When we booked our Florida trip a few months ago, I wondered if three full days would be enough time or if it would feel too short. On our way home to Kansas on Friday, Jamie and I both agreed that five days (including two travel days) was the perfect sized bite to chew off for our first big trip with two small children. I would have loved many more days to spend with my sister and niece, but I know my girls are at their best when they’re in their own environments with their familiar routines. I also know that my sister and brother-in-law are still finding their own “new normal” as brand new parents, so this trip duration was really ideal for everyone.
On to recapping the last half of our trip and our travel day home. 🙂
On Wednesday (our second full day in Destin), we enjoyed a lazy morning, let the babies get in their morning cat naps, and finally headed out to the beach around 10:30.
We were so happy that it was a cloudless pretty day, but the sun was really strong, which made me a bit paranoid about all of our skin after getting some color the day prior (I’m avid about skin protection after having a cancer scare a couple years ago.) Even with hats, 50SPF waterproof sunscreen, and a tent, we still couldn’t escape getting a little color. We did the best we could and enjoyed an absolutely fabulous day!
Sadie slept almost the entire time we were at the beach, which gave Jamie and I a ton of time to focus on playing with Hadley!
There wasn’t anything super special about our few hours at the beach Wednesday except that life just felt peaceful. Sadie was snoozing comfortably, Hadley was having a grand time rolling around in the sand, and I was thoroughly enjoying laughs and conversations while sipping a couple summery beers with my sister and Jamie (Josh stayed back at the house with Carly to keep her from potentially getting more sun.) Vacation at its finest!
After a relaxing morning/early afternoon at the beach, we headed in to shower, eat, and relax. My sister and I were hanging in the living room with the babies when apparently I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore and crashed while nursing Sadie. Hadley’s air mattress was also deflating overhead, and because my sister thought I was quite the sight to see, she snapped a picture. 😉
Around 6 p.m. we got everybody dressed and headed out for dinner at LuLu’s! Shelling out big bucks for dinners out isn’t really our thing since we’re usually juggling entertainment for the kids anyway, so we figured one solid dinner out was sufficient (plus Jamie was majorly craving some seafood!).
Poor Hadley’s cheeks look so (so so so) bad in this picture, but I promise they weren’t nearly as burn as they look! The pictures of Hadley above and below are unedited, and you can see that I really didn’t let my baby get as much color as it looks like I did.
In other news, I really love these people. Sometimes I can’t believe Jamie and I have built this little family that we have. I’m very, very thankful.
I hope to build as special of a relationship with Carly that Jennifer has with Hadley (and that she surely will with Sadie.) I already love her so much and am so proud of her mom and dad for being such rockstar parents.
On Thursday (our last full day), the guys left bright and early to go deep sea fishing, so Jennifer and I had a good bit of the day to enjoy just us with our girls. We walked with the girls down the street to Jennifer’s favorite coffee shop/restaurant called Camille’s to grab breakfast and then had ourselves a little living room playdate until the guys returned home.
Jamie and Josh’s trip was six hours long, so when they got back they cleaned up and filleted their fish (about 30 of them!) and had a grand time telling us all about their fun morning.
We stayed in for dinner (the guys were dying to grill a few cuts of their fish), and then around sunset hit the beach one last time.
We hung out on the beach until the babies let us know loud and clear that they were ready for bed.
Our flight Friday morning left at 7:50, so our 4:30 a.m. alarms came early. I wore the exact same (clean) outfit home because of how conducive it was to traveling and feeding Sadie.
We landed back in Kansas City around 1 p.m. and then made the trek back home to Manhattan as fast as we could. It’s always so good to go away, but there’s truly no place like home.
Let’s chat!
What are your best tips for traveling with a baby? What about traveling to the beach with a baby? I would love to hear as well as other readers would too who will skim the comments!
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Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother is today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to two little girls (ages 4 and 2) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo
