We woke up Thursday morning, ate breakfast, packed up and headed to the beach! We were all so excited about a beach day.
The
weather was perfect. We spent all morning playing in the sand, building
sand castles, swimming, soaking up the sunshine and enjoying the beauty
of the ocean.
Nathan loved everything about the beach: the sand, the waves, the water, he couldn't get enough of it!
Elisabeth loved the sand, but wasn't a fan of the waves or the water. I think it scared her a little, so she spent the morning happily playing in the sand. Nathan brought her water anytime she needed some for her sand play.
Samuel loved it all too. One time during the morning, he grabbed my hand and we ran in and out of the water. A wave would come and he'd turn around and run away, then say, "Let's do it again!" It was a sweet memory with his little hand in mine running back and forth along the beach.
Matt took the boys out in the water to swim for awhile. They had a blast. I mostly stayed on the shore entertaining Elisabeth.
We played for three solid hours before everyone was tired and ready for a break. We went back to the hotel and quickly changed and ran to lunch. Then we headed back for naps. After naps we took the kids to a park by the beach. It was so pretty watching them play beside the beach.
Later that evening, we took baths and got dressed up for beach pictures. I always like to take advantage of the beach and try and get some good pictures of the kids. And Matt never disappoints. He's an awesome photographer and husband too :)
We got so many great shots. I'm in love with so many of them! It's always a little stressful because the lighting has to be just perfect and there's a limited window when the sun is at the right place for pictures. So we're racing and sweating and trying to get the kids to cooperate.
We promised them ice cream if they cooperated and smiled for us, so after pictures we ate dinner and had dessert too.
Samuel was being silly at dinner
Then we headed back to the hotel for bedtime. One thing I loved about our vacation was just the time we all got to spend together as a family. It was special to just always be with the people I love the most. The kids bonded too during our trip. I love this sweet moment between brother and sister.
We had all been so excited for our Family Vacation to Florida. We started a sticker chart several weeks ago to help the kids understand when it would be time to go. Elisabeth was so confused because we talked about our vacation a lot and she always thought it was time to go. She would wake up from a nap and ask if it was time to go to Disney World, or we would get in the car to take Nathan to school and she'd ask if we were leaving for Disney World. The sticker chart helped her a lot and it helped build excitement for everyone, so we were all so excited when we got to put our very last sticker on the chart Tuesday night!
We put the kids to bed and woke them up about 3:30am to hit the road. Elisabeth was so excited!
The kids all slept the first few hours of our trip, and then we brought plenty of things to keep them occupied.
Nathan loves those color by number books, so I surprised him with a couple of new ones for the road trip.
I packed a lunch for us, and we found a really fun playground to eat at and let the kids burn off some energy.
We let them play for close to an hour to try and wear them out for the rest of the drive.
Then it was back in the car for the afternoon. Nathan worked on some homework.
Nathan and Elisabeth both took a good nap in the car while Samuel watched a movie.
We made it to our hotel in Navarre about 5:30 that evening. The kids were awesome! It was such a fun, easy travel day!
We could look past the houses and see the ocean from our window.
Samuel had to show Pooh the ocean from our hotel window.
We unpacked and then ran over to the beach for just a few minutes.
The kids did not want to leave, but we promised them we would bring them back first thing in the morning.
We stayed at the same hotel where Matt spent a lot of time on a work project back in 2010, so he knew the town and surrounding area VERY well. We went to eat at one of his favorite restaurants. Samuel was a little worn out at dinner after a big day.
After dinner, we headed back to bed to get ready for our first fun vacation day the next morning!
