If you have been following me regularly, then you know my family and I recently went on vacation. I did a Vacation Series a week before we left showing my vacation prep. If you missed it, you can check it out here. We went to Port St. Joe, Florida for 7 days. We stayed in a beach house right on the beach and had a lot of fun. It was really nice to get away from our normal lives for a little bit and just relax. Kevin's parents, Janice and David, came with us. It was wonderful having them there and getting to spend all that time with them. They were a huge help with Kason too! I really appreciate all they did for us on that trip, without them Kevin and I would not have been able to enjoy ourselves as much as we did. Lexi brought a friend with her, and that was so great! She had a great time and it was the best thing we could have done for her on this vacation and we will probably continue to invite friends in the future. There aren't any kids in our family that are Lexi's age, so a lot of times she gets really lonely and bored. Having Peyton come with us really made the trip so much more enjoyable for her.
Road Trip day! We woke up at 4am to get the day started. We packed the car the night before, thank goodness. We got Kason fed, packed our toiletry bags, got the girls up, and headed out the door at 5am. First thing we did when we left the house was stop at Starbucks, I couldn't survive that early in the morning without it. The kids were wonderful! They slept all morning until we stopped to eat breakfast about 8:30. We got out to stretch our legs, have a bathroom break, and get some food in all our bellies before hopping back in the car to start the next leg of our trip. Everything was smooth sailing for the most part until we hit Mobile, Alabama. Kevin's parents were ahead of us, so they were able to give us a heads up before we got to town. We decided to make our second stop right outside of Mobile to feed Kason and take a bathroom break because we weren't sure how long we'd be in traffic for. Traffic is always bad through Mobile because of the tunnel, but it was extra bad this time. And the traffic didn't end there, it was stop and go the entire rest of the way. What should have only taken 10-11 hours, was pushed to 14 hours because of all the traffic. Not only were we stuck in traffic, but Kason got really fussy on the last half of the trip. Talk about bad luck! I kind of expected it, because he's never been on a car ride that long before. I tried to keep him occupied. We would roll the windows down, I even set up my iPad in his seat so he could watch cartoons. The girls were fabulous! They didn't complain, were quiet, and helped to try and calm Kason when he got upset. 14 hours later we made it to our beach house. We unpacked the car, had a look around, and went out to a late dinner because we were starving. Dinner was good, we went to a local seafood place. It was pretty tasty! Kason was not happy at dinner, he was over the traveling and was overly tired. Kevin took him out to the car halfway through dinner because Kason would not stop crying. Kevin's mom finished eating and went to relieve Kevin so he could come back and finish eating. It was a pretty rough day. After dinner we went home and got some sleep.
We woke up on the first day there to lots and lots of rain. We were kind of upset because all we wanted was good weather, and to go out and enjoy the beach. Since it was raining we decided to go into town. We went and got the girls goggles with snorkels and boogie boards. Kevin got fishing bate and a fishing license. We also went to this rental place because I was interested in renting a paddle board. I've always wanted to try it, and figured this trip would be the perfect time to do it. I didn't end up renting it that day because the day was already half way over. We went back to the beach house and had lunch. The rain cleared out about 1pm, so we all went down to the beach. It never really got sunny, it was pretty cloudy all day but we made the best of it. We stayed at the beach house the rest of the day and night.
We wake up Monday morning and it's the same deal as the day before, more rain. Kevin and I have very similar personalities, but aren't 100% alike. We both have our moments and can be negative at times, but we can also be pretty positive. Another day of waking up to rain was really taking it's toll on us. We were not having very good luck on the weather front. Same thing happened though, the rain cleared out pretty early so I went into town and rented the paddle board. When I got back to the beach house we got everything together and went down to the beach. As soon as we got down there, it started to lightening. I was starting to get really upset about the weather so far. I went up to our room and laid down for a bit because I didn't want to annoy anyone with my bad attitude. It eventually stopped raining and the sun came out. We went back down to the beach and had a really good time! I tried paddle boarding and couldn't get the hang of it. I was pretty annoyed because I figured I'd be really good at it. Come to find out I was standing on it all wrong. Once I learned the way to stand, it was so much easier and I had so much fun. The girls got a go at standing on it, and Kevin even gave it a try. It didn't get dark until about 8pm so we were able to stay out there for a long time. Around 6pm a family of dolphins started popping up not that far away from us. It was so freakin' cool! The girls chased them down the beach to watch them. Kevin followed on foot, and I paddled. Even though the day started out pretty bad, we ended up having a really nice day. We didn't go anywhere at all that day. We stayed at the beach house and enjoyed our beach time.
We decided to go to Apalachicola on Tueday. My grandmother and grandfather on my mom's side grew up there, so any time I'm in Florida I like to go. It's a very small, very old town. There's a couple streets with little shops and a couple of restaurants. When we left the beach house it was nice and sunny outside. When we got to Apalach, it was really cloudy and started to sprinkle. You would have thought the rain was following us! It stayed at bay though, and didn't rain like we thought it would. We had lunch first, then walked around town for a while. Kevin's parents decided to stay in town longer than us because we wanted to get back to the beach. That evening we took the kids out to eat to a local restaurant called Toucan's. It was beach front, and they turned the beach area into a play area for the kids. They had a volleyball net, giant see-saws that the girls loved, and swings. It was pretty cool!
We decided to go to Panama City on Wednesday. We had breakfast and headed out. When we got there we started our day at the beach first because it was nice and sunny. We hung out at the beach for a couple hours. Normally it's really pretty there, but because of all the bad weather there was nasty, slimy seaweed in the water. I got in a few times to cool off, but mainly sat in the sand and read. When we had enough sun, we rinsed off, changed clothes, and went to Margaritaville for drinks and snacks. After our break, we went shopping at the outdoor mall there. The girls brought their spending money and bought some goodies. After walking around for a while, Kevin's parents decided to head back while we stayed a little longer. We had dinner at Buffalo Wild wings, got some ice cream at Marble Slab, then headed back home. We had a fun day!
We woke up to a beautiful, sunny day on Thursday! After a couple of days of rain, we wanted to stay in and take full advantage of this beautiful day. We had a full day of fun in the sun. It was really nice to chill out at the house after being out and about the two days before. Kevin and I were able to sneak away for dinner by ourselves that night while his parents stayed home with the kids. It was nice to do something alone. It's so important in a marriage to spend time alone together, even if it's just for a short time. It really makes a difference, and should really happen as often as possible. Love you hubs!
Waaaahhh our last day of vacation! The week flew by so incredibly fast. We woke up to another beautiful day. We ended up just staying at the beach house again. I spent the morning getting our stuff packed so I could get it out of the way and enjoy as much of the last day as I could. The girls woke up about 10am, and after they ate breakfast I had them start packing some of their stuff too. We enjoyed the beach the rest of the day. Kevin grilled burgers for lunch, and we spent all afternoon watching the girls swim and soaked up the sun while drinking Corona's. It was so nice and I was sad for it to be over. That evening we packed up the car so we didn't have to worry about doing it the next morning. We went into town for dinner at this amazing pizza place. They made homemade, fire-grilled pizzas and they were SO GOOD! We shared a bottle of wine with Kevin's parents to celebrate our last day. After dinner we went back to the beach house and relaxed before our long drive home.
We woke up at 4am, and were on the road at 5am to head back home. The drive home was so much better than the drive there. The kids slept all morning. We made it out of Florida, through Alabama (zero traffic thank God!), and halfway through Mississippi before waking the kids up about 9:30 to eat breakfast and feed the baby. Kason was so good on the ride back. He hardly fussed and slept almost the entire time. He had been pretty fussy for the past two weeks and I couldn't figure out why. I couldn't give him any more formula throughout the day because he was already at the max of 30 ounces a day. We ended up adding an extra solid each day while we were on vacation, and it started to make a difference in his attitude. The drive home was much faster, and much more relaxed than the drive up there. We made it home in 12 hours, with only three stops along the way. When we got home, we unloaded the car and I went to get us dinner because I was not about to cook after a long day of traveling. After we ate we just laid around and were lazy bums. I had a full DVR, so all I was interested in was watching my shows.
I hope you enjoyed getting the inside scoop on our vacation!
xoxo,
Casey
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