Thompson Beach Week

 The Thompsons ventured south of the border (the Georgia border anyway) to Destin, Florida. Special thanks go to Claire Whitaker for convincing her parents to let this motley crew stay at their condo. Surprisingly, the ride down there went about as well as planned. For those of you who don't know I am a stickler for making time on long trips. In fact, I don't like to stop unless I can eat, use the bathroom, and get gas at the same time. I knew my expectations needed to be tempered since we were bringing Miss Hollis along. We made the trip in 5 and 1/2 hours  with only one stop in Dothan. Audra did a great job of keeping Hollis occupied by letting her watch   DVDs on her computer.

Once there we noticed one thing......HEAT. The high the first day we were there was 103. I grew up in Georgia and have been to Florida dozens of times, but I don't ever remember it being that hot. 

We were fortunate enough to have a pool adjacent to our room so we hit that up the first morning. A good time was had by Hollis on her float and with her toys. That afternoon was her very first trip to the beach and first entry into the ocean. The water temperature was surprisingly cool considering the outside temperature and I think that took Hollis by surprise. She also wasn't real confident in those waves that seem to come every few seconds. Hollis did have a good time dining on sand once we played on the beach. Its amazing how neither the first nor the second bit of sand deterred her from continuing to eat it.  She was a great sport and we actually got to hang out there for the better part of the afternoon.

The remainder of the trip was pretty much the same except the last two days. Its during that time that Hollis forgo all cooperation. Up was down and white was black for her. She wanted no part of that hot beach and seemed tired all of the time (which was ironic because Dad was tired all of the time). She was getting up two or three times a night. Audra thought she was teething or maybe got too much Sun. I personally thought she was grieving over the loss of the King of Pop.  By the way.....Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, and Farrah Fawcett all died the week we were there.

We did learn one very valuable lesson. Going on vacation with a 11 month old isn't quite the same as when we went before Hollis. But the ride back was just as smooth as the ride down there so I think it went pretty well all in all.

We took a bunch of pictures. Click on the post title to see The Thompson in all of their glory.