Watersound 2013--Days 1 and 2

On Saturday, June 1, we left Memphis to drive down to Watersound, Florida, for our family vacation.  Mario and the kids and I stopped just outside of Destin for the night.  We couldn't check into our beach house until the following day, and we wanted to call it quits early after a long day of driving with the boys.  Dad, Mom, Michelle, and Josh drove about another hour further on down--they wanted to be just minutes away so they could enjoy the beach first thing in the morning!

This was the picture my mom texted me the next morning as we were heading out to meet up with them...Relaxation, here we come!  :)

We met up with everyone at the pool of their hotel.  We decided to go for a morning swim, and do lunch and a little grocery shopping, and by then it would be time to finally check into the beach house!  We weren't ready to get all sandy with no place to get cleaned up yet!!!

the boys were just excited to get in some water!  

we pretty much had the entire pool to ourselves since everyone else was at the beach!  haha!

sweet sister michelle--

the pool balcony was right on the beach!

None of us have been back to Watersound Beach since 2009 when these lovebirds got married!

We threw on our coverups and headed into town for some burgers at Five Guys.

The boys thought the peanuts were SO much fun!

so pumped that we're spending the week hanging out with the whole fam!

my sister mandy sent us this pic...

this is what her kiddos were doing while we were eating...

they were driving down on this day--

can't wait until they get here!

After our grocery run, we were sooooo excited to finally pull up to Sea 'N Stars--the beautiful home our family rented for the week!

you can't really tell from the angle of this pic, but the home is 3 stories plus a 4th story balcony!

(my mom sure knows how to pick 'em!)

the inside was just gorgeous--simple and elegant

both this house and the one we stayed in four years ago have this lovely beachy pottery barn vibe--

LOVE IT!

here's the room mario and i called our own...

it was on the lower level

and the bathroom--

loving that garden tub!

mom and dad stayed in this room--the only bedroom on the main floor...

we thought it might be easier for my mom not to have to walk up and down the stairs so much in her leg brace...little did we know the boys were all going to wake up at 6:30 am every morning!!!  "shhh...let's not wake up meme and papa" became our morning mantra!  ha!

sweet little reese got a room all to herself...

she didn't even use the pretty bed--just her pack 'n play

mandy and justin's room was on the lower level as well

such soothing colors

michelle and josh claimed the only bedroom on the 3rd level

hmmmm...wonder if they wanted to be as far away as possible from the early morning pitter patter of little feet!?!

this room was full of cute little alcoves

and the precious bunk bed room--

the picture doesn't do it justice...this room was ADORABLE!!!

it had a cute rug which i didn't really get in the shot, plus white shelving in those little nooks in front, AND--the boys' favorite part--each bed had little nautical ship lights mounted on the walls!

(and happily, it was situated right in the middle of the lower level hallway!)

these two have already made themselves at home!!!

bird's eye view from the very top balcony

the home rental included bikes and a golf cart for getting around...

this is where we parked at the beach every day

to get there, we just drove through the neighborhood and down the boardwalk--so easy!

finally cousin james arrives!  hip hip hooray!

in the chaos of getting settled, these guys got to watch a special show--

anthony can't seem to pry his eyes away for daddy's picture!

Stay tuned...our first day at the beach is coming up!!!