Destin '10

I can't go a year without visiting my beach in Florida, or it's just weird. Something about being on those white sand beaches that just makes me happy, feel at home. This year Brooke and I went to Destin with her mom and brother, a nice little family vacay. We stayed at a condo on the beach, we could fall asleep listening to the waves, and we ate things that definitely were not on my diet plan. It was amazing.

Our attempt at nice family pictures on the beach... amidst a 15 mph wind coming off the water. Apparently that doesn't allow your hair to stay in place.

Our awesome condo on the beach and HUGE bedroom...

The view off our balcony. I could get used to seeing that every day.

Representing Tennessee with my flood shirt in Florida. Ironically, it rained every day there.

Good self-portrait with the patented stretch the camera out and take the picture yourself.

It was a little rainy in the morning, but awesome in the afternoon. Rain or shine, I love this view.

OH MY GOD! BROOKE LET ME PUT A PICTURE UP OF HER IN HER BEACH GEAR!

Sandra enjoying her first Osaka experience. Our chef ironically worked at Samurai in Murfreesboro before going to Destin to work at Osaka. Small world.

Awww, cute family portrait, post the ginormous meal at Osaka.

Two seconds later, the gorilla attacked Sandra. Seriously. Twice.

Annual putt-putt night in Florida. I won. Of course.

Don't break the concentration. Tiger Woods ya'll. Oh wait, no, I made the putt. And my wife didn't attack me with the putter.

Brooke struggling to understand why she is losing so bad. She obviously doesn't have them skills.

Amazing waves, red surf conditions, and of course me and Russ were both out in it. Brooke totally approved.

Tackling the waves, or rather, getting my butt handed to me by giant waves...

The closest thing we had to a sunset, it got cloudy every night. But all in all a great vacation. How can it be bad when you are in Florida staying on the beach?

Ayden Turns 1!

So for those of you who don't know, Jesse and Morgan Gambill have many, many reasons to celebrate Ayden turning 1! This little guy has been through multiple surgeries and hospital visits in his first year here, so it is pretty exciting to see him healthy and celebrating a birthday! Since Brooke and I will be out of town for his official party, we got to be a part of the family for his actual birthday... and it is always fun to see a baby dive into their cake...

Me with my nephew, since I can't claim him as my son anymore... dude looks too much like his daddy!

Ben being good, ready for presents... he was pretty good about letting Ayden open his own :-)

He was not amused by the hat.

Rip it open! Tear it! Bite it!

He spotted the camera again.... AFTER IT!

Ayden got upset, I think because we insisted on taking a million pictures before he could dive in... he just wanted the GIANT CUPCAKE!!!

FINALLY he can dig in... and oh, he did.

The aftermath... one happy boy, one dad on clean up duty, one less giant cupcake (note: he did not eat the whole giant cupcake himself, that would be dad's job to finish it off). Fun times with the Gambills! Can't believe all the kids are turning one... Landon is next!

Chattanooga Weekend

Part two of our Chattanooga weekend trip took place in downtown Chattanooga and over at Lookout Mountain. We took in Rock City and Ruby Falls, then walked around downtown and across the giant pedestrian bridge. Found a fun ice cream shop and then saw Inception. Everyone was really friendly and kept asking if we wanted our picture taken together. I still say some people were trying to steal our camera, but we'll call Chattanoogans nice for now.

Self-shot! No one offered here to take our picture. Luckily I have long arms.

Brooke "squeezing" through the Needle's Eye... as she breezes right through...

A little closer call for me, although I was really glad I lost my weight before we went on this little trip...

I think I enjoyed the swinging bridge a lot more than Brooke did. She was not amused by me jumping up and down and shaking it... we soooo (probably) wouldn't have fallen!

Brooke standing in front of several states and Lover's Leap... and we decided it would be totally awkward to live in those houses down there where anyone could use the telescopes up on the mountain to peek right in... wear pants, people, we're watching!!!

Supposedly you can see seven states... I counted 4 1/2.

Fat Man's Squeeze. Again, good call on losing weight before Chattanooga.

Freaky gnomes and fairy tale things at Rock City... this is the stuff nightmares are made of, why is this a family attraction????

All this lovely scenery and classic sightseeing... ruined by Starbucks... again...

Obligatory Ruby Fall bench shot... taken while we were still happy and not ready to throw our guide down a mine shaft.

This is a rock cactus... supposedly... and we were supposed to rub it when we walked by... the "that's what she said" side was struggling to not make inappropriate comments in front of small children.

The Falls are really amazing... I forgot how cool it looks with the natural blue and red lights in the cave. And the prehistoric speakers play excellent music while you are watching!

Walkin round downtown... very laid back area, like a sedated Nashville.

Walkin across the bridge on a nice night... thanks to the person who took our picture for not stealing the camera.

In the ice cream shop as our night wore down... getting a little sleepy, a little tired... but I woke up to the taste of some awesome strawberry cheesecake frozen yogurt. Diet whaaaaat?

And then we saw Inception, so our relaxing weekend then ended when Brooke's mind was blown by that movie... but totally worth it. And we decided for future anniversaries we are going to hit up Hawaii, Europe, Australia, and Disney World (again). Our travel fund is open for donations.