The Maders: 2 weeks of Destin beach bliss!

In July, Dave packs his bags and heads for his annual guys fishing trip to Alaska for about 10 days. Since I have 2 girlfriends who are SAHM with girls 3 months older than Lexie, I thought it might be fun to plan another girls trip (we all went to Sea Island, Ga together in June).

Lexie and I arrived in Destin on a Friday followed by Stephanie, her daughter Taylor, our sitter Elie, and Nicki (btw, I highly recommend bringing a sitter to the beach when there are multiple kids). We had a great low key weekend with great weather (the water was a little rough due to hurricane Bonnie). Nicki had to leave on Monday to get back to work. But we had Mandy and her daughter, Zarin on their way.

For the entire week, it did not rain once nor did we see any oil or tar balls. We did see a lot of BP workers patrolling the beaches looking bored out of their minds - which is a great thing!

Lexie, Taylor, and Zarin played awesome together and it was a joy to see them interact. We got them matching swimsuits and matching rompers. They looked so cute! But it was so hard to get a good picture of all 3 of them. . . . .

Mandy and Z left on Friday, while another wonderful friend came, Britney. Stephanie and Taylor left Saturday while my Mom drove down. My Mom's sisters and their children were going to be in town over at Topsail. I extended my stay a few days due to the fact that my G'ma was going to have all 3 of her great grandchildren in one room! By this time, it was nearly 2 weeks since Lexie and I had seen Dave. But who knows when the next time GG's 3 great grand kids will be together again. So special! Again, it was hard to get pictures. . . .

The 2 weeks at the beach was so much fun! Though it seemed like our condo was a revolving door - it was a blast having so many of my closest friends come. It's a shame that everyone wasn't there at once. Maybe next year. I have a feeling this will become my annual "alaska-ish" girls trip!