Kemmerlin Family: Our Wonderful Watercolor Vacation

We traveled to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida (near Destin) last week and stayed in a house in the town of Watercolor, just next door to Seaside. The trip was so much fun and for the most part - relaxing...as it can be with two young boys. We picked this week to make a vacation since one of my dear girlfriends got married this past Saturday in Destin. (Congratulations Lisa and Brett - we had soo much fun!) The weather held out and the sugar-white sand beaches were wonderful as was the Caribbean-like blue waters. On the heels of Hurricane Ike's passing through the gulf, the first few days there was a bit of surf; but with each passing day the waters calmed. There were some great sand bars for the boys to play in and not fear the ocean.

The town in which we stayed was perfect for the kids. The streets are bike friendly and almost everyone, I do mean everyone, bikes everywhere. We took Hatcher's tricycle down since we know he loves riding it so...and he was so good that on Tuesday we went to Target in town and bought him a real bicycle with training wheels and off he went. He is a CHAMP. He is so good, as long as he is on fairly flat land. (That is a bit of a challenge once returning home!)

We also had the benefit of synching up with Grandma and Tom in Florida. They departed Atlanta before we did and hit some of the golf courses on the Robert Trent Jones Trail. At the last minute we were able to work out the vacation so that they would be there to watch the kids while we attended the wedding and Derek and Tom were able to hit a couple of pristine golf courses together too! That worked out well for Derek who isn't really a beach goer like Grandma and I are! Hatcher and Aidan loved it...although Aidan is no doubt our water baby. He booked it for the water every single day. We hit the beach every morning before nap times began and then would ride our bikes in the afternoon before and almost always after dinner.

We ran into some of our good friends from Atlanta who have a place in Watercolor (Colman and Fran and little Audrey) and the kids loved playing together in the sand or at the pool or in the park. Although the adults were in bed early every night too...it was a lovely vacation and I can't wait to go again next year. I took nearly 500 photos...so while I create the video montage...gulp!...here are some of my favorites. It was a great vacation! Thanks to Lisa and Brett for inspiring us to make a vacation out of the trip down...and thanks to Grandma and Tom for tolerating the Kemmerlin Krew and babysitting!