The ocean, big waves and boogie boards pretty much rock!

Toward the end of the week the WAVES were REALLY BIG.

The lifeguard said it was the biggest he had seen in a couple years.

They were big enough some fellas were surfing.

A lady who lived in the area said she hadn't seen them this big in 20+ years.

Either way, they were BIG! And fun to ride...

The grown ups may have wiped out more than the kiddos. But we weren't keepin' count. We loved it when Terry got out there...he'll be 65 next week but he ain't afraid uh no wave.

Lyndy's wipe out story: one afternoon it was just me, McKenzie and Joey out in the water. If you know me, I ain't one to hop in the water without holdin' my nose. Well as I said, the waves were humongo and they weren't even letting us go past waist high water. Well Lyndy got out a wee bit too far and I saw it, I saw the wave comin' and I barely had time to hold my nose. That wave flipped me and my face hit the ocean floor. Yeah. I was scared for what seemed like an eternity. I thought I could die out here, am I gonna come back up, I could break my neck, my spine...a hunnerd thoughts run through my poor little mind. While I was pondering life as I knew it something whacked me pretty hard. I bobbled up and shook myself like a dog after a bath. Thankful to be alive. Ok, so maybe I'm bein' a bit dramatic, but it did scare me. I had a red mark across my arm for the next 24 hours from the strap of my boogie board. Whew. Joey said he saw my feet fly up outta the water. Said a wave had knocked him down (his back hit bottom) but he kept going after seashells. Found a hermit crab and a snail. It died a couple days after we got home. Must not have liked Tennessee...

Oh and about 10 minutes later a wave slung me sideways (think ragdoll) up to shore...after that I was done with Mr. Fierce Ocean (for the day). I brought home a few good scrapes on the side of my leg.

Take my food tour

Yep, more vacay pics. You know you're not tired of em yet. Admit it.
And let's just be honest people...part of the fun of vacation is eating out, right?
Well buckle up cuz I'm about to take you on a food tour.

They say to check out local dives...I don't know if you've ever heard of the Donut Hole, but it's open 24 hours and they serve a mean breakfast and some dandy doughnuts donuts. We had ourselves some eggs, hashbrowns and gravy 'n bickets (biscuits for you proper folk) and then we took our friends some donuts. I bought one just special for me though. Blueberry cake donuts are the bestest. But I did share with Jen & Christy. They said they love em too. See? I can be nice. But before I leave this section, I hafta tell ya about the Donut Hole's famous key lime pie. Oh, my bad. I can't do that cuz the two nights we stopped for some they were out. Remember, they're open 24 hours. I'm thinkin' ok you tell me you have to come earlier (in the night) but yet you're open 24 hours. That means you never close. That means you should ALWAYS have the stinkin' key lime pie you claim to be famous for on your doggone sign. People - use your brain!

Oh, and you may not believe this but Anthony and I had never EVER been to IHOP. Well, we can't say that no mo. Cuz we went. And it was good. I had stuffed french toast (bottom left corner in above collage pic) and Anthony had himself an omelette. With bacon. And cheese. And happiness was apparently stuffed in there somewheres cuz he sure was a-smilin.

Anthony and I were in Destin in 2009 for my niece's wedding. That was the summer we discovered Whataburger (and fell in love). So ever since this trip was planned, we been talkin' bout some Whataburger. It's really good fast food. Think Sonic burger, but way more tasty. And their fries are thebomb.com fo sho. Anyhoo... We left Sunday for Fort Walton and came home Sairdee (that's Saturday)...Anthony and I might have eaten Whataburger 4 times. Maybe. Once was for breakfast. Not sure if that makes it any better. They have a honey butter chicken bisket that'll make ya smack ya momma. I seriously think Joey wanted to eat there every day.  

Are you hungry yet?! I had shrimp pretty much everywhere we went til the end of the week when I kinda was ready to surprise my palette. :-P We did Hog's Breath Cafe and did the bbq thang. It was right!!! Anthony's gnawin' on ribs from there in this here collage. We (just me and the sweetie) also went to Pompano Joe's on the beach. Cool place, great food and love sittin' on the beach. The bottom left corner is my plate from there - island shrimp with a mango andouille sausage chutney to beat the band do you hear me? Seemed like everybody wanted to serve new potatoes and corn on the cob with the seafood. I liked it. Just sayin.

Fudpuckers should be DUDpuckers. None of us were impressed. The only neat thing is they let you write on the wall...and the chairs... and the tables... and even the light fixtures... my name is on a table there. When I'm dead and gone, yall can go see my name. Isn't that special?

My inlaws took the kids for pizza and arcade fun one night so we could go out without the squirts sweet children. We went to the Crab Trap (also on the beach although we didn't sit out there poo) and had great food. Then we went to hear a Bon Jovi cover band. They sounded like em and even looked like em. Pretty cool, but we didn't stay for their whole set. Went to Walmart. Geez, that sounds lame even as I type it. Oh well.

Anthony and I saw Forrest Gump on our first date. So the restaurant is kinda cool to us. At the table, they ask you movie trivia and Anthony knew nearly every question our server threw at us. And our fish and chips were killer. McKenzie got a piece of key lime pie to go so I stole a couple bites when we got back to the condo. It was good, but I was still sore I didn't get a piece from the stupid Donut Hole.  

Ya know you're on vacation when you're in Krispy Kreme's drive thru at midnight. LOL

I think I'm gonna buy me a sign like this

and post it near my desk at work...

There was this place called Shake's. Always people there. Must be good, right? Yeah, it was. So good that we went TWICE... 1st time I got a cake batter shake and boring Anthony got a chocolate shake. Kenz got butterscotch. She was the only one with us that night. Not sure how that happened, but when we got back to the condo, two little boys were not happy. So we had to go later on in the week to even things out... what a heartbreaker... That time I got a concrete (like a Blizzard but bettuh) that was key lime pie flavuh. Campbell's ain't the only one who can say mmm, mmm good. Shake's is the place to go for a milkshake babay!

And when you're waiting for a table, what better to do than take a pic?! Never let a Kodak moment pass ya by. I love this shot of the kiddos. Gonna put it on Janice's calendar ...

Kayak on the ocean memories...

The fellas decided to rent a kayak...

for merely one Andrew Jackson, you can rent

this here kayak for an hour.

That's 60 minutes. That's a lot of rowin' for a long time ...

The fellas didn't fare so well. They flipped it twice before they ever got outta the knee deep water. LOL They were providing entertainment for all of us on the shoreline. Then they got waaay out there with Dawson and flipped a third time (thank Heaven for life jackets).

We watched. Dawson hopped right back up in the boat.

We watched. Joey and Anthony stayed in the water. And stayed. And stayed.

The guy that rented the kayaks asked if we thought he should go help em and we said nah. Eventually Anthony got back in, but Joey never did.

They said it was hard to get back up in the boat when your feet can't touch bottom. excuses

Christy and I decided to give it a try...

and we didn't flip. Not once.

The fellas tried to use an excuse or two, but the real truth is, they just couldn't handle the fierce waves and were jealous of how AWESOME us girls were at the rowing. And the balancing. And the supreme turning and navigating. We pretty much looked like pros.

Better luck next time guys.