The Dorsey's: October 2013

This was the third year that we went to the beach with Robert's family for Labor Day. The first two years we went to Panama City Beach and had a lot of fun, but this year we decided to go to the beaches on 30a. We had a blast. Before heading out on Thursday, we took Bryson to school for soccer. He was not interested at all. I don't know if it's because we were both there watching him or if he was excited for the beach, but he just didn't want to do anything. It was the only time Robert got to be there to watch him so we were both a little sad about it. After soccer, we picked up Lola then headed to Robert's work in Montgomery for lunch. They were having a retirement lunch for one of their co-workers so we stopped by so Robert could be there and we got free food! After that, we hit the road. Bryson was so good in the car. We were all so excited to get there. We got there first so we were able to check everything out, unpack, and have dinner just the four of us. Robert's mom wanted to check out this place called Bud and Alley's. It was a nice little area with a bunch of little different restaurants and little shops. We ate at the taco restaurant. It was pretty good. Pretty pricey but pretty good. Then we explored for a little bit and did a sunset walk on the beach. Bryson was in heaven! He was so happy to be in the sand again. The first thing he did was lay down on the sand and make sand angels. It was so cute! Once everybody got there, we all hung out on the roof while Bryson and Lola went to sleep. We headed to the beach the next morning a little later then we wanted to but we were all tired from traveling the day before so we wanted to sleep in some. I had so much fun watching Bryson play in the ocean. Amy and Shawn took him out and then buried him in the sand. He loved it! I don't like to get in the ocean but everybody else does so he had plenty of people to go out there with him. It's great that everybody likes to take him so they can all take turns because I really think he would stay in the water all day. After a day at the beach, we headed back to get ready to watch the opening game of Auburn's football season. On the way back tot he house, we found a cute little coffee shop that had awesome iced coffees and pastries. I ended up going there everyday for and iced coffee. Definitely better than Starbucks and that's saying a lot! For dinner, we enjoyed a shrimp boil and some yummy sides and watched Auburn win their first game of the year! War Eagle!
Sunday we got up earlier and were able to spend a whole day at the beach. Since the weather wasn't that hot, we were able to stay all day without being miserable. We ate at Red Bar for dinner that night before taking family pictures on the beach. Monday was our last full day on the beach so we spent another full day out in the sun. Amy, Shawn and the kids had to head back Monday night since the kids had school so they went to the outlets but Eli came with us to the beach. Bryson had so much fun playing with him. He had a remote controlled car and Bryson helped him build a race track in the sand for it. Bryson thought his car was the coolest thing and it was so sweet to see Eli play so well with Bryson. For dinner Monday night, we found a fun little pizza restaurant in Seaside. They had these cute little toys outside for Bryson to play on while we waited for our food. The pizza was amazing! We definitely ate way too much. We headed back to the house after dinner to start packing. It's always sad when vacation is over, especially for Bryson. We headed home on Tuesday but of course had to stop by the outlet mall on the way out. We found a bunch of good deals for Bryson, but sadly nothing really good for us. I think Robert found one shirt but that was it. Before we hit the road we stopped for a late lunch in Destin at Hog's Breath for some good BBQ. When me and Robert were dating, we always went to Destin for vacation and always stopped there on our way home. It was nice to drive through Destin again because it has been a long time since we have been there.
We finally broke the curse of going to the beach during a Tropical Storm. The past two years when we have went there has been a Tropical Storm so there wasn't very good beach weather. This year the weather was perfect and as much as we love going Labor Day weekend, we are thinking we may try a whole week around the 4th of July next year. That way we don't have to rush back for school.

Our first night on the beach.

He loved it!

Bryson playing in the ocean with Amy and Shawn.

Game Day! War Eagle!

Bryson and Robert playing in the ocean.

Watching Eli play with his remote control car.

Our awesome family!

Lisa and Paul.

Lola with her grand babies.

We were so happy that Emil came with us.

Having fun taking pictures.

It was hard to get a good picture. It was so windy!

Helping Eli build his race track.

Patiently waiting for his turn.

He loved it!

He had fun being buried in the sand.

Coming in from his last swim of the year.

Having fun at Hog's Breath. Bryson loves these little picture cut outs.

This year for our family Labor Day trip, we decided to try a different beach. We went to the area of 30a in Florida. There are a few different little towns all close by each other, Seaside, Watercolor, and Santa Rosa. It was a really nice area. There were a bunch of cute little shops and restaurants and the beaches were pretty quiet. Of course we took a ton of pictures so here are just the pictures from my phone.