Beach Trip - Florida!

The day after Jack's birthday, my parents, Jack, & I packed up and headed to the beach!

 

We missed Tyler while he was working and wished he could have joined us. 

It was truly like a little babymoon for me and Jack had so much fun exploring the beach and swimming in the pool. 

 

We stayed at the same hotel that my family grew up going to as a family of 4.  It was great to be able to experience it again as a parent and was so easy to get on/off the beach/pool and to our room when we needed to.

 

Jack has been a pro at road tripping lately and luckily he also had my mom in the back to entertain him.  He slept for about an hour and a half and we stopped a few times for this preggo to get out, stretch my legs, & use the restroom.  One plus of leaving TN...Whataburger.  We miss it in TN but Jack and I were able to indulge in Birmingham (and made dad very jealous).

We got into Sandestin about 6:30 and headed across to Baytowne Wharf for dinner.  This was a great area that we hadn't been to before & we had fun exploring all the restaurants, shops, & activities. 
As and added bonus Jack got to ride the carousel in a racecar after dinner.

  

The next morning it was beach/pool time.  Jack's least favorite time of the day was sunscreen time.  Does any child like sunscreen?  We covered him in the hotel room & were constantly re-applying.  Also, as you can tell we kept him very well covered & luckily he liked to wear his silly sun hat. 

(Random note for parents - We had great luck with this stick when reapplying while we were out playing)

I was interested to see how Jack reacted to the sand since in Charleston he was pretty moody about it at times.  He was cautious at first and just had to figure it out, but soon enough was playing away.  Shortly after my dad took him for a walk on the beach, he pulled my cover up out of our bag & started using it as a blankie.  He cuddled up with it and acted like he wanted to go to sleep.  It was barely even 11:00am!  He normally will NEVER sleep before 1:00pm.  But low and behold, he fell asleep right there and took a 2 hour nap on the beach!

After Jack woke up it was lunchtime at the grill by the pool & then pool time!  He hadn't been in a pool in over a year so I was interested to see how he would do.  Luckily, he loved it and was even happy to wear his puddle jumper in the big pool!

 That night we headed to dinner at one of our faves from back in the day, The Back Porch.  All I really remember about The Back Porch was always waiting for a table, but after a quick 10 minute wait we had a delicious dinner on the beach.

After dinner, we explored Destin to see how much it's changed & grabbed a key lime pie & breakfast for the next morning at The Donut Hole...yum.  We also stopped by The Track for Jack to ride the kids train, which of course, he loved.  He almost looked scared while he was riding it but he was truly mesmerized the entire time.

Sleeping in a hotel was interesting when we went to Charleston so I was anxious to see how Jack would do.  We were in a large suite where Jack's pack 'n play was able to be further away from everything.  He would fall asleep in the big bed and we were able to easily transfer him and continue about our night.  No tears at bedtime this trip since he was so tired!

 

Sidenote:  This is where I slept!  Oh how I remember fighting with Layne on who got to sleep on the top bunk back in the day.  Since I'm pregnant, I couldn't even imagine climbing onto the top bunk now-a-days!

Here's a throw back pic of me sleeping on the bottom bunk back in the day.

 

Enjoying donuts for breakfast before beach time.

 

Jack enjoyed playing in the sand and ordering my dad & I to get him "more" water in the bucket, but he was not interested in playing in the ocean.  He definitely liked to stick close to home & when we would take him in the water, he'd just point at the shore.

 

He took another nap on the beach during day 2. This time even earlier than the day before!

That night we headed to Seaside to explore & get dinner.  Again, this was a new area to us and we loved it.  It's so beautiful and we ate some delicious steamed shrimp on the beach with a gorgeous sunset. 

We started out day 3 at the pool & tried to save the beach for the afternoon so he would nap later, but the action on the beach in the afternoon proved to be too much & he ended up napping in the room.  He still had lots of fun swimming & playing on the beach before naptime, though!

 

A big crab wondered our way and Jack thought it was soooo funny.

 

Our last night we ate another delicious meal at Pompano Joe's.  Jack loved watching the volleyball game going on at the beach while we ate and we were able to get a few family photos before dinner (like every 2 year, old it is SO hard to get jack to pose for pictures now!  He does not want to sit still but has mastered the art of "cheese" every once in a while). 

Since it was our last night, we took Jack back to the train for one more joyride.

 

 While we were packing up the last morning, Jack moved his train track & trains to the patio & when we had to put them away for the car ride home he had a major meltdown. 

This boy had a blast & did not want to leave the beach!

 

Jack and I were so lucky to spend this vacation with my parents.  We are truly so thankful!  My parents love taking care of Jack and it was a true vacation for me with them watching over & playing with him a lot of the time, while I read a book on the beach which I probably won't be doing for a very long time in the future with 2 kids :) It was definitely not lost on me the greatness of this trip and how lucky we are. 

Thank you and we love you so much!

 

I asked my parents to dig up a few pictures from our family vacations to Sandestin.  My first trip there was 1986 so I was 3!  I found a few comparisons with the pictures from this vacation of Jack and they make me very happy!