Florida Vacation 2011

We just got back from a wonderful vacation in Seaside and Seagrove, Florida. It was our first vacation as a family of four! 

We drove, which kind of made me think we were insane, but the kids did unbelievably well!  Elli usually starts saying, "out" and pulling at her car seat on a short trip across town so we prepped them several days leading up to our departure to let them know we would be in the car a lonnnng time.  I was prepared with activities, books, toys, movies, songs, food, prizes, etc.and it worked!

We drove halfway on Friday and stayed in a suburb of Jackson.  I think Brandon hummed or sang, "I'm goin' to Jackson" off and on the whole way there.  :)

On Saturday, we stopped in Mobile, AL and toured the USS Alabama Battleship.  The Battleship park was great, it had planes, tanks, helicopters, and a submarine.

The boys in the sub.  Pappaw was on a sub in the Navy.  It's crazy to see the conditions where they lived.  I would've been so claustrophobic (and probably seasick!).

After a quick stop at Firehouse Subs we were on our last leg to Florida!  One of Noah's trip treats was a new monster truck and he played trucks on his little desk for the longest time!

We finally arrived in Seaside, checked in to our condo and headed straight for the beach!  As soon as I put Elli down, she bent down and grabbed two hand fulls of sand. The sand is so beautiful and white! Noah headed straight for the water.  He wasn't timid at all which surprised me.

Seaside is just as picturesque and dreamy as it looks in pictures.  I loved it.

This is the path we took to get down to the beach every day.

This was our view of Seaside's Central Square from our condo. Since Noah started school after Labor Day, we were SO spoiled getting to go in the "off-season" while every one else was back at school.  Next time we go I think we'll be shocked at how busy it is.  Brandon said, "there's nothing wrong with taking your kid out of school to go to the beach is there?"  Ha!

Our view of the ocean.

There were several of these silly things around town and Noah always requested to take a picture in them.  This one was at Bud and Alley's Taco Bar.  Elli looks hilarious.

Of course, I had plans to get beach pictures of my kids.  This is what the majority look like.  By evening picture taking time, she was exhausted and not in the mood for pictures.

Noah was willing to cooperate.  He's showing me his muscles!

I LOVE these pictures.  They had so much fun anticipating the waves.  After they got splashed, they would just laugh! 

Before heading out for dinner one night.

One of our few family pictures.  Bathing suits and greasy sunscreened faces.  Not my first choice.  :)

My babies had so much fun just playing in the sand.

Ellianna went in the ocean with daddy a couple times, but for the most part was content to just play on the shore.

We found a heavenly (overpriced) ice cream shop called Heavenly's.  Noah opted for a chocolate chip cookie, but I love that he suggested taking his picture with the ice cream cone.

Seaside has cute airstream trailer food truck type things.  One of them is called The Melt Down.  They have specialty grilled cheese sandwiches.  I almost bought sister one of these shirts because she indeed did have a melt down (or two) on 30-A.  :)

On Monday, we moved down the beach a little to Seagrove Beach so we could experience actually being ON the beach.  This was our view from the kitchen.  AAAAAHHHHHHH.  I could so get used to this.

The kids loved the bunk beds.  Sister loved sleeping in a big girl bed.  I loved that they came with guard rails!

We met another family with young children and Noah had a lot of fun playing with them.  They had the most fun "riding the waves" on this air mattress. 

Handsome boy.

More playing in the sand.  They absolutely loved it!  Noah protested having to go inside each day.

We drove to Panama City Beach one evening and took a Pirate Cruise.  Noah was excited (but exhausted) and after the guns fired (albeit with ample warning), he was done.

We got to see dolphins.

There were so many cute activities, they got to swab the deck, have sword fights, shoot foam balls out of the fake cannon, play tambourines.  But this is how Noah spent the entire cruise...sitting.

Sister also had a melt down of her own right on the deck.  Oh, how we laughed.

Quick recovery.

The "pirates" stopped the ship and recovered a box of treasure from the bottom of the ocean.  So fun.  Each kid got to have 3 pieces.  Ellianna didn't get that concept and kept going back for hand fulls.  She'd give them to Brandon and I would throw them back in the treasure box until we only had our allotted 3 pieces of pirate booty.

Happy to be on our way back to the docks.

Noah did participate in the tattoo getting and then Elli wanted one. So for the rest of the week, my kids had these evil tattoos on their arms.  Lovely.

I finally figured out if they weren't in the mood for picture taking at the end of the day, we could try it before breakfast.  Still a no go.

Maybe she would've smiled had she known we were on our way to breakfast at The Donut Hole.  Can you say red-velvet-donuts-with-cream-cheese-icing?!  Thanks for the recommendation, Ms. Vicki!

Sweet babies.

Noah loved his pirate hat after he got off the ship.

How Noah feels about my picture taking.  Note my girl's dainty tattoo.

The sunset on our last night.  Sniff. Sniff.

On our balcony right before we left.  :(  We left right before T.S. Lee made his arrival.

This is the only time both kids slept at the same time (well, the ONLY time Noah slept).  They were wiped out from waking up with the sun and playing hard every day.