Vacation 2011

We're home!!!!! We had a great vacation but of course are glad to be back! We started off headed to Ft Walton Beach when Coy got in from his conference in Austin. We made it to Jackson, MS the first night! We chose to eat at Sonny's BBQ (chose it form an app). The service was quick. JoGail made her salad and didn't even get to take a bite before her meal was served! It was really good and had a great smoky flavor. All four of us sleeping in one room was an adjustment. Those who don't snore talk in their sleep or flop around all night. The next day we ventured up to Tuscaloosa to see the tornado damage. It was unbelievable! Like on house is perfect but he next one may have a car through it. It was a good reminder to be thankful. We travelled some back roads to Florida, stopping at Fat Girls BBQ for lunch. We just saw this one on the side of the road and stopped. Coy and I knew it would be good when we saw the cook. And let me tell ya she can cook! I had the best fried squash and field peas I have had in a long time! Coy said the BBQ was also awesome. We also saw a Piggly Wiggly!This was one of our favorite places to eat on the trip. We made it to Ft Walton that afternoon and we wandered around the beach. We had had supper at hte Old Steam Bay Restaurant. Most fo the food was steamed. Grace tried the steamed oysters, but said she would rather stick with the raw ones (YUCK).JoGail ordered a child's plate of something and ate all the leftovers off everyone else's plates! I had grilled fresh pineapple and shrimp and it was good. The next day we hit the beach. all. day. long. There wasn't hardly anyone there, so it was very peaceful. I think this is the day my family realized that I truly meant to sleep and read on vacation this year! We picked Pandora's steak house for supper that night from the app. We were not disappointed again. I knew the steaks were good because both Coy and Grace didn't even put A1 sauce on their steaks. We tried Fried Blue Crab Claws and were hooked. Those things are awesome! Our waiter said they were so good because they were fresh and have never been frozen. Regardless of why, there were awesome and fun to eat. We also tried some FRESH key lime pie, too..Grace was so surprised she liked it!  Some where in here we visited the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin AFB. That was interesting. Coy loved that. The next morning we found algae (we think) all over the beach. It was the texture of wet tissue paper and very green. We didn't get in the gulf much that day. It was everywhere. We played goofy golf that afternoon, visited an Army/Navy store and washed clothes that afternoon. We ate at a local cafe, the Seaside cafe that evening and enjoyed that. We followed it with baskin and robbins which the girls had never tried. The next day was beach day again. Somehow the algae was ALL gone. Coy and the girls (I was sleeping) saw lots of dolphins playing just watching from the beach. The beach was so clean. White sands and emerald green water. By now more people were getting there, but we still managed to boogie board and stay in the water most of the day! JoGail announced that when she grows up she wants to live in Ft Walton Beach and be a lifeguard...even though we didn't see any lifeguards there.....The next day we left and ventured to Baton Rouge, via New Orleans. Grace had travelled there once this summer already with the youth group. No one else can remember going there. Well, let me tell ya. New Orleans is just one LONG bridge after another. You just never really get off the bridges! By the way, this is where Grace has wanted to live when she grows up for a long time, so we will see. If we can just get her to quit calling beignets 'bayonnets' we will be ok! We stopped in Gonzales at an outlet mall and got some great deals on some back to school clothes fro the girls. They are getting sooo close to the same size. It's amazing because their body types are so different at this point! We got the see Death Valley and where Braden will pitch. (Braden's a Eustace kid who signed with LSU as a pitcher.) It was kind of neat. Then this morning we got on up and came on in. We picked Crawdaddy's kitchen to stop at for lunch from the app again. And again we were not disappointed. Awesome cajun food. The girls tried fried alligator tails and absolutely loved them. The stuffed shrimp wasn't bad either!!!  Again JoGail ate a little of everything off everyone else's plate! IT was a good trip, full of good memories and lots of laughter and that's what counts! (Oh and the fact that we didn't get a phone saying someone had done doughnuts on the turf football field made it a great, too!)


~Laurie