A year ago, I got a great idea that my entire family should go on a beach trip together. I've heard so many good things about Destin, FL, so I thought that would be a perfect location. After searching for the perfect house on the beach, we found one and booked it. And then we waited a very long year for the time to finally come that we could go!
After much debate, we decided that me and the kids would fly with my parents to Pensacola and then make the 2 hour drive to Miramar Beach. Shawn, along with my brother's family, would make the drive. We just had so much stuff we needed to bring that there was no way we could all fly. After all, we were going to be there for 8 days and our 2 kids alone required a lot of stuff! Shawn and Kevin decided it would be best to split the drive up into 2 days.
I got us all packed up on Thursday night and Shawn loaded down the Jetta with all of our stuff! All I wanted to bring on the plane with me was a carry on and the car seats (which we checked). The Jetta was jam packed, but he got it all to fit! Shawn left mid morning on Friday and drove to Jackson, MS. Kevin left around lunch and also stopped in Jackson to stay the night.
Shawn left Jackson mid morning on Saturday to make the rest of the drive to FL, while me and the kids hopped on the plane. I was very nervous about how Evan would do on the plane. After all, this is the boy that doesn't sit still! And just a side note. . .before I was a parent, I said I would never use one of those backpacks with a leash, on my child. All I can say is, don't judge before you have kids! Haha. Evan is a runner and will try to escape at any possible opportunity. When my mom got him one of those backpacks at Christmas, I laughed and said I can't use one of those. Well, you know what, I used it and it was the best thing ever!! He got to walk and I got to keep him in a close distance. Em even loved holding onto the "leash." That's my girl, always wanting to be in control. :)
We got really lucky at the airport because my Dad got us in the admiral's club and we found a completely enclosed room that Evan could just run around. I think this helped him get his energy out before we got on the plane. The plane was super small; 2 seats on 1 side and 1 seat on the other side. Em sat next to my Mom and I sat next to Evan. My Dad sat by himself. :) Evan surprisingly did really well for about the first hour or so. He did start to get antsy the last 30 minutes, but between bouncing back and forth between my parents, we made it to FL! We had about a 2 hour drive ahead of us, but it worked out perfectly. My parents rented a mini van with a DVD player in it, so we popped in a movie for the kids and Evan ended up falling asleep for a good portion of the drive (it was right during naptime).
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| Seat Buddies |
We arrived to Miramar Beach around 3:00 and thankfully the house was ready early and we could check in. I couldn't wait to see the house that we would be staying in the for the next week! It was pretty amazing! I didn't get a chance to take pics of it before we unloaded all our stuff into it, but here are pics I took off the rental site.
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| The kids loved having a pool to swim in too. |
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| Master Bedroom (my parents stayed in here) |
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| Shawn, Evan and I stayed in here. |
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| Kevin and Julie stayed in here. |
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| The girls room. They loved the bunk bed! Em slept on a top one. |
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| Master Bath |
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| Kevin and Julie's bath |
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| Our bath |
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| Girls Bath |
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| Steps to the beach off the deck. This picture makes it look like the beach is farther than it is. The best part was that we were on a private beach, so we didn't have to compete for a great beach spot all week! And it was close enough where we could go back and forth as we pleased during the day, |
Kevin and Shawn arrived right around 4:00 and my parents friends, that would also join us for the week, arrived shortly after them. We unpacked the cars, checked out the beach and let the kids swim in the pool before sitting down for some dinner. We decided that we would cook at the house a few nights and eat out the rest of the nights. My Dad had made lasagna for us to enjoy the first night.
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| Gotta have a beach selfie! |
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| Checking out the ocean for the first time. |
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| That was our house on the left. |
Before long it was time for bed. The 3 girls enjoyed staying together in the "kids" room with bunk beds and we planned for Evan to sleep in the pack and play in our room. Well, after waking up screaming the first night, that was the end of the pack and play. He mosied his way into bed with us and that's where he slept the rest of the week. So ask me how well I slept all week. Haha.
Stay tuned to hear about our first day at the beach!
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