First Martin Beach Vacation

This year was our first ever Martin family beach vacation. We went to Fort Walton Beach, Ocaloosa Island in Florida. I can pretty much sum up the trip by saying it was amazing, however here are a few of the details that made it amazing (including food, surf, and fun)...



1. Dewey Destin is the BEST new place for seafood. We went for lunch (great idea with kids). Breezey patio lunch on the marina watching boats come and go. Kids were plenty entertained and the Mahi Mahi parmesan was to die for. Yes, mahi mahi parmesan. Who would have thought?

2. Amazing that you can put on 45/50 spf everyday all day and still get a tan. We never saw a cloud in the sky.

3. Ryan thought the swimming pool was soooooo cool.

4. You can get the Braves on TV at the beach. Had to watch some and they won!

5. You can do without Thomas trains for a week.

6. They first AM we woke up and Chase went to the balcony and said "where's the people". He is such a people person. He ran to the window when a few folk finally decided to arise and emerge onto the beach and said "there's the people, mommy." He did this several times while at the beach.

7. The first night on the beach we enjoyed dinner on the pier and saw the full moon rising over the pier. So pretty!

8. Ryan and Chase slept together for the first time and did great. They were adoreable.

9. When we came out onto the beach for the first time Ryan said "look at all that snow." Ahhh..."that's sand babe." WOW!

10. For the first time ever Ryan had no fear and Chase was more than skeptical about the beach.

11. We tried an Irish Pub, McQuires, for lunch one day because of all the good things we have heard. Amazing 3/4 lb. burger. I have been seeing this place for years and never knew.

12. One night we went to the Back Porch for dinner. Thank the good Lord for beach access to a playground for the kids. We sat right on the window and felt a nice ocean breeze while enjoying some fried shrimps. ummm....

13. Staying out on the beach till after 7:00 and then hitting the pool....ah. Afterwards we went for a "late" dinner at the Tiquana Flatts Burrito Bar. Either I was hungry or this was the best burrito I have ever had.

14. Not so great....sporting around on the beach in a maternity bathing suite. There is no way to look good in it. HOWEVER, you can eat and drink as much as you want and no one knows you are bloated.

15. Darryl enjoyed catching red snapper but was sad that it was not red snapper season.

16. We went to Stone Cold Creamry for ice cream one night. Oh so good.

17. They minivan was an awesome, hauling machine.

18. I loved watching Chase play with the sand toys under the umbrella.

19. Ryan's feet rarely hit the sand when he was on the beach. He ran about 3 miles a day. Up and the down the beach, back and forth. Jumping over and into waves. Kid was absolutely exhausted at night.


Okay, so admittedly a lot of my ah-ha moments involve some kind of food, but that is to be expected when you are eating for two.






Ryan's pic on the beach, on the balcony, and with his "funny hair".



Boys dressed up for Mom for mother's Day. We went to Cafe Italia. Yummy!

Daddy went fishing one day and here we are eating Daddy's fresh catch...snapper. Yummy!

We had to tune into the Braves one night and luckily they won by a lot!! Go Kelly Johnson. We spent an hour playing baseball on the beach the next day. Kid is crazy about it.

A little pool time....

A little surf ....

A little chillin under the umbrella...

Is that Darryl reading? These moments were few and far between but we did find some.

That about sums it up. Can't wait for our next Martin beach vacation!!!

Auburn A-day...what??

I find myself in the craziest places with Darryl Martin. It is a gorgeous, sunny, Saturday afternoon. I look at my children and they are adorned from head to toe in Auburn appearal. I look around me and I am standing in a line with those children and my husband, also in Auburn apparel. Where were we and what were we standing in line for. Well, we were standing on the Auburn football field in Jordan Haire stadium in line to get an autograph from Auburn Coach Cizik. Great! Like I said, I find myself in the craziest of places. The last time I was on that football field...I was completely outfitted in my UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA majorette uniform marching across the field to Yea, Alabama. Amazing really. What would my old buddies think of me now? Shame, shame.

Chase's First Fish

Okay....this was a big moment. Chase got a new fishing rod and we were off to Uncle Stan's pond in Alabama to attempt catching his first fish. He was sucessful. You should have seen his little feet stomping the ground with excitement. He was running in place. He was not the least bit scared of the fish and had no problem touching and holding on to it. He loves fishing! Uncle Philip was there to provide the celebratory "ding dong" which ended up all over his face....ha. One of these pictures shows all of the Martin men (brothers Tim, Philip, Darryl and their sons Graham, Ryan, and Chase), except for baby-Martin-to-be, ofcourse.

Fun time with the Martins!!!

Easter 2009

Easter 2009 was magical considering Ryan has finally gotten the concept of the Easter egg hunt. The Rivers invited us to a small neighborhood hunt and backyard party. (BTW - Evan Rivers is Ryan's best little friend and we have become great friends with his parents. We are so thankful for them.) It was a beautiful Saturday and everyone had a great time. Chase was too busy discovering the candy in each egg to go hunting for more. It was quite funny.

We spent Easter Sunday in early church. We were home by 9:30 and spent the rest of the day feasting with friends and playing in the yard. It had to have been like this on the real Easter Sunday....sunny, breezey, and absolutely beautiful. I attempted my first baked ham. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. We missed being with family this year but were so thankful to spend the great time with our friends the Rivers. We enjoyed some backyard baseball after lunch and wore the kids out. Everyone in our house had a glorious 2 hour nap afterwards.

He has risen, indeed.

Last Schoonbee Visit

We visited with the Schoonbees the last weekend in March. It was the week before they were to return to South Africa. We barely went out of the house because they had a lot of rain, but it was fun. Johan, Darryl and Jim managed to sneak off for a little fishing. And Terese and I did sneak off for a bit of last minute Easter shopping. We also had a fantastic lunch at PFChangs. And we didn't have to cut up anyone's meal. I hope the Schoonbees are settled and having fun back in the bush.

Snow!! In the ATL??

Can you believe we had snow in ATL this year. It was a Sunday morning and afternoon. He had a blast. We went over to our friends, the Rivers, house and all the neighborhood kids went to throwing snowballs, sledding, and acting crazy. Ryan was especially into throwing snowballs.

Birthdays

Ryan and Chase's birthdays are 2 weeks apart. We had a couple of friends over for each guy's Birthday. They each had their favorite foods for dinner. Ryan had burritos and Chase had pizza. Ryan requested an Auburn cake, yuck. And Chase had a train cake. It was unseasonably warm on Chase's Birthday so we decided to take the party outside and have a picnic. March 10th is pretty early for 75 degrees but we loved it. We were so thankful for the good times with good friends. Oh yeah, Ryan was 4 and Chase was 2.

Here are a few pics from each get together.