Destin 2014

A couple of weeks ago we made the voyage to Destin, Florida with 3 families. We spent a week in a big house (8 kids and 8 adults...well, I suppose you could call the dads adults...) and had a great time.  We had a private pool and were a hop, skip and a jump away from the beach.  This was Sadie's first time at the beach or seeing the ocean, so it was super exciting.  We ate fresh seafood every night and made great memories with our friends. We did, however, get attacked by mosquitoes (or sand fleas, not sure), and made friends with about a 1000 caterpillars.  That was a little interesting!  The only other rough spots during the trip was when my credit card number got stolen (unless Troy knows someone in the AL State Penitentiary!), and my dear friend's mom unexpectedly passed away :(.  Oh, and BIG lesson learned....do NOT drive 16 hours with an almost 4 year old. That was ROUGH!

We spent a few mornings at the beach, followed by afternoons at our pool.  With Sadie being in the water so much and without her aids, I definitely started to think about waterproof hearing aids.  For those of you that might wonder, Sadie CAN hear some without her aids, but you have to talk LOUD and close to her ear. Trust me when I say I was very tired of shouting during that trip (as I am sure were the other adults and kids who had to listen to me!).  So when I got home I started researching and talking to our audiologist about water proof hearing aids.  I figured that since we are at the lake so much in the summers, these surely wouldn't be a waste.  Unfortunately, there is really only one truly waterproof hearing aid out on the market, the Siemens Aquarius.  It is quite pricey...and it is only for moderate-severe hearing loss.  Sadie would be on the very end of the range of eligibility.  If her hearing loss got worse, they wouldn't work for her.  But on the flip side, these would not be her primary aid, only for when she was swimming.  So..even if her hearing got worse, she would still get SOME gain out of them, it just wouldn't be perfect sound.  So I am torn.  I will probably be deciding later this year (since summer is almost over) whether or not we will decide to purchase a pair.  If anyone reading this blog has any information or experience with the Siemens Aquarius, I would LOVE to hear about it!

Now, on to the pictures!

After dinner on the way down to Destin

Our home for a week

Our private pool

Sadie loving the beach

She couldn't get enough of the sand

Neither could troy. He was proud of the hole he dug

Night stroll on the beach

 Adult picture

The whole crew!

 At Fudpuckers restaurant on the 1 rainy day we had

 Feed the baby alligators

 Beach Buddies!

 Catching a jellyfish and harassing it

 This is what a day at the beach and no nap looks like (this was 5:00 pm)

 The kids, er men

 The ladies

The kids!

Sadie jumping in!