Fort Walton Beach - Florida 07

Ah the view from our new home! Well...It was for a week anyway. We just got back from vacation in Fort Walton Beach, FL. The water was crystal clear this year, and the sand was snow white! We drove down with my (Staci's) entire immediate family. The parents and brothers and their families. There were 15 of us in all. It was an awesome trip. Big memories for the kids. They had a blast with their cousins. We are extremely blessed they are all close.
Right there on the beach is where we spent our days.


Oh yes, we did. We did the whole cliche "white on the beach" photos...We even took advantage of having the whole clan there and took a large family picture. We used a tripod and the timer. It took a few tries to get all the kids (and grown-ups) looking at once. Cassidy (the baby) kept turning her head to look at the person (Danny) setting up the shot while he ran into place in 8 seconds!


Jacob and Brynn were little beach buddies. Jacob had his net. He'd get out in the ocean with his snorkel and look for crabs and little fish...when he could get the net away from his dad! Travis definitely enjoys the vacations! He went and bought an inflatable boat and took all the kids and some grown-ups for some wild rides over the waves. A couple of days were pretty rough.
One day Brynn was taking a ride, and a huge wave knocked her out of the boat! Don't worry, dad was close by her.


Brynn's favorite thing to do the entire vacation was snorkel! She was a regular diver Dan and she is fearless anyway, so put her in the ocean with a snorkel and we followed her all over. One day she said.."momma I want to see what is out in that dark blue!"


Jacob's favorite thing to do was to hang out with his cousins. They surfed on their skim boards, and built sand tunnels. They did spent a lot of their time "washing their feet" at the showers between the beach and the pool. Just far enough from the parents to feel "alone". They loved going to the pool so the closer to it the better! They are just a couple of wild and crazy guys!


The picture above and the 2 below are from the pier. We looked off and saw sharks, manta rays and turtles. As you can see Brynn and Jacob also found a crane to harass. Luckily, it was one step ahead of them so they could never get very close. The last is a picture of the view from part of the pier.


I'm gonna get you!




Another family shot. It looks like I am holding Jacob back. I probably am...look at that mischievous smile.


We think we fit in pretty good at the beach! The funny thing is we all (15) of us went to dinner after the pictures together..all in the white. We probably looked like the Von Trapps or the Partridge family. You gotta find humor in that stuff! My dad did get his hand shook by a stranger congratulating him on his "beautiful family and well behaved grandchildren." We all smiled politely and thanked him. Dad beamed with pride. Then when he was out of sight we looked at each other and was like "what table was he at? Our kids?? Ha Ha . They really were great...It was a good time!

Look at them...sweet things.