Our trip to Destin

We haven't really been to Florida since Sara moved away so I was excited to get to enjoy the beach and the sun again over Spring Break this year.  I was a little bit apprehensive about driving down which took about 14 hours because I didn't know how the kids would fare.  Well, let me tell you, Pinterest came through for me in a big way.  They gave me this idea about writing each child's name on a clothespin.  While you're on the car ride, you clip their name onto the visor and then you remove it if they are acting up.  During that time, you randomly do checks and whoever has their name still on the visor gets something special.  I decided that the kids would get 50 cents every time their clip was still on the visor so I made a sticker chart to show their progress.  They had the ability to earn up to $6 to use towards souvenirs when they got to Florida.  I was impressed by how much the money motivated them.  If you have a road trip planned anytime soon with older kids, I'm sure this will be a hit!

We went down to Destin, Florida with Wes' brother Chad and his family and his sister Amy and her family.  There was 17 of us in all.  This was the place that we stayed at.  It was a wonderful house that fit our families perfectly!  It was in a neighborhood that looked like it was straight out of Desperate Housewives.  We loved being in a neighborhood because it allowed the kids to be able to play things like kickball and baseball without worrying too much about cars.

It's so funny that we all have a two-year old.  They were like the three musketeers, getting into trouble at every turn.  They would follow each other around and sneak snacks from the pantry or from our rooms.  It's rumored Gisele (Chad's 2 year old daughter) may have eaten half of Amy and Jay's chocolate chip cookies.  I also witnessed her eating 4 packs of our fruit snacks!  Cameron would just cruise the kitchen and put his hands up hoping to snag a bag of chips or cheez-its.  They also loved to escape out the front door and head towards the street when no one was looking.  Thankfully we had a deadbolt that we could use that kept them inside!   They are definitely little rascals!  Here's a picture of them giving us a few moments of peace by watching a movie in Cameron's bed.

These boys were the other set of 3 Musketeers that we had.  They are 7 (Canon, far right), 6 (Preston, middle) and 5 (Quinn, far left) and they play together fabulously!  We are so happy to have all these boys!

Getting ready for family pictures

These pictures always make me laugh because if you were there while they were being taken, you would have seen the sheer chaos of bringing us all together.  I'm pretty surprised in how good it turned out!

The view from the beach.

The last night there.  I love my boys!

Wes apparently forgot to smile but the rest of us turned on the charm on his behalf, especially Owen.