We didn't get to go to the beach as a family this summer because of Patrick's work schedule so when I saw that Barrett was out of school for a three day weekend this month I told Patrick we were going to the beach. It's the best time to go. The weather is usually amazing and the rates are always good too. We've always wanted to stay on 30A but it's gotten so crowded and it's so expensive during the summer. So we decided to look there. We were talking about it and the Stokley family decided to jump in on the fun. We found a great deal on a house in Blue Mountain Beach and we were set. We had extra room and the Moore family decided they would go too. We were really excited for our low key, laid back beach weekend.
Barrett had a little field trip Friday morning so we checked him out of school when they got back and hit the road. AveryAnn was asleep before Barrett even got in the car and he was asleep before we got out of town. They both travel so easily. They slept about 2.5 hours and then talked and laughed the rest of the way. They did ask how much longer a few times but it was such an easy trip down.
Everyone else was about an hour behind us so we stopped to get some boiled peanuts. That was the only stop we made and we didn't have to stop there. I was the only one that got out of the car.
Our plan was to get down there freshen up, hit the beach for a few family pictures and then grab dinner in Seaside. We wanted to eat at The Great Southern. It took us a little longer to get moving than expected to we didn't get to take pictures and by the time we got to the restaurant it was a 90 minute wait. So we skipped that and just ate at the food trucks. Patrick and Anna stayed with the kids while the rest of the adults went to get food. The kids were dancing and having the best time.
Our only family picture from the trip. One of my favorite parts were the older people coming up to us just watching and laughing at the kids. You could tell they were really enjoying watching the kids have fun. Several of them commented "Enjoy it, they'll be grown before you know it!" I know some people hate when people say this but it doesn't bother me much. I know it's so true. We laughed that one day we'll be able to come back and eat at the nice restaurant because our kids won't want to hang our with us anyway. While we were out we noticed a lot of people coughing and they all kept talking about the red tide.
A milk jug of margaritas makes for a good day.
We got up Saturday morning and made a plan for the beach. We loaded up and headed down. Where we all started coughing. We were worried about taking the baby since the red tide is airborne and can cause respiratory issues. But they talked to the doctor and we decided we would try it for a little while. So we loaded all the crap to the beach.
Got the camp set up and let the kids play.
They played in the sand.
They flew kites. The boys wanted to play in the water. They said it was safe to swim in but to flush your eyes if they become irritated. So we let them play. Then they were all crying because their eyes hurt, so we rinsed their eyes and decided to head to the pool.
Anna and I took the kids to the pool on the golf cart while the dads packed up the beach and Jessica got the baby. We'd been there all of 10 minutes before they closed the pool because someone got sick in it. At that point we were all wondering what we'd gotten ourselves into. We decided to go back to the house and regroup. Well we got back and the men started watching football and the boys were having fun watching tv and some of us took naps. We decided to pick up some shrimp at a local market and cook at the house.
This girl loved the corn!
Barrett and Jackson fell asleep together and it was so sweet.
I saw on facebook some friends were about 30 minutes west of us and the red tide had not reached there yet. So we decided to head west Sunday morning. We went to the park we'd found and they said the red tide was in the air and they suggested we keep going west. So we ended up about in Okaloosa Island at Beasley Park. It turned out to be a beautiful day. The water was rough but we could breathe and it was so pretty.
Happy to finally be at the beach!
Digging a moat so our stuff wouldn't get wet.
She liked the sand more than I thought she would.
Johnny helping the boys dig a hole.
Enjoying a lunchable on the beach. Living the dream!
Love these girls. I can 100% be myself and they love me through it. Ha!
Baby Jonah is the best! He was so easy going and laid back.
We're trying to convince them they will be friends.
So, Jeremy brought some pineapple moonshine. It is not for the faint of heart. It was so good but I can't hang with the big boys.
Sunday night we grilled steak for dinner. They were so good! We laughed and laughed about all the mishaps of the weekend. Even through all the things that went wrong, we had a great time. We laughed and laughed. The kids got along really well. We just had fun ya know. Easy, laid back fun.
We had not been paying much attention to the local news (or any news really), so we were shocked when we packed up to go home Monday and cars were lined up to get gas. Well turns out people were evacuating due to Hurricane Michael. Thankfully, we found gas and made it home. AveryAnn threw up in the car, luckily we were only 15 minutes from home. We thought she was just car sick but then she got sick Tuesday morning on the way to school. She's finally better today.
We really did have such a wonderful time. We're already looking forward to the next trip...if they'll have us.
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