Did you know that Northwest Florida is part of the Monarch Butterfly’s migration path to Mexico? Every year, during the month of October, thousands of these orange and black insects fly through our neighborhoods, down 98, and over the Gulf of Mexico. The Panhandle Butterfly House in Navarre is a a rest stop and milk weed feeding station for these travelling butterflies, and is a great day trip from Destin or South Walton County. Read the rest of this entry »
Local attractions and schools have already been closed for tomorrow, and after three steady weeks of rain, I’m not thrilled about spending another few days housebound with Alex and Harper. I’ve been trying to think of some fun ways to keep them entertained if the power goes out for any period of time. Portable electronics are charged, the library has been restocked, and crayons and paints are at the ready, but there must be more to keep them entertained. Taking into consideration the danger from downed power lines, localized flooding, and high winds, here are the five things we’ll do to pass the time during the aftermath of Isaac. Read the rest of this entry »
For locals along the Emerald Coast, school is right around the corner. If you’re like me, you are both looking forward to getting back into a regular school-homework-bedtime routine, and a little sad that the summer unscheduled fun-camp-late bed times vacation is going to end. In addition to taking advantage of tax free shopping this weekend, there are a number of end of summer events to help you go out with a bang!
If you haven’t checked out the Wednesday night concert series at Baytowne Wharf, you still have time to catch some great – and free- live music. You can also catch the Sunset Cinema on Thursday nights, so grab a blanket and some popcorn and enjoy a family friendly film under the stars.
Once the “big kids” go back to school (August 8th for Walton County and August 22 for Okaloosa County), grab your towels and sunscreen and head to the Niceville Children’s Park for some water play!
Spend the day exploring Henderson Beach State Park and meet some “Owls and Critters” on Thursday, August 9th. The Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge will share stories about some of their most popular residents, and kids will get a chance to get up close and personal with owls, turtles, and other small animals.
Join the Seaside Rep Theater at the Seaside Amphitheater on Mondays, Rosemary Beach on Wednesdays, and Alys Beach on Thursdays for family friendly, outdoor theater. Your kids will get a kick out of these silly stories and vibrant productions.
Once the visitors head home, be sure to head to Destin’s Historic Harbor for a stroll on the boardwalk and a cruise along the brand new Buccaneer Pirate Ship.
There’s plenty of summer fun left if you know where to find it. And I’m looking forward to a few more days and nights of popsicles and popcorn, beaches and bike riding and unstructured fun before we get back to our normally scheduled routines. Do you have any end of summer must dos?
As we all know, the weather along the Emerald Coast has been crazy hot.
If you’re like me, my willingness to cook tends to go out the window when the temperature rises. And, while grilling is a perfectly acceptable alternative for dinner, there’s still breakfast, lunch, and snacks to prepare.
If we’re headed to the beach or on the boat, I’ll bail on full scale meals all together and pull a “snack-tastic” picnic together. Everyone can graze throughout the day, and the snacks are healthy alternatives to chips and cookies.
Here are my go to beach and boat snacks:
Trail or Snack mix: You can make this yourself or buy the bagged mixes from the grocery store. Goldfish, dried fruit, nuts, popcorn, and pretzels are good ingredients, and I’m intrigued by this spicy, Asian inspired recipe. I try to keep the chocolate out of the mix, since it melts, and I divide the mix into single serving containers for easy access.
Fruit: Watermelon, peaches, and strawberries are their peak right now. These sweet treats have the added bonus of keeping you hydrated too. If I’m feeling ambitious, I’ll throw together a fruit salad with cantaloupe, blueberries, and pineapple too.
Frozen grapes: These make great “popsicles” and help keep the rest of your snacks cool. I freeze juice boxes as well- they thaw out in time to enjoy!
Wrap: Sandwiches can get soggy, but I make a few wraps before we leave and then slice them into smaller pieces for everyone to share. I try and stay away from mayonnaise, but experiment with spread cheese, honey mustard, horse radish, and other “sturdier” condiments.
Veggies and hummus: Baby carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, and peas are crowd favorites.
Alex and Harper enjoy thinking they pulled a fast one and skipped a meal, and I secretly like knowing they’ve loaded up on fruits, veggies, and whole grains. Everybody wins!
Susan Jarvis Moody is a transplanted New Englander living and working in Destin, Florida. After graduating from college in Massachusetts.
She spent time working and managing national membership and public policy organizations in Washington DC. Now a freelance writer, Susan writes the Emerald Coast Insider Blog and contributes to magazines and blogs on a number of topics.
The Birthday Girl Tasting The Goods
Living along the coast and thinking about family-friendly activities tends to conjure up memories of, well, sandcastles and sippy cups. Of course, the Emerald Coast offers some of the most profound beaches and opportunities for coastal memories of a lifetime. No question about that.
What you may not realize, is that just off the white sand covered beaten path, there are also other family friendly adventures that also provide some lasting memories of Florida family fun. My family and I recently discovered (okay, not quite “discovered” – I happen to have family in this area) some sweet memories visiting Akers of Strawberries in Baker, Florida – just a forty-five minute drive from Destin.
We were celebrating my daughter’s first birthday {insert big gulp and misty eyes here} and decided to take the kids back to their roots (sort of, like I said I have family in this area). Honestly, we had made a decision to forego the big birthday party with a backyard water slide, house full of people, and crazy mommy running around trying to fruitlessly make the house party presentable (anyone who has ever had a one-year-old and a two-year-old knows what I mean . The chances of a flying pig sighting over the Gulf are more probable than a clean house.) We wanted to do something a little more intimate for the family – and we picked (pun intended) just the right place.
Quality Control: One for the Basket, Three for Me
At Akers of Strawberries they hand you a basket and send you out on your way to harvest your very own collection of strawberries hand plucked by little hands and adult hands alike. We had grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles all join in on the fun. I have to say it was such a fun-filled time as there was quite the competition for the most berry-filled basket. For my toddlers, it was on par with an Easter egg hunt as they made their way through rows of strawberry patches searching for just the right berry. Alright, I take that back – we were there at the end of strawberry season so they were just looking for any and every berry they could get their strawberry stained hands on with no real discretion system in place. I came home with some pretty funky looking strawberries hidden in our bunch, but they were all incredibly sweet and delicious. Yum!
Ten pounds of strawberries later (I am accepting recipes) we made our way inside Akers of Strawberries air conditioned snack area and enjoyed homemade strawberry frozen yogurt, milkshakes, and strawberry shortcake.
All in all, I have to say this is a family trip worth the short drive from the coast.
You can find Akers of Strawberries on Facebook. While strawberry season is wrapping up, blueberries and peaches are in harvest and available. Give Akers a call at 850.537.2768 to find out what is in season when planning your trip.
Andrea Moak is an Emerald Coast native who, along with her husband, is raising their two little ones, Finn and Stella, in the place she has always called home. She is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Media Studies & Creative Writing and an MA in Corporate & Public Communication.
She owns and operates Baby Boot Camp of the Emerald Coast and Karna Fitness of the Emerlad Coast and teaches college courses online for several universities. You can also find Andrea’s writing on her blog, MamaOnTheRun.com and on SkinnyMom.com where she serves as the entertainment/celebrity mom blogger.
Ahoy Mateys: Billy Bowlegs Storms Fort Walton Beach
My kids are at an age where they don’t agree on much. With three years between them, there aren’t too many things that interest both Alex and Harper, especially when it comes to media. Alex is definitely in “big boy territory, choosing Phineas and Ferb, Ninjas, and Star Wars to watch or read, while Harper prefers Dora, Franklin, and Doc McStuffins. They both, however, like pirates. So we are lucky that Billy Bowlegs comes to town every year.
When I think of Bowlegs, I definitely think of adult themed fun. But, there is a lot for kids to do. The family fun begins Thursday afternoon with the Pirate Walk. Prior to the Torchlight parade, little buccaneers can look for treasure in 19 Historic Downtown Fort Walton Beach merchants. They can turn in their map, which will be stamped by each store, and receive a goody bag. The Torchlight parade follows the treasure hunt. On Friday afternoon, there will be a princess and pirates costume contest for both adults and children, beginning at 1:00.
On Saturday, Mayor Mike Anderson and his mini militia will once again try to protect the city from Captain Billy LVIII and his crew. In order to participate, your pirate will need to be properly costumed in the official uniform. You can purchase the official Pirate Pack from the Fort Walton Beach Chamber’s Booty Store for $20.00. The pirate packs include an official T-shirt, a blunderbuss water gun, a bandana, a pirate tattoo, and a bag.
On Saturday, kids ages 2-12 can “dunk the pirate” and older kids can bring a hand crafted pirate ship for the “Best Pirate Ship” contest. Ships will be judged on creativity and floatability.
After each event there will be live entertainment on the landing. If your kids are pirate obsessed, check out the Billy Bowlegs festivities- if you miss it, they may make you walk the plank.
When I came up with a name for this mommy blog, Sand Castles and Sippy Cups came pretty naturally.
They are two things are a part of my daily life with two toddler kids (we literally had to invest in a sand box because my two-year-old son was digging holes for castles in our back yard faster than an industrial digger on a deadline).
What does not happen on a daily basis for me is getting up before the sun rises (that happens too often … wait for the rest of the sentence) and heading out for a girls fishing trip while my husband stays at home to care for the kids. Can anyone say role reversal?
This past weekend, in a twist eerily similar to the movie Freaky Friday, my husband, a private boat captain, was on daddy duty while I was fortunate enough to hit the Gulf of Mexico with a few other escapee mommies.
To be honest, I was a little concerned about the day when I left my house forgetting my freshly prepared, hot cup of coffee (ie: my morning defibrillator) sitting on the kitchen counter. However, it didn’t take long after we boarded the charter boat, Vengence, that I quickly realized there were no tots anywhere in sight relentlessly demanding breakfast and Mickey Mouse.
I looked around at the company of the lovely ladies that surrounded me, and I realized we all had the same twinkle in our sleepy eyes. We had momentarily escaped.
While the company was delightful, our catch wasn’t that bad either. We caught some notable snapper and I was pretty proud of this grouper I reeled in (both catch and release species during our trip), not to mention a boat load of triggerfish, mingos, and a king mackerel. Hands down, the catch of the day went to mommy angler, Nicole, who reeled in this bull shark weighing in at an estimated 125 lbs!
The eight hour-trip was made even more refreshing by the friendly and witty crew among the Vengence. First mate, Aaron, kept us baited, reeling, and laughing throughout the trip. I am also not going to lie, seeing the guys clean up our mess and allowing us to relax, enjoy, and have some chat time was pretty darn nice too.
And there you have it – a mommy fishing trip that was well deserved (if I do say so myself), full of lasting memories AND another great way to take advantage of the Emerald Coast.
For more information on the charter boat, Vengence, visit DestinCharterBoatVengeance.com.
Andrea Moak is an Emerald Coast native who, along with her husband, is raising their two little ones, Finn and Stella, in the place she has always called home. She is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Media Studies & Creative Writing and an MA in Corporate & Public Communication.
She owns and operates Baby Boot Camp of the Emerald Coast and teaches college courses online for several universities. You can also find Andrea’s writing on her blog, MamaOnTheRun.com and on SkinnyMom.com where she serves as the entertainment/celebrity mom blogger.
Saturday was a perfect beach day along the Emerald Coast. A clear, blue sky, warm water with a “light chop” and green flags flying on every beach.
Instead of grabbing our beach chairs, pails and shovels and beach umbrellas, Harper and I headed to the beach at Pompano Joe’s to give surfing a try. The Annual ‘GROM COMP”, hosted by Billa-Bong Surf Shop provides kids and teens with a short surfing lesson, and then a chance to show off their skills in a competition. My little “Gidget” had the time of her life! Read the rest of this entry »
Hi all! I will be tag teaming with Andrea to bring you the best family friendly fun along the Emerald Coast. I thought I should start by introducing myself.
I’m a transplanted New Englander and have been working my way slowly south since I graduated from college.
My husband Shane and I live with our children, 7-year-old Alex, 4-year-old Harper and recent college graduate, Jennings.
I like to think that we are raising our kids with an appreciation of both lobster rolls and sweet tea. I spent time living and working in Washington DC prior to moving to Destin, and am now looking to put a little more “sand in my soul” and watch the kids thrive along the beach.
I absolutely must agree with Andrea that sand is one of the biggest challenges of beach living.
I’m sure if they collected all the sand accumulated by sneakers after a play date a Morgan’s Sports Center, they could re-nourish all the beaches from here to Panama City.
As Alex and Harper get older, I find that we get busier- from ballet to baseball, school projects to church programs, we are always on the go.
When I read Andrea’s introductory column, I resolved that we too were lucky, and we were going to use this summer to play tourist in our own town, stop and smell the (beach) roses and just enjoy living in paradise.
For the first time ever, all five Moodys are living under the same roof for longer than a summer.
I’m looking forward to chronicling our adventures, the good, the bad, and the sandy, as I try to balance two little kids, one young adult, and the rest of the work-life-balance equation as we rediscover the best the Emerald Coast has to offer.
Susan Jarvis Moody is a transplanted New Englander living and working in Destin, Florida. After graduating from college in Massachusetts, She spent time working and managing national membership and public policy organizations in Washington DC. Now a freelance writer, Susan writes the Emerald Coast Insider Blog and contributes to magazines and blogs on a number of topics.