Thankfully the only day it really poured was the day we left.  Florida is beautiful, but we were ready to get home.  Although, I can’t wait to go back again.  It had already rained a lot before we could get out of the state.  It even came a torrential downpour while we were loading our car to go home.

Getting out of town.  Driving out of Destin was much easier than driving into the town.  The roads were soaked and so were Roomie & I.

This is where all 4 kids wanted to go.  I had to ask them why they wanted to go to a water park when they had a beach and 2 pools to jump in anytime they wanted.  Little Man replied “because it’s cool”.  Yeah, Little Man it looks cool until you actually go and freak out over the massive slides that look so much smaller from the road.

My dear ole’ cousin Nicole misread the sign earlier in the week, which led to a very heavily detailed explanation about the Pubic bone and Pubic hair.  I wish I was kidding!  Poor Nicole for misreading the sign.  Maybe she needs to get glasses, because I can’t see how you could just throw out the “l” in Publix.  Although Pubix has a nice ring to it.

In Florida, the water meets the edge of the road.  I would’ve thought there would’ve been barricades or something separating the road from the ocean.  Nope, not here.  However, I’d love to see what would happen if a hurricane came, do the waves come crashing into the road?  That’s something I’d like to see, I just don’t want to be in the hurricane while it’s happening.

The Blue Angels in Florida.  They’re amazing in person, I’ve seen them perform once.  I was amazed by them, I even think my jaw dropped while watching them.  I love watching planes, especially those that do acrobatics and crazy things in the air.  I would hate to be the one riding shotgun, I’m sure I would throw up everything.  Even the take off when flying makes me a little green.

Goodbye, Ocean.  See you again some day soon.  Hopefully that’s before I decide to tie the knot or have my house full of kiddos.  I definitely might have to talk Roomie into going back or at least a few friends so we can have a few wild nights.  I still have those left in me, you know.

Thankfully, I didn’t leave town without collecting some of this stuff.  It’s now sitting in my garage and there is some in Roomie’s trunk.  …Wonder how long it will be there until she decides to vaccum it up.

Roomie & I laid out constantly while we were in Florida.  I was either at the pool or the beach the entire time we were down there.  I hardly used sunscreen and didn’t burn a single time.  It was marvelous.  Roomie on the other hand, burnt.  Not to worry, she was darker when we finally arrived back in Oklahoma.  The redness had subsided.

Poor Roomie.  I’m sure her back must’ve seriously hurt.  Oh the other hand check out how dark I got.  Marvelous isn’t it?  I still have some great tan lines left over from Florida now.  Hopefully they’ll stick around awhile longer, I love my new darker skin.  The pool and beach jumping really did some good in the week I layed out.  I might have to do that more often to achieve this effect again.  Now, my dark hair is au naturel not dyed.

I braved my hatred for shrimp and dined on Coconut Shrimp for dinner one night.  It was amazing…and so were the drinks I had to go with it.  We had an amazing view looking out at the beach for dinner & even saw an airplane show….you know…the ones that were in Pearl Harbor…yes those planes…oh it was fun watching them fly across the water.

Pompano Joes has the best seafood hands down.  This little restaurant sets right on the beach.  The wait wasn’t too long to eat.  We mostly people watched and washed the waves crash into the beach.  It was a peaceful setting waiting on dinner that evening.

People watching.  Just look at all that white sand.  I love walking on the beach with my shoes off and only with my shoes off.  I did try walking in the sand in shoes, but it didn’t work.  It was awful having sand fly up my calf and then into my shoes all while I was continuing to walk, walk, walk.  I tried flip flops too, but even they didn’t work.  It was horrible, which leaves me to say I love the sand between my toes and not in my shoes.

My very yummy Strawberry Margarita.  It was definitely different getting a drink in a plastic cup.  I mean I’m a College Girl, I’m used to drinking Trash Can punch out of a Solo cup and things like that, but never from a restaurant.  That was definitely a different experience and an enjoyable one at that!

Our view for dinner.  We were able to continue our people watching skills.  Oh how I thoroughly enjoyed dinner that night and the view from dinner.  We even were able to watch a few planes do loops and plane acrobatics.  Not just any planes though, ones from the 1950s, just like the one in Pearl Harbor; the one towards the end where Ben Affleck and the little boy are flying.

Sisterly love.  We do love each other, despite our knock down drag out fights.  Roomie and I were civil for photos which only lasted a hour or so.  We both walked away with some exceptional photos from the beach and we’re thankful we found someone in our condos to take our pictures of us together.

She’s red, I’m tan.  Nothing beats one of the best sun tans of all time.  I believe this tan out does all the ones I had in the past, including those I acquired at Camp Cavett so many years ago.

Starring off into the wild blue yonder.  The ocean is truly an amazing experience and  watching those wave crash in, it’s just breath taking.  I do hope to one day stand in that same spot and watch those waves crash in one at a time.

So I live with a copy cat.  I know how to have fun and evidentially Roomie knows how to copy off me.  I really do love how this photo turned out.  It wasn’t anything we planned to turn out this way, it just did.  Don’t you just love candid non-planned moments like these?

Weeee!  I can’t help it if I get a little excited on the beach with my amazing Roomie.  I’m sure Roomie thought I was crazy for acting the way I did and I’m sure the girl we had taking our pictures thought we were both crazy.

Would you check out how dark my feet got during vacation.  Comparing my feet to Roomie’s white feet I really had no idea I got so dark until I saw the photos of exactly how dark I did get while hanging out on the beach every day.

Like all people, there is that one day where you must take photos on the beach…you know…all dolled up.  Roomie & I chose to wait til the very last possible day to do this.  We caught as much sun as possible before we decided to take photos.  I think they turned out amazing and I even got to act a little crazy during them.  After our photo op’s we hit up Pompano Joes for some yummy Pina Coladas.

Would you look at those waves.  The night we choose to have our beach photo-op the waves were bigger than I had ever imagine.  It would’ve been great to bust out the boogie board I bought and see what I could’ve done out there, but I didn’t.  I figure the board will come out next time, on our next big trip to Florida.

Think you all can guess where I’m headed?  Just wish I had my swimsuit on instead of my dress.  I just might be able to pull off the swimsuit under my clothes next time we do a beach photo shop.

I love the water.  Try to keep me out – I dare you.

A toe goes in.  I was a tiny bit afraid a wave would splash directly up my dress.  That happened later, but I was happy that it didn’t happen off the bat.  It gave me awhile to warm up to the water.

I flip flopped back & forth between the 2 pools at our condo and of course, the beach.  For a solid week I worked on my tan, listened to my ipod, and read a few books.  Not to mention I did hit up the Outlet Mall a few times too.  It was a great vacation and I’m glad I got to spend it with my cousins & the Roomie.

About to show us all what she can do.  It was a week spent perfecting the front flip in the water.  I had to show off exactly what her daring cousin could do, which was a perfect back flip as well as a front flip.  After I did that, I was the coolest cousin alive.

There she goes.  She’s funny to watch because of how she plugs her nose.  Which just so happens to be something her mother does as well.  She loves the water and nose plugs.  Yes, I said nose plugs.  Another mother/daughter thing.

The pool at the other side of our condos.  It was a much deeper pool and I hung out here too, catching all the rays I could.  It was phenomenal having two pools to hang out in and just float and float all day.  I loved not having to worry about a shark coming up from the depths of the pool and biting a chunk out of my raft.  That I truly enjoyed not worrying about.

The pool right outside our condo.  I could’ve jumped from our balcony and landed in the pool, that’s what I mean by it was just outside our room.  Then again, we were on the 3rd floor and I wasn’t going to risk my life for a little fun, so I kept my jumping feelings at bay and stayed on the balcony.

I’m thrilled that we only had one major rainy day in Florida the entire week that we were there.  Just one.  I mean I know there would come a day in our vacation where we’d have rain and such, so the rain was a much welcomed surprise for all of us.  Roomie & I were able to watch the storm roll in.  It was just like being in Oklahoma and watching those storms roll in, except this time there weren’t any warnings of tornadoes popping up which was great because I had no idea where the tornado shelters were.

Would you look at that picture.  The ocean is still sunny, while our condo is engulfed in clouds and what looks to be rainy weather headed our way.

Looking back at the storm headed our way.  It doesn’t look that bad.  It rained for hours and when it finally let up, I hit the beach.  You bet I hit the beach in my bikini after the rain and it was cold.

I was surprised there were still people on the beach after that storm rolled in.  Rain gushed for a little over a hour, which is why I was so shocked there were people still out and about on the beach.  Some of those people were even dry which was even more fascinating to me.  Clearly they didn’t go in for shelter because a majority of everyone’s things were still strewn all over the beach.

This guy was fishing.  I sat and watched him awhile just to see if he’d catch anything, like a shark!  That was a huge negative, he didn’t catch anything while I was standing there.  Thankful again for him not catching anything because I would’ve hated to have seen what would’ve came out of the ocean and what I would’ve been swimming with.

Fisherman casting out again.  His bait looked massive compared to the bait I use here in Oklahoma.  That could be because we don’t have huge fish in our lakes, let alone sharks.

Check out those skies and the sea foam green water.  I never knew the beach was pretty after it rained.  It wasn’t anything I expected to see, it was a nice surprise.

The ocean itself was a different color after the rain.  I didn’t get in, the water was very cold so I just walked around and snapped pictures and people watched.  I love to people watch, especially while on vacation.

Super sweet.  Too bad I didn’t have anyone to send this home to.  Maybe next year I’ll be able to send something like this back to the person I am in love with, better yet, I hope that next year I’m with the guy I’m in love with.  A girl can dream, right?

Just a random beach condo right on the beach.  I would’ve love to have rented from here, but there is no way I can afford to do anything like that now or until I’m employed.  This college girl is on a budget.  Yes, college girl and budget may not fit in the same sentence, but it’s a word I must live with for awhile now.

Now this is what I really wanted to say.  Rent out the entire house and live right on the beach.  I could only imagine falling asleep to the ocean sounds at night.  Waves crashing on the beach and peering out the windows and seeing what’s lurking outside cause you never know what you’re going to find.