Beach 2018
Brad and I were planning to try and go to the beach around Labor Day. We really wanted to go back to Tops’l in Destin, FL. My parents were hoping to get to do a beach trip with us as well, so we decided to share a condo with them and my brother at Tops’l. We ended up going August 20-24 because it worked best with everyone’s schedules.
Beach Happy
As usual, I made Melody a small happy for our trip. I have been collecting a few things over the month or so before, so she had quite a few things. I also opted not to place all the items in something. It just didn’t make sense, so we didn’t. I got her the new Muppet Babies DVD, a play doh set, a Water Wow book, and a Beach Minnie and Daisy. She loved it all!
Toys
Also something we do prior to most trips is take a picture of the toys we bring. That way we can remember what to bring back from the trip!
Our Room
So I have already blogged about Tops’l itself, but below is our room on this trip. This trip we decided to stay at The Tides. We had a super large nice room with a great beach view. Since we checked in early we had two codes we could use. One before 4 pm and one after 4 pm.
When entering, there is a long hallway leading to the main part of the condo.
On the left is the first room that my brother stayed in. It contained 2 twin beds and a TV.
On the right was my parents room. It had a king bed with TV, and it’s own bathroom. The bathroom attached to the room was my parents requirement.
Next to my parents room was another bathroom that my brother used.
Continuing down the hall, there was a wet bar on the left right before you entered the kitchen. We never used it though. But I guess it is a nice benefit if you are a wine drinker.
The kitchen was really large and nice. My only complaint was the stove had a nasty white film on it. It looks like someone cleaned it with something that stained it. It wouldn’t come off. I loved the bar because it was all one level like ours at home. There was also a huge sink with no dividers. There was also a washer and dryer in the closet in the kitchen. It was super loud and didn’t always work properly. But we used it a few times.
We had an area with a large dining room table that we used a few times.
Then the living room was HUGE. It had lots of seating and a large TV. And the whole wall was a window which was nice. There was also a small table but we never ate at it.
Then there was the master suite that we got to sleep in. It had a king bed, small dresser, and TV. We also had access to the balcony from our room.
The walk in closet was HUGE too. We joked about putting Melody’s pack and play in there. My mom didn’t find it funny…
And the bathroom was super long. It had a perfect bath for Melody, and a nice walk in shower.
Last is the balcony. It was HUGE too. Everything was huge in this condo, ha! We spent some time out here at night and while Melody slept.
Our Trip
Arrival
We left fairly early to help keep Melody’s fussiness down. We stopped at McDonald’s to get breakfast on our way.
We arrived about 1-2 hours before my parents did. We killed some time at the outlets, but Melody wasn’t into it. I did have to buy a few things though.
We then met my parents for lunch at Whataburger. Brad wasn’t feeling super great. Melody was sick the week before, and I think she gave him the cold.
We were able to check in early, and so we unpacked all the cars and mom and I went to get groceries. We left the boys and Melody back at the condo to nap.
After we unloaded all the groceries, we headed to an early dinner. We went to Surf Hut. It is obviously one of our favorites based on our past trips! Melody did pretty good given we had traveled all day.
Side note…Melody was obsessed with the elevators. She always had to hit the buttons. It was so cute.
When we got back, we headed down to the beach to let Melody get her toes in the sand. She hated the sand when we went with Emily and Lydia, so we wanted to see how she would react on this trip. She fought us, but eventually gave in!
We went and swam for a little while, but the bugs were pretty bad. So we went back up and gave Melody a bath and let her play a bit before bed!
Nana even read to her before bedtime!
Day Two
We slept in which is around 8 for Melody, ha! We then went to the beach for what we thought might be for the day. Melody was having no part of the water with Brad though!
We attempted letting her just play on the beach blanket, but she generally hated the sand on her. Far different than when we went to Destin last September.
Brad and I took time for a quick selfie before I took her to the pool a bit.
We went back up for lunch then we took showers so that she could nap.
Because my parents were traveling on Brad’s birthday weekend, they brought his birthday presents on the trip. They decided to give them to him that night, so they let him pick our dinner location. His favorite is Stinky’s, so we went there. I left my phone at the condo (I know, blasphemy!). But dinner was amazing as usual.
After dinner, we came back and took some pictures on the balcony.
Brad opened presents, and we stayed on the balcony and let Melody play with her play doh.
And she even got in some Nana cuddles. Then it was bedtime!
Day Three
We slept in again, and mom cooked everyone breakfast. So we didn’t get to go outside early this morning. My parents were wanting to go parasailing, so we spent some time debating if we were going to attempt the beach for an hour or just head to the pool. In the end, we decided to head to the pool!
We only spent about an hour or so there, but Melody enjoyed getting to play on the stairs since no one else was really there. They have a kiddie pool, but it was closed.
We headed up and had lunch in the room.
Then we all showered and let Melody nap. While Melody napped, my parents and brother went parasailing. They seemed to really enjoy it. I have no desire to do it, so we stayed back so Melody could nap.
Although it would appear the nap wasn’t very helpful…
Once my parents got back and were ready, we headed to dinner at The Back Porch. I love eating here, but it is not a short drive from where we stayed.
Mom ordered the tuna dip for the table, which was great as always. And I ordered the crab stuffed mahi mahi. In my mind, it would taste close to what we had at our wedding years ago. Unfortunately it did not. It was decent, but I wouldn’t order it again.
Melody played outside some while everyone paid because she was getting antsy at the table.
Then we decided to go to The Track and see if there was anything Melody could do for fun there. It was literally right down the street from the restaurant, so it worked out perfectly. And Melody loved it. A few rides were down or simply didn’t exist, and so there were really only two she would do. One was the beach cruiser. It was simply a track with a few cars that went around it. An adult was allowed to ride with her on it.
The second was the swings. I honestly thought she might panic because we weren’t with her, but she does loves swings at home. And she loved these.
We would have stayed longer but the bugs were terrible. Of course Melody wanted to stay and we had a hard time getting her to leave! It was pretty late when we got back (for Melody), so we gave her a bath and went straight to bed.
Day Four
When we got up, we noticed the kiddie pool was finally open. So we decided that was our destination for the day. Looking back, I feel bad we didn’t give the beach another try though. I think Brad really wanted more beach time, but Melody just wasn’t feeling it. And I really didn’t want to fight her on it. So off to the pool we went!
For some odd reason, Melody wanted her swim top off. It was a long sleeve swim top, and I guess she didn’t want the sleeves. So I just let her. I mean she is 2.
My dad played with the outdoor shower, and Melody loved it!
For lunch, we decided to head over to the grill located at the pool. We opted to eat inside since it was so hot. They have quite a bit of seating both inside and outside. You can also eat at the bar or get it to go from the bar.
The menu isn’t very large, but for a small outdoor bar and grill, it is plenty. They have actually changed it since the last time I ate here. They used to have some great cold sandwiches, but not anymore.
While we waited on our food, Melody started in on some peanut butter crackers. I wasn’t sure how long it would take and I didn’t want her hangry.
My mom ordered the tuscan grilled chicken sandwich. It was decent, but I cannot have bacon. And I am also not a huge fan of grilled chicken on a sandwich. But mom enjoyed it.
Brad had the blue dunes burger, but he got it plain. He enjoyed it, but I am not a huge burger fan.
My dad ordered the buffalo chicken wings. I didn’t get a picture, but he enjoyed them.
I ordered the pool deck salad with ranch dressing without the bacon. It was really great, but I was thankful for Melody’s kids meal. I was able to eat some of her chicken tenders to make up for the lack of protein on the salad. I knew she wouldn’t eat all of hers, so I didn’t bother ordering any meat for my salad.
And as you guessed, I ordered Melody the chicken finger kids meal. She enjoyed the fries, and they were really great dipped in ranch. And I also enjoyed the chicken fingers too. They were not anything super special, but they were still good.
After lunch, we went back to the kiddie pool. Melody made friends with another group of kids. She was great about sharing their toys and such. And even Brad sat in the water with her!
After an hour or so, we decided to head up, clean up, and let Melody nap. Then we got ready for dinner.
We decided to go to the Crab Trap. It isn’t too far of a drive, and I love crab. Unfortunately they share a parking lot with the public beach, so it always looks crowded. But we were seated right away.
We ordered drinks, and the waiter immediately warned me about the size of their milk. And they do not provide refills. You can see it below, but it filled up her cup entirely, and she didn't even finish it.
I ordered Sprite, and it tasted awful. It truly tasted like cough syrup. I asked for a new one, but it tasted the same. In the end I just drank Melody’s water. But the waiter did remove the drink from my ticket which was nice.
For dinner, Brad ordered the CrabTrap Amberjack. It was Amberjack that he had bronzed, and then topped with crab meat, shrimp, and lemon butter sauce. He generally liked it, and he finished it, but he preferred it not bronzed. The waiter convinced him and my mom both do get their dishes bronzed, but both wished they hadn’t. He also wished he ordered fries as one of his sides, but he just ate some of Melody’s.
I ordered the CrabTrap Trio. It was amazing as always. My favorite part are the crab claws. I love crab claws, but they are hard to find outside of an appetizer.
Then it was back to our hotel.
Once we got back, we changed and took some family pictures. Luckily I have a nice camera and tripod to do this with. I wished we would have started just a bit sooner because a few of the pictures are a little darker than I like, but they are still precious pictures.
Departure Day
I didn’t really take any pictures on our departure day simply because that’s not a fun day! We left around 5:30-6 am. We made a stop for breakfast about 45 minutes out because Melody never went back to sleep when we left. We stopped once more for gas, then we made the trek home from there.
The trip was a lot of fun. We ate a lot of good food, and Melody did really well for the most part. She had her typical two year old moments, but nothing we couldn’t handle. I do wish we would have been able to see the beach more, but this just isn’t the year for Melody to love the sand, ha! Maybe next year!
