A much needed beach trip

I find nothing more relaxing than a nice beach get-a-way. We had a mother, daughter, son beach trip this past weekend with our friends, and it was absolutely fabulous! We tend to do the usual Gulf Shores trip, like I read on Robin's blog the other day under the "You must be a Southerner" list (Hey, Robin, loved the list by the way!) So, yes, I am a Southerner if you haven't already figured that one out. Anyway, we decided to head to Destin, FL this time and it was beautiful, much different than I remember as a child, but beautiful. I recommend staying at Destin West if you are wanting other things to do besides just the pool and beach. We had two days jammed packed with fun, and the boys had a blast! On the first day we went to the pool, the on site splash park, the beach, out to eat at the Crab Trap, the on site lazy river, and night time crab hunting. So maybe I am contradicting myself when I said that it was relaxing :) You know what I meant. It was lovely getting some extra bonding time with my son, my mother, and my friends. This did get me to thinking about my sweet Allie though and how I would have loved for her to have been with us. I remembered how much she seemed to enjoy the beach last fall, and it would have been so sweet to see her in the pool. I wonder what her reaction would have been to the sand (Mason hated the sand on his first beach trip, but as you can see below he doesn't have a problem with it anymore). I also thought about the special bond between mothers and daughters. It was so nice having the opportunity to take a trip with my mom , which made me think of never getting that opportunity with Allie. Let's face it, when Mason gets older he's not going to say, "Come on Mom let's go to the beach for some bonding time!" :) I guess I can dream. Hope you enjoy the beach shots.