Today, we split up a little.  Bo, Izzy, Bec & my mom stayed back at the condo for pool & beach time while the rest of us went to Big Kahuna's water park.  Izzy had a nice, relaxing day with daddy building sand villages, swimming & eating Chick-fil-A.

We got to Big Kahuna's right when it opened & stayed until about 2pm.  There were lots of slides, lazy rivers & a great kids area.  Maggie was so brave & wanted to do ALL the slides.  I, on the other hand, did NOT want to do the "tube style" slides!  I have this completely ridiculous fear that someone's going to close up both ends of the tube & I'll be stuck in it as it fills with water.  I ended up going on 1 of those slides & of course it was pitch black!  We were out of it before real panic set in!

After everyone cleaned up from their day in the water, we went to The Crab Trap for dinner.  It was really neat because there are 2 entrances, 1 from the parking lot & 1 from the beach.  They even have a playground for the kids out back so they can play while you wait for your table.



Our last day on beach & we finally got a yellow flag!  We spent the day at the beach & pool, getting our fill of the white sands.  The kids made sand castles, we saw a baby shark about 2-3 feet from the shore line & little baby fish were bopping into our feet with their noses...or they were trying to bite us.  Either way, it was neat to feel!  We tried unsuccessfully to snatch up a fish (with our hands & my hat!) & finally caught some with a net Valerie had.  We put them in a bucket of water for the kids to see & then released them.

In case there's any question...don't drink the pool water! ;-)

For dinner, we went back to Harbourwalk & had dinner at AJ's.  The food was SO good & the decor was cool.  Even found a boat with my maiden name on it!



After dinner, we went down to the boardwalk & there was a dad/daughter band playing called Three Bean Soup.  There was also a "Jack Sparrow" pirate there that did some games with the band.  All the kids got to play in the band & do a hula hooping contest...even the moms & dads got in on the fun!
 


The kids were obsessed with this pirate!



At 9pm the fireworks show started & were in a great spot to see it all.  This was probably one of our funnest nights in Destin!  After the show was over, we went back to the condo to pack up for our trip home tomorrow.







This was an absolutely amazing trip!  Thanks to my mom, who worked her butt off all her life to gift us with this trip that she earned after 35 years with her company.  I hope I can do the same for my kids one day!

Thanks mommy!  We love you!

Monday we woke up bright & early to head over to the pontoon boat we rented for the day.  We loaded up sandwiches, chips, beer & our fishing poles & headed out.

Bo was our sexy Captain for the day.  We tooled around in the pontoon for a while before stopping to fish & swim for a bit.




Welcome to Crab Island!  This area is so cool!  There are floating rock walls, jumpys, grill boats & pontoons everywhere!  Everyone anchors next to the Destin bridge & the water is only waist deep so you can just jump in from your boat.  We didn't do any of the floating activities since it was gonna be more trouble than fun with these kids, but they still had a blast.


After a long hot day in the water, we went back to the condos & ordered pizza for dinner.  We were pooped & all crashed early.



Tuesday morning, we trekked over to The Track, which is right across the street from our condo.  We all had fun racing go-karts & bumper boats!


From there, we headed over to Fudpucker's for lunch.  Fudpucker's has lots of alligators in their Gator Beach & you can even feed them.  A bag of food is $3 & you get 4 pellets.  You attach the food pellet to a very high-tech feeding rod of a pole, rope & a bobby pin! :-)  Clip the food in between the bobby pin & dangle it in front of the gator's mouth & it'll come up to snatch it!





After we fed the gators, we got to take pictures with one!  This one is about 3 years old & after my girls got their pics taken, Julie's kids went in & it decided to pee on Bella!  Needless to say, she was NOT happy about that! (but we got a good laugh about it!) :-)

For dinner, we went down to Harbourwalk.  Once thing to always remember in Destin...there's always traffic at dinner time!  We left way too late for dinner to be sat timely with a party of 13.  Bo dropped us off at the front of the restaurant & then he drove around for almost 2 hours looking for a place to park.

While we waited to eat, we walked around the Harbourwalk.  Tuesday night was Mardi Gras night so there was a New Orleans style band & some Mardi Gras characters like these tall guys & a lady painted all in silver who doesn't move...like a statue.




We caught the sunset on the docks before heading back to the restaurant.

We waited 2 hours for a table at Margaritaville, which left a lot to be desired. This area is beautiful but I probably wouldn't go back to this specific restaurant again.