The beautiful Emerald Coast.
Enjoying one of our nightly walks on the beach. I love my sweet and fun husband!!
Our Cuckoo kiddos!
All three doing a ropes course.
They have no fear!
Tearing up the mini-golf course.
Our daily sandcastle building.
A guy who was near us as we canoed told us he spotted a shark. We didn't tell the kids!
Handstand competition.
Doesn't she look like she is running out of the water at the Hawaii Ironman?
I love these kids!
And I love this one!
This is how Luke spent 80% of his time at the beach. Face down in the water searching for fish and crabs!
My boogie boarder!
Some friends introduced us to Kilwin's candy store and ice cream in Michigan so we were excited to find one in FL. Such yummy fudge!
Matt has two colors - white and red! Hence, the swim shirt after only one day.
Dinner at a place with great atmosphere and horrible food!
Luke doing his best Tim McGraw. 
On Music Row. We wanted to be songwriters for a day since none of us can sing (except Luke).
Matt and I enjoying a quiet moment at Centennial Park. 
A replica of the Parthenon at Centennial Park.
The Grand Ole Opry!
Getting ready for the show. 
This is how my kids pose for pictures 98% of the time.
This is how they pose the other 2% of times after many threats. I actually prefer the silly ones most of the time.
Brooke LOVES her brother!
Our BEAUTIFUL Hotel Gaylord.
I really couldn't stop taking pictures. It was so lovely and relaxing!
Our family loves going new places. Although we love to go back to familiar vacation spots, some of our favorite trips are when we explore new places. Matt and I have been to Memphis, but had never been to Nashville so we chose to stop there on our way down to Florida since it was halfway. Our whole family loves country music so we got tickets to the Grand Ole Opry the first night we were there. We were a little worried about the kids liking it, but the show was so much fun that they loved it! Andrew especially loved Little Jimmy Dickens and his corny jokes. He has actually been using these jokes all summer. We stayed at the Gaylord Hotel which was a great decision. It was so beautiful and I couldn't stop taking pictures. The kids absolutely LOVED it!! It was so relaxing and there was so much to do. I highly recommend it! We will definitely be going back there someday. We also went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Centennial Park. I loved being south and I couldn't get enough of the Magnolia trees and Crepe Myrtle trees - which are just two things I miss about living in Ohio. Matt and I both decided that Nashville seemed like a place we would enjoy living. Whenever we travel to a new city we rate whether or not we could love there. Since the way we move around you just never know!! We gave it a thumbs up.
We had so much fun in Nashville that we didn't want to leave even though we were excited to get to the beach. We are really not beach people (especially Matt) so I was a little nervous as to how the week would go. Our family does much better with sightseeing and being active. We really don't relax very well. Although we are trying to do better! It had been a few years since we had been to the beach with the kids and I was hoping that it would be a success. By the time we arrived at our condo in Sandestin it was already dark so we were pleased when we awoke and saw how beautiful the view was from our place. The beaches truly were beautiful and I honestly thought they were just as pretty as the beaches in Cancun. And I didn't get sick so next time we can skip Mexico. Too bad that it isn't that warm here in February:( We ended up having a great time and the kids LOVED it. Every morning we would begin at the beach and then finish at the pool. We would go out for dinner at night and then find some activity to do. Then, Matt and I would wrap up the night by reading Harry Potter to the boys while Brooke and I read our own books. My beach reading was Bound South and One Day. I enjoyed both- especially One Day.
We had perfect weather the whole time, it only rained one morning and then cleared up. The last day we were there was the most beautiful day. The water was perfect! Then around 2:00 pm algae began to come up on shore and by the end of the day there was so much algae you didn't even want to be in the water. We later found out that from friends who went there the week after we did that the algae blooms in late June and stays until early August. Well, we picked the perfect time to go! We had such a nice time and none of us wanted to go home and go back to schedules and reality. There is definitely something special about summer vacation!!
