Destin - Our Destiny

This past Monday Garin and I decided to take a little trip down the road to Destin, FL. Quite a few people have told me that we really needed to go check it out because the beaches were so beautiful (and they have outlet malls). I wondered how the beaches could be any more pretty than the ones we usually go to, being that Destin is only an hour away; however, I must admit, there was a difference! The water was much clearer and the sand was much softer (and maybe a tad bit whiter, but the sand here is pretty white).

Garin and I set off early Monday morning to drive down there and on the way we drove by an Air Force Aviation Museum (Destin is really close to Eglin Air Force Base). After seeing the planes sitting outside in front of the museum, we "had" to make a U-turn to go back and check them out. So the first hour or so of "daycation" was spent checking out some pretty cool planes (even I will admit they were pretty cool).

After seeing all the "awesome" aircrafts we headed to the "awesome" outlet malls :) The skies were kind of overcast so I felt that it was okay to spend quite a few hours checking out all the stores. Garin was such a trooper...I endured 1 hour of planes and he endured 3 hours of shopping...looks like I got the better end of that deal!!!

When the clouds parted and the sun poked out we headed to the beach to see if they were all they were talked up to be. Even though it was rather cool, Garin just had to take a dip. In the picture below you can see how clear the water is because you can see his whole body even though its underwater.
So yeah, as you can see it looks like we have the Caribbean not that far away from us!!

After our time at the beach we checked out some of the interesting signs we saw on the way in. The first is a picture of "The Donut Hole." Garin was so "surprised" because this was the name he had "come up with" for the donut shop he aspires to open when he finally retires. So of course we had to go try out the merchandise...very good! The next picture is a throwback to my old single days. I wish they had been open so I could meet some of my kin folk; it was cool to see my old name in print though :)

And finally some sunset pictures over the Destin bay:

So there you have it...our daycation to Destin. If you come visit us you might get to take a fun daycation to Destin as well! :)

Kirkpatricks Gone Cruisin '09

Finally, cruise pictures! Garin and I got to go on a cruise a few weeks ago. After we started thinking about Garin's busy training schedule for the next half a year or so, we figure this might be the only opportunity we got to take a vacation. So, after keeping an eye on the cruise prices we found a VERY good deal and jumped on it. So on Monday April 20th, we got up at 4AM hopped in the car and headed down to Tampa.

Garin was excited to find that the ship had a slide that met his high slide standards. He was like a kid all over again :) The kids all thought he was the coolest because he made a really big splash!

Our first day was spent at sea. I spent most of the day going to "talks" to get some freebies and laying out by the slide. Garin spend most of the day sliding, hanging out by the pool, and going to the gym. Then our second day we dropped anchor in the bay next to Grand Cayman island. We decided to not go with an excursion offered by the cruise but rather one I found online for a boat ride out to swim with the stingrays and snorkel a reef. So after an hour of going back and forth with the boat shop I found online we FINALLY got in a van and drove off to a marina to board a large boat to head out to the Stingray Bay. Those black blobs are the stingrays...we had a water camera where we got some closer pictures of us holding and touching the rays! Oh man, it was so cool. If you ever make it out to the Caymans, I totally recommend that you go on this trip. Garin and I had a blast. Our stay at Grand Cayman was pretty short so as soon as we got back from seeing the stingrays, we pretty much had to board the boat. So I'm not real sure what the rest of the island had to offer :(

After a night at sea the next morning we woke up ported at Cozumel, Mexico. Yes, we were in Mexico...and thankfully were not struck with the Swine Flu. We found out that the week after our cruise, the cruise didn't dock at Cozumel...I would have been sooo mad!!! But anyway, our plan for the day WAS for Garin to go scuba diving while I just chilled out, however, Garin realized that he left his dive cards at home :( So we had to go with plan B.


A guy on the street in front of a resort near the dock offered to give us a Jeep for our use all day if we went in and listened to their sales pitch. It was hot as all get out and we need some AC so we figured "what the heck?". Garin artfully dodged the pressure sales tactics and by lunch time we had our Jeep and were on our way. Since the Mexican food here in Milton, FL is crap, we decided to try to find some GOOD authentic Mexican food. We stopped at a little restaurant outside of the city that looked "okay." Boy were we right, it sure was good...and cheap!! And thankfully we didn't get sick from it either...what a bonus!!! Gotta love the places that don't even have English on the menu!
We really enjoyed Cozumel. We went Cancun before on our honeymoon and I thought it would be much the same since they were so close together. However, they really were nothing alike...especially when you get out of the tourist area and see the open land. The beaches are BEAUTIFUL. Garin and I brought our own snorkel gear so we drove to a spot where a local told us there was good snorkeling...it really wasn't that great, but it was fun nonetheless. The island isn't that big so we were able to drive around most of it and we have already found the hotel we want to stay in on our next visit ;)

The Jeep

The "beach" on the backside of the island...there were some really cool rock formations along with some beautiful sandy areas as well.

The beach where we stopped to snorkel.

After our fun on Cozumel we headed back to the boat for some good food and then enjoyed our next day at sea as we made our way back to Tampa. Below are some more fun pictures :)

Preparing for evacuation.

Formal night. And this is actually on the back of the ship with the sun setting...not one of those cheesy backdrops they have all over the boat.

Towel art.

Heading out to see the stingrays.

What a fun trip!!

Mason Alexander' Debute

Well I'm finally back in FL where I have access to my camera cord and highspeed Internet, so that means that I can finally update the blog with pictures of my adorable nephew!!! I also have pictures from our cruise but I will post those later because they pale in comparison to my Mason ;)

Mason and I having a moment at the hospital when I first met him (it was love at first sight for both of us I'm sure ;)

Coming home from the hospital

Sweet boy chillin' for his Cameo shots. He let us change him into about four different outfits for pictures...he didn't cry at all and he had his eyes open the whole time. He is such a good boy!!

Sleeping in his digital camo outfit that Uncle Garin got for him. Garin said it would disguise the spit up ;)

Getting acquainted with the farm animals.

I love this picture. Baby boy was OUT! And so was his daddy :)

And finally one of my favorites of me with my nephew. Aww isn't he adorable?! I'm not a proud aunt or anything ;) It was great to get to spend the week up in North Carolina helping my sister and her husband. Of course it wasn't a bother for me at all...as long as a I sweet moments like this with my baby (and thankfully I got many of those moments)! I love you Mason!

Well Garin didn't get to stay in NC with me for the whole week because he had obligations back here in FL. He must have had a lonely week without me because he seemed to be pretty excited to have me back home. On Monday I caught a ride with his dad down to Atlanta and then Garin picked me up from there to bring me back to FL (ATL is about halfway from here to CLT). When I got home he surprised me with a homemade Italian dinner!!! He made bruchetta, chicken marsala with noodles and even made homemade sorbet!!! I was quite impressed :) And all this was served by candlelight with fresh flowers on the finished "cafe" table that he had been working on for our living room (which is also quite impressive).

After this special surprise I'm starting to think I should go away more often ;) hehe. I love my husband, he is the bestest!!!

Dinner is served!

A full view of the table. Garin built this from scratch and did it without using ANY nails. I think he has perfected the art of dowel rodding! It truly is quite impressive. He is quite gifted in the woodworking department!