Last weekend our family stayed at a condo rental called Barefoot by the Sea, which is part of the Amalfi Coast Resort on Miramar Beach. We had such a great time that I felt it was worth sharing with anyone out there who is considering staying in the Destin, Florida area.
We chose to stay there as part of our son’s “destination birthday party” for his 5th birthday. Things were made extra special when I learned we would be able to drive a 2015 Lexus GX 460 there and back, from our home near Nashville, Tennessee. (That’s a perk of being a blogger!)
Because rentals in Amalfi Coast Resorts not directly on the beach, but instead, just across the street from it, prices are more affordable than most Destin resorts we looked into.
However, we still had a great ocean view from the kitchen and living room; as well as the deck, where we could enjoy the fresh beach at any time.
Additionally, the place contains 2 full bathrooms, as well as a master bedroom and a set of bunk beds in the hall, where our son slept. It was his first time to get to sleep in a bunk bed.
We had plenty of room. We are already trying to figure out when we can go back and stay there again. The place was perfect for our family’s needs.
Though we never took advantage of it, we also had access to the 2 swimming pools on the property.
Instead, we spent much of our time at the private beach, which was just right across the street. We had access to a gazebo which grants access to the beach.
It was very private. I think we were the only ones on that private beach each time we were out there.
Not to mention, it’s location within Destin itself was a good central location to plenty of restaurants, grocery stores, as well as fun family activities, like the Gulfarium and the dolphin cruise; both of which we participated in.
In closing, please check out the casual video tour I made using my Samsung Galaxy S4:
I totally recommend this place. In fact, please feel free to ask me any questions you may have about it.
Good morning. You are officially 5 years old today!
I’m so glad you are. The older you get, the closer our relationship grows.
The way I look at it is sort of like a good road trip. You have to appreciate the journey as much as the destination. As you and I both grow older and mature together as individual human beings, we also are able to know each other better as well.
Just today you were asking me about the first time you spoke “real words” to me and I understood them; and you understood me back.
You’re old enough now to where years have actually passed since those days of helping you learn to talk; back when many of your first words I taught you were vehicles we saw on the way to and from daycare each day.
“Jeep!”
“Mustang!”
“Dump truck!”
The older you get, the more I am able to appreciate our relationship and our time together.
Five years ago I was clueless on how to be a parent. I had to figure it all out together with Mommy.
These days, the guessing games and the related frustrations are gone. I know you now.
Granted, you’ve got a baby brother or sister on the way in April. This is your final birthday as an “only child”. And as for me, I’ll be thrown back into the mode of changing diapers and preparing bottles.
Imagine how much you will change, for the better, when you are Mommy and Daddy’s much needed helper!
I remember how surprised I was back when you were a newborn, having parents who are both of Italian heritage (and Mexican on my side), ended up with blonde hair and blue eyes.
And I also remember several people said your hair would get darker and your eyes would change color.
But you’re 5 now, and your eyes are still blue and you pretty much still kind of have blonde hair. You’ve made it this far still looking this way!
It still amazes me.
Happy 5th Birthday, Jack. I’ve got plenty more letters to write you and we’ve got plenty more growing up to do together.
Your 5th birthday is on Monday, but we decided to go ahead and have your “school birthday party” today before the weekend kicks in. Normally we would take cupcakes for you and your friends to enjoy to celebrate your birthday, but this year, you had a different specific request…
Donuts and vegan blueberry muffins.
So yesterday I hopped in the 2015 Lexus GX 460 that we are driving this week and drove to Whole Foods, which is just a 5 minute drive from where I work.
I was able to get your chocolate-covered sprinkle donuts and the vegan blueberry muffins right there at the same spot. I brought home 4 donuts and 6 muffins. Mommy and I were discussing how we would get your teacher to cut them in half; and that even then, that would be a lot of food for 5 year-olds.
You then proclaimed to me, “Tell my teacher to save a whole donut for me because I want the whole thing, not just half.”
Here lately, you’ve been saying other things like that which have really cracked me up.
We drove past a place that sells those glorious wooden playgrounds. They had one that was a pirate ship. It cost $1600.
You declared, “If I had that pirate ship playground at our house, I would never watch anything on the Kindle, because I could play on the playground.”
I told Mommy, “Maybe we should get Jack that playground. He would never, ever watch anything on the Kindle again. All he would ever do would be to play on his pirate ship playground…”
You intervened, “But sometimes, I would.”
I think I actually had you convinced we would have bought you that $1600 playground if you had agreed to never watch the Kindle again. I thought it was hilarious how you attempted to make a bargain with Mommy and me.
Funny stuff.
Okay, so imagine this: The next time I write you a letter, you’ll be 5 years old!
Yesterday Mommy went to the doctor for her newest check-in. The doctor confirmed you sound great. And to our surprise, she slid up the date in which Mommy and me and your brother Jack will find out whether you are a boy or a girl.
That is great, because that’s about 2 weeks earlier than we were expecting. That visit will take place on November 25th, just about a week after Jack’s 5th birthday.
Your heart rate is about the same as your brother Jack’s was; which may be an indication that you just might actually be a boy; despite my heart still telling me you’re a girl.
Apparently, typically it’s girls’ heartbeats that are faster than boys’.
I’m excited to find out, but more than anything, I think I’ll be relieved just knowing either way.
Are you Holly or are you Logan?
By the way, I didn’t even realize it until Mommy brought it up last night, but just like clockwork, her nausea has finally went away now that she is in her 2nd trimester with you.
I am so happy for her that she doesn’t have to constantly suffer in that way, like she had to do for the entire 1st trimester.
This week Mommy found a good deal online on Huggies diapers and some wipes. So Tuesday evening, I brought in a big box from the front porch.
Your brother Jack help haul the contents of the package piece by piece.
Therefore, your fairly empty bedroom is beginning to fill up.
I assume that by default, we’ll be more prepared for your arrival that we were Jack’s. For me especially, I feel that even though it was 5 years ago when Jack was born, I’ve now got the basics down of “what to do with a brand-new baby.”
This morning as my wife and I were getting ready for work, we were talking about the concept of how parents can influence their kids, even without trying to.
For example, no matter how much you praise your child on their abilities, talents, and looks, they can be just as influenced by the way you, the parent, see yourself.
As Bekah on The Wally Show explained yesterday morning, a mother who picks herself apart in front of the mirror will often, by default, teach her daughter to do the same; no matter how much the mother compliments the daughter.
We learn so much from our parents.
Today is my dad’s 59th birthday. So naturally, having just had this conversation, I’ve been thinking all day about the ways my dad made me who I am; whether he meant to or not.
I easily thought of 5 ways:
1) Diet:
The first story that comes to mind was back in the late 80s one time when my dad stopped to get gas for his Ford Ranchero.
I asked him if I could get a candy bar inside the gas station. He reluctantly said yes, but went on to explain how unhealthy candy bars were, because of “all that sugar”. He told me how little boys my age needed to be eating healthier foods.
That made me curious. I then asked him when the last time he had eaten he candy bar. He replied, “Years… I probably was a boy. But I shouldn’t have, because those things aren’t healthy.”
Similarly, I can also specifically remember, around the same time, we were watching 20/20 on TV and there was a special about how kids were having heart attacks because of their diets.
My dad warned me if I didn’t start eating healthier foods, I could end up like those kids on TV who had heart attacks.
In our house, we never had white bread; only wheat. I felt deprived.
Granted, those elementary school years passed, then my teens, then my college years, and I ate horribly the whole time; whenever it was up to me. I didn’t heed his advice.
But by the time I reached my late 20s, I started seeing my processed food diet catch up with me…
Now, look at me. I am the strictest vegan anyone personally knows. If it weren’t for my dad, though, I wouldn’t currently be the healthy man I am.
If it weren’t for my dad, these days I would be a highly medicated guy: I would take something daily for severe allergy and sinus issues; and I would still constantly be suffering eczema, paying for prescription medicine to attempt to alleviate it, but not cure it.
That all went away when I became a vegan 2 and a half years ago; not to mention I’ve effortlessly remained in the perfect weight range for my height and weight since then.
I am confident that my dad’s “you better stop eating candy cars or you’re going to be a kid who has a heart attack” comments greatly influenced me for the good; even if I couldn’t appreciate it at the time.
It was ingrained in me from my dad that it’s important to prevent cancer and disease; not simply focus on the cure.
Here’s a webisode that he and I made with my son; which hints on the fact we don’t trust microwaves:
2) Being active:
Plus, my dad was always physically active. During my entire childhood, he participated in martial arts; he was a black belt. Back in 1992, he even won 1st place in the sparring competition, for his division in northern Alabama.
(As for me in modern day, I regularly run and go mountain biking; plus I take at least two 10 minute walks outside during my breaks.)
Quite regularly, I when I was a kid, I would go with my dad to his Tuesday night practices and workouts. I knew that he would let me get a cheeseburger at Hardee’s on the way home if I went with him.
Here’s another webisode that my dad and I made with my son; which features my dad in one of his classic karate uniforms:
3) Letting me make my own decisions
And perhaps that’s another way he influenced me: He let me make my own decisions, even sometimes when he knew there was a better way.
I’m not sure I’ll be as hands off with my own son. I don’t know that I can be as Libertarian with my son as my dad was with me.
But had my dad not been so laissez-faire with me (a policy or attitude of letting things take their own course, without interfering), there’s a good chance I would rebelled and acted out as a kid, teenager, and even a young adult.
So twenty years ago, during the reign of grunge, I had the long hair and the baggy jeans; and my dad never once revealed he was concerned about it.
Of course, my dad also taught me, by default, to be calm-assertive.
These qualities are only the tip of the iceberg. In all this, it was not only his words, but more importantly, his actions that inspired me how to live my life.
4) Faith
Going deeper, I grew up with my dad reading me stories from the Bible for my bedtime stories, teaching my Sunday School classes at our church, and leading the youth group at church.
Therefore, I do my best to lead my own family in the teachings of Christianity; not out of tradition, but as a way of life- serving others, not judging them.
I seriously doubt my blog would be called Family Friendly Daddy Blog if it weren’t for him. He never cussed, so neither do I. Curse words never seemed necessary in order to communicate something worth saying.
5) Politics
And when it comes to politics, I see that I have become my dad as well:
“Vote for the lesser of the two evils; whether that happens to be a Democrat or a Republican.” I remember he told me that a couple elections ago and it’s stuck with me.
A mindset like that requires an individual to use critical thinking beyond what they are taught by either the left wing or the right wing.
After all, they are both wings of the same bird.
Ultimately, he taught me to question the norm. And I do. That is a huge part of who I am.
It’s even one of the main reasons my wife started dating me, as she has told me before, “You always seem so confident in what you believe, even if it not what most other people believe.”
So really, the way I see it, it’s undeniable that my dad greatly influenced who I am. Today he turns 59 years old. Despite whatever gift card my wife and I mailed him for his birthday, these words today are my gift to him more than anything else.
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