a major disaster.

- Looking forward to a walk on the beach one night while the girls slept...only to discover that the strollers wouldn't even budge in the sand. So we settled for a seat in the sand instead!

- Crossing our fingers when we had to load the car to leave Nashville and the beach. Everything had to be packed perfectly to fit in the trunk! (We are getting closer and closer to a minivan! :) )