On Tuesday, August 26th we left our house to drive to Florida. We had some pretty happy campers and the first half of the drive went really well.
Look at this little guy. He was my travel buddy. I sat next to him so I could keep him and the older happy in the back of the van.
All three kids took coordinating naps around 2 pm. It was pretty nice. Chris and I just got to drive in a quiet van together. I love this picture of Tanner and Bailey with their neck pillows.
We are pretty fancy like that.
I can't get over this boy's freckles. I love his little face.
We stopped for the night with about 4 hours to go. We slept in Jackson, Mississippi at a nice little hotel. The next morning we hit the road again. Here are a couple of pics I snapped from the car as we drove into Pensacola.
We LOVED this big Battleship. Isn't it cool? Tanner was a big fan!
Gorgeous Ocean view
We arrived at my dear friend Adrian's house a little after lunch time. We unloaded the car, got unpacked and let the kids play for a bit.
Adrian and I have been friends since 5th grade.She was a bridesmaid at my wedding and she been on my best friends since we moved to Mtn. Home. It's so fun that we have kids that are pretty close to the same ages. She has twin girls who will turn three in December and then she has a 5 month old little girl too, who is just 11 days older than my Tucker.
Adrian and her husband, Luke, were the most accommodating and thoughtful hosts ever!
They seriously thought of everything and were constantly making my life easier! WE LOVE THE HARBERS!
After we rested from our road trip, we loaded the kids back up and headed over to the beach. This was my kids' first time ever to play in the ocean. They LOVED it. The salt water was a bit of shock for them but they adjusted quickly and had so much fun playing.
Here's Chris helping the kids not get knocked over by the waves. It took some getting use to.
Little Tucker chillin' on the beach.
So we may not be super attractive life guards, but here is our baywatch run. Tanner loved trying to out-run the waves and he loved running along the sand by the water.
Kamryn and Tucker holding hands on the beach. It's a pretty romantic spot.
Bailey was quite fascinated with the endless sand.
I took Tucker over to the water to introduce him to the ocean. He was a big fan.
Bailey didn't like Tucker getting too much attention so she joined us as we sat in the sand.
Little Tucker actually in the water.
Oh and this picture cracks me up. Bailey was trying to catch the seagulls. Here she is trying to sneak up on them.
She eventually gave up on crawling and just ran after them. It broke her heart when she couldn't catch them.
When the sun started to set, we decided to pack it up. But aren't these pictures beautiful. It was such a gorgeous beach!
Luke grilled burgers for us on the beach and we ate under the pavillion.
After dinner the kids hunted for more sea shells.
Then we went to get ice cream and eventually made our way back to Adrian and Luke's house.
After thoroughly bathing the kids and washing TONS of sand out of their hair and off their little bodies, the kids went to bed. Chris and I chatted with Adrian and Luke for a while but we were all exhausted so we didn't stay up late.
The next morning we went to the "Gulf Breeze Zoo". It was a gorgeous zoo and pretty awesome.
Chris and the kiddos checking out the monkeys.
Tucker takin' it easy in the stroller.
Here is Tanner feeding on of the budgies. We had these feeding sicks. Tanner was so into this. He loved feeding these cute little birds.
Bailey at the budgiery trying to get the bird to stay put so Bailey could touch it. (it never happened and she was so disappointed)
She didn't get to touch the budgie but she did get to feed it.
They were quite friendly.
Tanner trying to entice my bird to come eat off his stick.
He won and he stole the bird from me. Little stinker.
He was so careful with them and they didn't fly away from him like I thought they would.
Next we went to the petting zoo area. My kids have this obsession with goats. They really loved feeding the animals.
Tucker enjoyed the view from Daddy's arms.
Then we got to feed the giraffes. Bailey wasn't too sure about their long tongues. I absolutely love this sequence of pictures. Check out Bailey's face in each picture.
Tanner wasn't scared at all. He loves giraffes. He told me giraffes are his favorite animal.
After the giraffes we saw lions and some more monkeys. Then we stopped to see the kangaroos. Here are Bailey and Tanner sitting inside the kangaroo pouch. (Yes this was a trashcan, but they loved it and we sanitized our hands afterwards)
My little Kangaroos.
Our next stop was the zoo train station. While we were waiting for the train, one of the zoo keepers brought over a bearded dragon for the kids to look at.
Then we hopped on the train and got to see some more animals. How cute are these gorillas.
Handsome boys on the train
Bailey, Tucker and I on the train.
This is as close to reptiles as we got. (I'm not a fan of reptiles). But I do love the picture. Bailey wasn't sure how she felt about that snack looking down at her.
We snapped a family picture at the zoo before leaving.
After we finished at the zoo, we ate lunch at this pizza place called "The Tuscan Oven". It's a wood-fired pizzeria. It had the most amazing pizza I have ever tasted. So yummy.
Then it was back to Adrian's for naps.
That evening we went back to the beach to snap some family pictures.
Bailey was a complete twit but we still managed to get a few cute ones.
And I snapped a few of the older two individually. Love these kids.
And these pictures totally and completely melt me. I LOVE these sweet babes so dang much!
The next morning was Friday and we spent the first half the day at the Navy Aviation Museum. This place was totally awesome. Tanner was in plane heaven.
Both kids got "wings" at the front desk and wore them proudly the rest of the morning.
Chris and Tanner spent a lot of time together looking at the battleship models and the different planes.
Here are a few other of Tanner's favorites from the morning.
Here is Bailey steering the submarine.
Oh and then here is Adrian and I, taking care of the babies.
Family picture in front of the "Blue Angels"
Then we spent the rest our time at the model planes so Tanner could climb inside of every single cockpit. He had so much fun.
Even Bailey enjoyed this part.
Tanner and Daddy playing inside the plane.
Finally, at the end of our museum tour, we found a model "Blue Angel" for Tanner to climb into. He was beyond excited.
Can you see his little face in the windshield?
Here is Bailey inside the "Blue Angel"
Our last stop was the play area. It had this cool playground.
It was such a cute little themed playground. The kids loved playing and were so sad when we had to leave.
We went back to Adrian's for naps again. During naps, Adrian and I ran a few errands and then we went back to her house for dinner. Luke and Adrian prepared us an amazing feast.
Luke grilled lobster tail and red snapper and we ate salads. Then we had steak and potatoes. It was so delicious. Seriously, best lobster I have ever had.
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Then we put the kids down for bed and we watched a movie. It was nice to have a quiet night.
Saturday morning we packed up our beach stuff and went back to the ocean to play for our last day of vacation.
Tanner was so brave. He literally loved getting pushed around by the waves. He would just stand up and hop back in the water after he got pushed to shore.
Love these sparkling water pictures
Here is Daddy helping Bailey not get knocked over!
My handsome little man.
Daddy and the kiddos
Bailey loved running along the beach.
Oh and this little man. He got pretty good at sitting up in the sand.
I love this little drool face.
Tanner and Daddy building a sandcastle.
I tried to build one with Bailey but she just kept knocking it over.
The kids and I digging for seashells.
Then I buried Tanner in the sand. He was totally into it.
He was grinning so big the whole time.
He seriously loved being buried. He didn't want to get out, he just wanted me to stay with him. So we chatted for a while until Tanner finally broke out of the sand to play some more.
Then Tanner tried boogie boarding. He wasn't too sure at first, but he got pretty good at it. I stayed behind to make sure the waves didn't pull him in too deep, but he did great.
In the meantime, Bailey found part of a jellyfish. So gross, right?
She was obsessed with it. I made her wash her hands afterwards.It didn't hurt her, it was just disgusting.
Then Bailey came over to boogie board with us. She too was fearless.
As long as the kids wore their goggles and the salt water didn't get in their eyes, they did great. It was so fun. Although the pockets of Tanner's swimsuit were completely filled with sand afterwards. They were so full, they were pulling his swimshorts down. It was so funny.
We had a blast at the beach all morning.
We ate the packed lunch Adrian brought for us and then we headed back to her house for naps.
It was such a fun morning at the beach. We didn't want to leave but the kids were all exhausted.
We went back to Adrian's and gave the kids baths and then put them down for naps. Then Adrian and I drove over the outlet mall and shopped together. We left the Dads home with all six kids for 7 hours. It was heavenly. Adrian and I had so much fun together. We got to chat and catch up, not to mention, shopping without kids is amazing.
After shopping we grabbed some dinner and then drove back to her house.
Sunday morning we packed up and left. It was so hard to leave. We really have never had a vacation where could just do whatever we wanted. It was so nice to just spend time together as a family. Our vacations are usually just visiting family for holidays. This was amazing and Adrian and Luke were the most wonderful hosts. They took such amazing care of us.
We got home on Sunday, August 31st after driving all day in the car. It actually wasn't that bad of a drive home- took us 13 hours to do an 11 1/2 hour drive. Kids did great.
We can't wait to go back! Thanks again to Adrian and Luke for everything. See you again next summer!!!!
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