{"id":7321,"date":"2013-07-30T13:36:53","date_gmt":"2013-07-30T18:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=7321"},"modified":"2013-07-30T13:36:53","modified_gmt":"2013-07-30T18:36:53","slug":"surprise-beach-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=7321","title":{"rendered":"Surprise Beach Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My greatest hope as a mom is that Emma is able to look back on her childhood and say that she had a blast growing up in our family.\u00a0 I was just recounting to a friend some of the awesome adventures I had with my mom, brother, and sister growing up and I want Emma to have that same experience.\u00a0 We went to the beach earlier this summer with my sister, bro-in-law, and niece.\u00a0 We had a wonderful time with them…but it just wasn’t long enough.\u00a0 We left wanting a few more days at the beach.\u00a0 I am so blessed to work at North Cobb Christian School where I get 3 weeks off in the middle of the summer and also get to enjoy Fridays off the other weeks in the summer that we do work.\u00a0 At the last minute, we decided to head back to Destin for a long weekend.\u00a0 We booked a condo on the beach at a new place that we have never been to before and we started packing.<\/p>\n

As a side note…our family is committed to being debt-free and I want to give a quick story of how that worked so awesome in this situation.\u00a0 Each month, we do the money envelope system and set aside a certain amount for groceries and eating out.\u00a0 At the end of the two week pay period, any cash that is left, I always set aside and save it as “fun money”.\u00a0 We paid for this entire trip with the money I have set aside the past several months.\u00a0 This is something that is a blast for me because I try to satisfy my competitive nature by using coupons and shopping sales in order to save as much money as possible.\u00a0 The leftover grocery money made for an awesome beach trip…let’s face it, there is never any money left in the “eating out” envelope!<\/p>\n

On Thursday morning, Emma and I headed to school as we normally do for my work and her summer camp.\u00a0 Clint came along under the guise of working from school.\u00a0 Of course Emma had no idea that the car was packed for the beach with all of her favorite stuff.\u00a0 As soon as I got off work and picked up Emma, we hit the road.\u00a0 She asked where we were going and we said “out to dinner”.\u00a0 About 3 1\/2 hours later, Emma proclaimed “Mom…there is a Moe’s right near school!”\u00a0 She got immersed back in a game she was playing and didn’t question again until we were driving over the mid-Bay bridge into Destin.\u00a0 She said, “The beach…are we really at the beach??!!”\u00a0 She was so excited about our surprise.\u00a0 We had the most fun surprising Emma!<\/p>\n

We arrived at the beach around 7pm Central time just in time for dinner.\u00a0 We went to Pompano Joe’s in Miramar Beach and enjoyed walking on the beach watching the sunset while waiting for our table to be ready.\u00a0 After a quick grocery stop, we checked in and immediately loved the condo.\u00a0 It was on the 2nd story and had a screened in porch right on the beach.\u00a0 We loved being able to hear the waves so close!<\/p>\n

Friday morning I woke up early to enjoy my chai tea and quiet time reading on the porch.\u00a0 Before long Emma joined me and we finally woke Clint up to let him know that we were going to the beach.\u00a0 After breakfast we all headed out for a bit to jump the waves.\u00a0 Clint and Emma headed to Big Kahuna water park to enjoy their season passes we had purchased back in June and I settled in for an afternoon of reading at the beach.\u00a0 Friday evening we tried out a new place, Don Pedro’s.\u00a0 The food was awesome and the customer service was excellent…definitely will return!\u00a0 From there we headed to the Destin Commons Mall for some walking around and to check out Build-A-Bear.\u00a0 Emma has really been working hard on falling asleep on her own in her room this summer and we had promised her a reward if she did it 5 nights in a row with no complaining.\u00a0 Wouldn’t you know…she did it the 5 nights leading up to the beach!\u00a0 We left the mall with a bear called “Destin Beach” and a very happy little girl.<\/p>\n

We woke up Saturday morning to a steady rain…but still a beautiful view of the beach.\u00a0 Since we have been wanting to see Despicable Me 2, we loaded up and went to see that while the rain was still coming down.\u00a0 We followed that with lunch at the Back Porch…my all time Destin favorite!\u00a0 Then we spent the entire afternoon and most of the evening at the beach and the pool.\u00a0 We ordered pizza that night and sat out on the balcony for a long time just having fun and talking.\u00a0 Emma kept going on and on about what a great surprise it was to come to the beach.<\/p>\n

Normally we always head out early on the day we are going home, but we decided we wanted another day…so we loaded up and checked out and went to Big Kahuna Water Park for the day.\u00a0 What a blast!\u00a0 We didn’t even leave the park until about 2:00.\u00a0 It was after 10pm by the time we finally rolled into our driveway, but Clint and I both said a million times…”we are so glad we did this…and we are going to do this again soon.”\u00a0 I am so grateful for this time that I had with my awesome husband and precious daughter.\u00a0 We all came home refreshed and filled with treasured memories.\u00a0 Now…where should we go next??<\/p>\n