My AWESOME beach weekend!!!

SanDestin Beach RESORT, Destin, Florida

OK, I am so sorry it has taken me a few days to get these pictures up. After I get the boys in bed, I usually look at a few blogs, and then update mine, and write in my online journal. Well, I have been tired from activities and the other night Owen couldn't go to sleep so I laid down with him for a "few minutes" and an hour and a half later when I woke up in the crack between the wall and the bed...I just went to bed. So I am going to try to get most of the pictures uploaded before the kids wake up, and I have to go pick up Chandler, then on to take boys to visit their dad, me to Institute Choir, etc...

I know you want me to get to the GOOD STUFF (the sunrise and sunsets), but remember we need to exercise some PATIENCE...I want to do it in order.

Thursday night I left Tallahassee after dropping the boys off at their dad's to go to Destin at 8:04 pm. Yeah it was late, but I wanted to get there since I was only going to have one day with this wonderful lady, one of my best friends, Tiffany.

Amy and Tiffany

We have been friends since we lived in Beaumont, Texas in October 1999. We have boys the same ages, she has a set of twins that are Chandler's age 9. We used to hang out and scrapbook, and when we only had one car she would let me come hang out at her house when I would come into town for the day, to run errands and grocery shop. We had a blast together. I miss her so much now. She lives in Utah, and is soon going to be moving to Reno, Nevada for a job transfer that her husband just received. We talk over email, phone, etc. I love her and am blessed to know her and call her my friend. She sent me an email saying that she was coming to Destin and wanted me to come and spend the weekend with her. So I checked my calendar and was excited that Matt would have the boys for the weekend, so that helped me know I wanted to go. So I closed my daycare on Friday, and drove down Thursday night. I got to the condo before Tiffany, she was still at her SIL's. So I just walked around the condo area until they got here.

This is the resort I stayed in. We were on the bayside, instead of on the beachside. But we were only 5 minutes from the beach, I didn't mind. It was great! Love you, Tiffany, You're the best!

The Front of our Turnberry condo. Our condo was the bottom on the right. My gray van is parked right in front of my bedroom windows.
This is the back screened porch, which was so great to sit on late at night and scrapbook. I really want to screen my back deck (yeah that is on my LLLOOONNNGGG list of things I want to do to my house).

This is the view from the living room and the screen porch. It is a panoramic, I stitched two photos together, in a really cool program I have. This down here is hole #...#9 on one of the 4, yes for your golfers out there, count them 4 PGA Championshp Golf Courses here at the SanDestin Resort. They are The Raven, Baytowne, The Links, & Burnt Pine. This is the Baytowne Course. And one sad note may be that I don't know how to even hold a club, let alone fall out of bed and play. :) Oh, well, maybe someday I can at least learn how to hold a club or play. I know the Par 5 means you need to be able to hit it and get the ball in the hole in 5 shots, but I don't know what the other numbers down the right side mean.

Ok, so on Friday morning Tiffany got up and went walking. I was really hoping that I would get to do my walking exercise. I knew I could once she left, but it was nice to walk together and talk. We have a lot to talk about with my divorce, and she has had plenty of moves, more children, etc.

So we walked through the Village of Baytowne Wharf, and onto the docks where all the yachts are. It was amazing that I couldn't get some of them in my whole shot, I had to take two shots to get the whole boat. AMAZING!!! It was gorgeous.

Village of Baytowne Wharf at sunrise, pretty and quiet.
Yacht boat docks at sunrise, beautiful.
I thought the boys would like this one since it has a steering wheel way up at the top.
This is the yacht I had to take in two shots. So I stitched them together to make one shot. I really liked that one. It even had a jet ski on top. Now that's my kind of boat. :)

After our walk Tiffany and her sister-in-law took me around and showed me the area. We saw where the church was that I would attend on Sunday. We ate lunch here...One of my new favorites. I love oriental food, and this was FABULOUS!!!

P.F. Chang's! A.M.A.Z.ING! I wish they had one of those here. :( Another great reason to go to Destin again. We each ordered something different since they serve family style, and so we shared all the entrees. We had lettuce wraps as an appetizer, and those I want to learn how to make here at home. I could eat those like every day. Then our entrees were Mu Shu Pork, Mongolian Beef, and Orange Peel Chicken. And for dessert we had a to die for 6 layer chocolate cake with raspberry sauce (made me think of the Bear Lake, UT Raspberry Festival, and the best raspberry shakes I've ever had). I've never had any of them and I really enjoyed the food, it was pleasing to the eyes and the palate. I would have taken pictures but my camera was in my van, and I only went to get it to get this picture of me by the huge horse. I saw it when I was coming into town, and wanted a picture by it even before I knew what restaurant it was.

After we were done with lunch we went and did some shopping (mostly window shopping for me). We went to the biggest Outlet mall in the South. We had a great time. This picture isn't so great because I took it while driving by the outlet mall. There are over 100 stores here.
Silver Sands Outlet Mall, Destin, Florida
We went back to the condo to say goodbye to Tiff's SIL Christine, she had to go to see her son play football. After I was ready to go out and have some more fun...we decided to go find somewhere to eat dinner. We saw a big sign that said The Crab Trap, so we followed the way it pointed and decided to try it. Tiffany wanted to get some fresh seafood, since they don't have that in Utah. That food was great too. I love seafood, and crab is my favorite, especially crab legs. The restaurant was really nice right on the beach. They had big windows that let in the sea breeze, it was nice. The crab was so fresh that it came right out of the shells without much work, usually I have to work at it and use the cracker and the little fork.

After we had dinner, we decided to go see the beach. I hadn't seen it as of yet, and I really wanted to. As we walked down to the waters' edge, I noticed that the sand squeaks as I walked upon it. Also, it was really soft and white. The moon was almost full, so it was nice. We saw a couple out fishing, and catching crab instead of fish. It was neat to watch. (We used to do that in Houston in the Gulf, when we would go fishing). It was a beautiful night.

After I took Tiffany to her cousin's house to go to the airport, I went to the beach to take some sunset pictures and walk along the surf. Here's the pictures you all have been waiting for!!!

I wanted to get some pictures of me on the beach, and at this time of the morning there weren't so many people out there. So I set up my tripod, set the timer, and decided to get one of me walking down the beach. But as I did, the wind blew and my tripod fell over and hit the sand. I ran back, and thank goodness it wasn't too bad. I wiped it off, mostly on the viewfinder. Then I did get this one of me walking. I also took one of me playing in the water. I didn't want to get wet then because I didn't have anything to dry of with, and I didn't know how long I was going to be there at that time.

Sunrise on the beach, such a beautiful thing. The beach was almost deserted, so I could get the shots I wanted. I was wishing I could pause time and just stay like that, calm and beautiful, a little breeze blowing my hair.

I love the feel of the water and the sand in between my toes. I could have stayed there FOREVER!

As I walked along the beach for some exercise I saw these guys catching some fish for lunch. Then I saw where the surf had come up and some little fish got stuck and couldn't get back to the ocean. These people were trying to dig a path for them to get back to the ocean, but every time they would round the corner or the waves would come up, the fish would turn around and swim the other direction. I decided to stop and help them a little. We probably saved 30 little fish. It reminded me of the poem about the man and the starfish that he was throwing back into the water. Someone told him he couldn't save enough of them to make a difference because there were so many, and he tossed another in and said, "it made a difference to that one."

We saved as many as we could. I walked and jogged from where the Hilton was on the beach to the Grand Dunes Hotel. I didn't measure it, so I don't actually know how far I went, but I was tired when I got back. I had taken off my shoes to jog, since it was hard to jog with sand in my shoes, and I really like the feel of the sand in my toes. Although bare foot was rough on my feet too. They were sure sore for the next few hours, but it was so worth it.

After I left the beach I went to go pick up a couple things before I went back to the condo. But then I saw a store where I could get the boys each a shirt. Then it was on the road we went to the Crab Trap on, and so I decided to just start driving down that road to see where it goes. I love to go exploring, and I drove till the road ended. The houses are all so pretty. I will put them in another, since this one is already a mile long. As I was driving I saw some guys walking in tux's and realized there was going to be a wedding on the beach. I had never seen one in person, so I hurried and found a parking spot, and followed where the guys went. It was a small ceremony, but the audience was huge. Almost everyone that was on this public beach had turned their chairs toward the wedding, and was watching. It was very beautiful. I know I'm not going to get married on a beach EVER, but this made me want to have a party on the beach. As I walked along the beach waiting for the wedding to start I saw all these seagulls, and wanted to see if I could get them to fly away. Well, then when I did they started flying toward me. It was funny, but I was screaming a little too. My kids love to do that, so I wanted to have some fun too. This is what they looked like as they were flying away.
This is some of the really neat beach umbrellas that are set out for the hotel guests to use. I liked the green and blue ones.After I left the second beach I decided that I needed to go back to the condo and have lunch and get cleaned up. First I went over to the Beachside of the SanDestin Resort to get some pictures from the top of the Luau condo building. On the 20th floor was an observation deck. At first I didn't want to go out onto the deck because all I could see was water and it gave my senses a bit of a weird feeling, but it was cool once I got myself out there. Absolutely beautiful scenery the 3 directions I could see.

To my left (east) as I look out on the deck.

Directly in front of me. All I could see was water and blue sky. The farthest I have ever been able to see.

Below where I was looking in the above picture. I don't have great zoom, or a telephoto lens yet, so I couldn't get very close. But pretty none the less. The green round building is where the path is that leads from the parking lot to the beach.

Looking to my right (west). It is cool to see that there is water on either side of me. It was dark when I got here to Destin, and I know that I crossed over a bridge, but it was neat to be up so high to see it, in the daylight. And one of the many golf courses below.

Then I wanted to go explore some more, and I needed to be presentable to do that. I drove down Hwy 98 for a long ways. I even went over a bridge into what I think was Okaloosa Island. On my way, I saw so many neat things to do. Para sailing, deep sea fishing trips, boardwalks, this awesome slick track-race track, The Bass Pro-Shop, The Hard Rock Cafe, a place called the Gulfarium (a place to take the boys), etc. Well, I knew that I wanted to get a shirt from Hard Rock, and I wanted to go walk around in Bass Pro-Shop, (mostly to see the giant fish tank they always have). BUT first I had to ride this really awesome go cart track. Chandler would have been going nuts. And it was so much fun. I wish I had someone to race with though. It would be fun to take the boys and bring them here some time. There were also bumper boats, and mini golf, but I didn't want to do those by myself.

The track goes around and up 3 times, then down a big slope. It was bumpy and fun!

Beautiful hotel, where the boarsdwalk was, and another dock with lots of boats.

After here I went back to this really neat hotel that had a boardwalk by it, and that is where I could have gone parasailing for a whoppin' 50 bucks for 5 minutes at like 400 feet I think. I've done it behind a truck at a YM/YW activity when I was a kid in Utah, but not over water. NEXT TIME DEFINATELY! Then I drove back and went to the Bass Pro-Shop and Hard Rock. I got a cute pink t-shirt that says Destin on it. I found a really cool clearance scrapbook store that Ii had to stop at. Which was by the cheapest place to get gas, Wal-mart at $2.96. When I had passed a few hosurs before it was at $2.99, so I knew I would get it, but when I came back it was $2.96, and I went and put more money on my gift card, and got it for $2.92.

Next was the Hard Rock and The Bass Pro-Shop. Thoase are some huge fish in the tank at the Bass Pro-shop.

After I walked around this shopping center for a bit, I noticed the sun was starting to make it's descent, and I didn't want to miss getting my sunset shots. So I got back in the van and drove to the beachside of the resort, parked my car, and went back onto the beach. It was so amazing. I know I have said these descriptive words so much, but I don't know any other way to say it. Heavenly comes to mind also. If this is what heaven is like I know I am going to love it there. :)

I couldn't get enough, the sun went down way too soon. And by the time it was down I was standing in the waves, in my jeans soaked to my thighs not caring and sobbing. I felt like I was saying goodbye to something. My old life. Almost like it was a closure, and the new day would be a fresh new start for me. I was not sad necessarily, just upset that my life made this kind of turn. But I am thankful to have a chance to do it again. Be better, or different, or myself. I feel like I suppressed some things these last few years, and I haven't been myself. I want to be who I am, and not let anyone tell what I can and can't do. I want to go bak to college, probably for Accounting. That isn't what I want to go to school for, but my options aren't many for where I live right now. If I had my way, I would go to FSU for Music Therapy, or train to become an Opera singer. I love to sing, and help people with my musical ability. But with small children I have to keep them in mind. And I enjoy accounting, and I can go to Thomas University a private University, and get a 4 year degree for that. And maybe work in a bank, or somewhere I can work while my kids are in school, then be home with them when they are home.

Ok, sorry about that sappy stuff. I just needed to add it in, so that you understand why I was crying. I am not mad at Matt anymore, just ready to move on, and pursue the rest of my life living it, not letting it pass me by.

Ok, sunset Destin Beach pictures, no words typed. A picture is worth a thousand words. These are worth millions to me.

Ok, this is my toes in the sand. I love it. Back to using my words again, the sunset is over. I wanted to get as much sunset as I could, so I kept snapping the whole time the sun was setting. I like to watch the progression...watching the sky get more colorful and then darker. The close-up one of me, I took myself, and I don't like it, but of the two that I took this one is the best. The other full length one I asked a couple to take of me, after I took one of them. It was funny apparently the guy was a photographer, so he was nit-picky about getting it exactly right. I'm not fond of my face, since he had taken so many I was laughing at that point. Oh well...it's one of me, and since I am usually the one taking the pictures it's one I'll treasure. The one with my footprints and the water's edge, I am going to add the footprints poem to it, and print it out to hang on my wall and one for the boys wall's too, where we'll see it everyday!

I have been carried alot these past few months. I am thankful to my Savior and my Heavenly Father for helping and guiding me through the rough times I have been dealing with this past year of my life. I have truly been blessed with my decisions. I do not regret them. I just regret that I let it go on this long. I wish my eyes would have been opened before now, then maybe my children wouldn't have had to suffer like they are. I love them with all my heart and soul. They are my whole life, I miss them as I stand on this beach, and enjoy my time by myself. As I listen to the other children running on the beach I wish they were with me to see this place.

I asked some really nice ladies to take my picture in this cool Adirondack chair at Baytowne Wharf. The ladies warned me to be careful not to fall backwards, one of them did. The chair is very large, and deep.

This is Hartell's diner. I ate dinner here on Saturday night. It is in the Baytowne Wharf. I walked around the whole place trying to find something that I was craving or that jumped out at me. And nothing did, till I walked past this place. I had a wonderful cheeseburger, fries, and a creamscicle shake (orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream). YUMMM!
I drew this heart in the sand while I was walking along the beach. I don't really know why, but I thought it would look cool. I could open one of my editing programs and insert my boys names into it.
Also, I fell in love with this place and this beach. I have always liked going to the beach, but this one is better than any others that I have been to. And I was able to be there and enjoy it as much as I wanted for as long as I wanted.

Wonderful times and great memories were made!