Our annual FL vacation... August 2010

Every year (almost) we head down to Destin, FL to enjoy the sun, sand, and pool. The kids love it, we love it... it's perfect. We stay at the same place every year... which is kind of nice. I like to be able to "be" on vacation when we "go" on vacation. Not stressing about getting lost or if our condo is going to be crap :). We did stay in a different condo this year... at the same complex. LOVED IT! It was our favorite out of the 3 we've stayed in for previous visits. Can't wait to go back!! Here are some pics of our time... nothing to life changing... just fun shots... except for the first pic...

see that nasty green goop.... it's algae. We've NEVER had an issue with it before. Apparently, due to the heavy rains in the Midwest... the fertilizer farms use along the mighty Mississippi has washed into the gulf. Gross. So... with all the HOT weather the gulf has had this summer.... the fertilizer has blossomed into some lovely green goo. Usually they have an "offshore flow" (winds blow yuk stuff out), but oh no... not this year. They've had a consistent "onshore flow". Figures. Enough with our nature/weather lesson.... let's move on.....

Miss Thing was SO proud of this hole... "mom... I have water!!!". She worked HARD on this... very hard. Kind of cute to see the kids applying themselves to something as mundane as digging a sand hold. Wish it would translate to room cleaning...

Had to include Red's hole... he's such a goofball. He wanted his picture to look like he fell into a huge hole... pretty convincing, eh?

the Chud had issues with digging a hole... he never seemed to sit in one place long enough to actually get anything started. Crazy kid... where he gets his energy... I'll NEVER know! I'll be curious next year if his hole digging skills have improved... :)

This is every mother's dream... all the kids playing together without bickering, yelling, or any other negative form of anything. This was toward the end of the week (maybe even the morning we left...) so thankfully most of the nasty green goo had moved a bit farther off shore (like 10 feet... but enough to make a difference!!). They sat and did whatever they do along the shore for quite a while. WONDERFUL! This is why I LOVE taking the kids to the beach... they're finally content.

What to do... what to do?

Toward the middle of summer, I started to hear "MOM... I'M BORED!!!". Not really sure how it's possible with the GAZILLIONS of toys they have and all the fun outdoor stuff available to them... but none-the-less... I put my thinking cap on and came up with this...

SHAVING CREAM FUN!!!

Not exactly a "new" idea... but it was new to my 3 little schwadlings :)....

This is about the ONLY kind of graffiti I'd ever let the kids take part in... :) ... the kind that washes away. I (back in my rebel days... ha ha ha), along with some junior high friends decided it would be fun to use shaving cream all over a local elementary school one night at a sleepover. Yeah, the cops didn't like it so much (lame). That was my first run in with the law. I still don't think my parents know about it... my friends parents were FREAKING out! :) Anyway...

This was SEVERAL weeks ago, but I swear, he still smells like Barbasol. He loved it... he's a very touchy-feely kid... so this was great for him!

It was fun to watch once they really started to get into it. At first Miss Thing was all worried that it was going to "ruin my hair or swimsuit". Whatever. So NOT her mother's daughter in that regard. Once they figured it all out... WATCH OUT! As you can see even the little neighbor boy Dougie got into it (he would be the one in the blue shirt) - sorry Cliff and Anne! :)

I think Miss Thing decided it was revenge time on all the boys. Being the only girl sometimes she has to put up with a LOT of boy stuff. She took FULL advantage of this opportunity (you GO girl!!)...

One day, I WILL get a picture of all three of them with their eyes open! :) HA! They really did have SO much fun... you should totally try it if you have kids. It's cheap (less than $1.50 a can for the Barbasol) and cleans up easy. Must say, the clean up was the best part for me. I took the hose sprayer and told them to hold still. I LOVE spraying people... so it was perfect! BBBWWWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! :)....

FINALLY!!!!

The shutters have been done for a while... but I've been such a slacker with sharing ANYTHING on this lovely blog :). SO here is the "not" so grand reveal of this project that ended up being the thorn in my flesh for many weeks!

Painting (what felt like) millions of boards - outside - in the sun - on our black driveway... yeah... not so fun. After painting them the lovely shade of "Napolean" (aka: dark gray) I realized I probably should've primed them first. Oops. Oh well... what's done is done. We had to make 10 of these babies... felt SO good to see them done and put together!

My uber-brave husband had to literally FORCE the nasty vinyl shutters from the house. I thought he was going to fall with them a few times... he seemed to enjoy it. Maybe a little bit too much....

Here you can witness the nastiness that WAS our faded, crappy vinyl shutters. These were DARK red when we moved in 5 years ago. Now they look pink. Gross. Who wants PINK shutters??

Not the best picture... but look how much better these look!?! We also painted our front door BRIGHT RED (think 16 coats of red paint... seriously) which really helped to bring it all together. I added some new pots of flowers and PRESTO CHANGO... so much better!

We saved so much $$ doing these ourselves (one set of shutters would've cost what we paid for 5 sets had we purchased them) so all the sweat, tears, and sunburn was totally worth it. I have to give props to Miss Thrifty Decor Chick who inspired me to try this project. You totally have to check out her blog. She's got some amazing ideas and she's so darn creative (yes... I'm jealous....) - you'll probably be sucked into it all like I have :). Consider this your warning...

On to the next project... painting our master bath. STILL don't have a color... so it may NEVER get done! :)