Destin with Friends

My good friend Sheryl (we lived in the same neighborhood in elementary school and went to the same church) and her husband Daniel came to visit us from Seattle for the 2nd time. We had a splendid time, as expected.

Sheryl and Daniel were so helpful with Alisa and she loved them. She didn't cry around Daniel like she does with most men that come into our house--she actually spent a lot of time playing with him because she really liked him. They also were so helpful in the kitchen. They made so many delicious meals for us and cleaned them up before I even knew what happened! It was so nice but I felt a bit guilty since they were the guests but seemed to be doing all the work.

Alisa and Minga liked playing with Daniel:

We decided at the last minute to make a trip to Destin for 2 nights. We rented our friends' beach house (a mere 2 blocks from the beach) and it was wonderful.

Sheryl taught Alisa a new dance move in the car on the way to Destin:

Alisa walked with Sheryl and Daniel to the beach store after lunch at Fudpuckers:

Here we are enjoying the pool at the beach house:

Sheryl and I took a peek at the beach while the guys kept swimming at the pool and Alisa took a nap:


Our first morning at the beach was cut short by a rainstorm:

Sheryl and Daniel spent one day with local friends while Craig, Alisa and I hung out with my cousin Steven and his wife Erin who flew in from Tulsa to vacation for the week. We ate lunch on the patio at Hard Rock Cafe and then hung out in the pool while Alisa took her afternoon nap. Then we ate dinner at Fisherman's Wharf Seafood House and walked on the beach to see the sun set and moon rise (Alisa loves the moon and she went crazy seeing the large moon rise).

The weather was perfect for our last morning at the beach:

Lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise before driving home:

This sign made me laugh because someone put a sticker on the man that made it look like a "Hula Hoopers Crossing" sign:

Back at our home, Sheryl read Alisa bedtime stories on her last night in Florida:

Flooded Lake Ella

Lake Ella majorly flooded from the few days of rain we had due to Tropical Storm Fay at the end of August. So many people walk around the lake daily (just over half a mile), but were then unable to because it was out of commission for a couple of weeks. The small lake has something different on each side--a park, residential homes, shops & cafes and the main road.

Here are before and after pics (click each one to see larger version):

The water almost completely covered the benches and picnic tables on the other side of this tree:

The road was completely flooded:

This picture was taken from the gazebo that is on the peninsula that meets up with the road pictured above...this whole area was completely under water (you couldn't see the rocks, grass or sidewalk!):

The flooded gazebo as seen from the residential side:

The far side of the lake is residential:

The flooded road:

Since the road around the lake flooded, some residents couldn't use their cars because the water was all the way up to their houses and their cars were trapped in the driveways:

None of the water in this picture was here before the flood--it went all the way up to the doors of some shops:

Flooded parking lot (you can just see the tops of the trash cans):

The water reached the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial helicopter at the American Legion Post 13--yikes!:

Tropical Storm Fay

We had tons of rain this week due to Tropical Storm Fay. It rained a little each day earlier in the week and then nonstop from Friday to Sunday with some strong winds at times. We kept hearing branches and pinecones fall on the roof and balconies. A few times we heard really loud thudding sounds but didn't see what had fallen.

The city was giving out free sandbags to anyone who needed them this weekend. At least 12 deaths in the US were blamed on Tropical Storm Fay. I heard that one utility worker died when a tree fell on him while he was working on restoring power to some homes. How awful!

Here is the creek behind our house on Saturday just before 1 PM (you can see a huge puddle forming on the lowest part of our yard between the creek and where I took the picture from our balcony):

And here is the creek behind our house on Saturday just before 3 PM (it totally flooded--the creek joined with the huge puddle and became one big rushing creek--and took over about half of the yard directly behind our house):

The runoff for the water from the highway is along our property on the other side of the city fence that runs perpendicular to the creek so that water was joining the flood party here:

I prayed that no large branches or trees would fall on our house or cars and my prayers were answered. This large branch fell outside our fenced area:

And this large branch fell inside our fenced area (thankfully it didn't damage the fence):

The water was all the way up to the 3 trees on the right for a couple of hours (a nice little patch of sand was left behind so maybe Alisa can play in it):

Unfortunately, our only banana tree that was producing bananas so far fell over during the storm:


The bananas were not ripe enough to eat so we are sad that we don't get to try any this year after all:

Here is a video of our flooded creek: