Last week was our annual beach vacation with my family. We went back to Navarre Beach for the second time, and this time part of the Palmer family (Aunt Ann, Claire, Cecil, and Kathleen) joined us too. It was a fun week! “Vacation” has changed quite a bit for Travis and me in the past few summers, and this year was no exception. Gone are the days of doing whatever you want all day every day, but I guess that comes with the territory of being a parent. Maybe one of these years we’ll take a kid-free vacation that will truly be a vacation ;) We did have more down time than we do in a normal week though, and more hands to help with the kiddos, so overall it was still much better than being at home :)
Travis did a great job packing our car, so we were able to get by without renting a minivan like we thought we might have to do! (Mom took some of our stuff down the beach for us, so that definitely helped.) But we tried to pack light and only take the essentials!
The drive down to the beach went pretty well overall. Savannah didn’t cry too much and only had one diaper explosion…haha. Guess it could have been worse! Brooklyn was asking where the beach was before we even got to I-565, so I was afraid it was going to be a really long drive. Ha! She was pretty whiny for the first hour of the drive, but she straightened up after we got on to her and did great the rest of the day.
It never hurts to bring all of your “friends” and a bunch of books, stickers, and crayons with you :)
We stopped for lunch at the Peach Park in Clanton, and that turned out to be a really great idea. It was time for Savannah to nurse anyway, and it gave Brooklyn a chance to burn off some energy by getting out of the car for a while. We ended up staying there about 1.5 hours, so it wasn’t a quick stop, But we enjoyed the BBQ, some homemade ice cream (yum!), and playing on the playground before we hit the road again!
Daddy and sister hung out in the shade. It was a hot day!
Driving the “tractor” at the playground :)
We got down to Navarre around 4 or 4:30 PM I think, so we only had to make one other stop (for gas) on the way. It was a pretty successful drive! We didn’t do much that night except eat supper and unpack. We were saving our energy for the rest of the week! ;)
Sunday morning, we went to church, and then we headed back to the “tondo” (as Brooklyn called it) for lunch and naptime.
This little stinker refuses to look at the camera these days. We got such good pictures last year at the beach, and this year’s stink…haha. We were on the top floor (19th floor) of the Beach Colony West this year. The unit we stayed in was interesting. Very modern and eclectic!
After naptime, Daddy took B down to the pool…
…and Savannah and I hung out in the shade on the balcony!
This condo had one big pool instead of 2 smaller pools like the one we stayed at last year. Brooklyn LOVED the pool!
She didn’t mind wearing her Puddle Jumper this year, and it fit much better too! She also still liked that rocket ship float! I think Mom got her money’s worth out of that thing :)
Little Sis got in the pool twice over the course of the week I think. She didn’t seem to mind it too much, although she didn’t stay in for long at a time. I’m sure she’ll have even more fun next year!
Brooklyn got brave after a few days and started jumping in! At the beginning of the week, she just wanted to sit and lean over into our arms. But, then one time she jumped in and we weren’t expecting it, and no one caught her. Her head went all the way under…whoops! She didn’t cry, but after that she didn’t want to jump in anymore!
Paw also taught her how to climb up the ladder, so she enjoyed doing that “all by myself”.
Don’t you wish you were this cool? ;)
Pool cutie!
The beach was a little hit or miss this year. If given the choice, Brooklyn preferred the pool for sure. But, we still went down to the beach several mornings! The water wasn’t as pretty this year as last…lots of seaweed and jellyfish except for the last day. But we still had a good time!
Rae Rae got Brooklyn an inflatable pool to use on the sand. We only used it one day, but hopefully we can use it again next year. I bet Savannah will be the perfect age for it then!
Brooklyn enjoyed building “sand castles” this year. This mostly involved Travis or me doing everything and B just watching, although she did shovel a little sand every once in a while :)
One of Brooklyn’s favorite parts of the week was eating Pop Ices on the beach and by the pool. I lost count of how many she had…more than the rest of us for sure!
Savannah was pretty indifferent about the beach. She nursed and took naps there just like she did by the pool. We never took her in the ocean, although we could have because the water was so calm most of the week! Some days there were hardly any waves…
Brooklyn enjoyed the ocean once she was in it, but always wanted to be carried into the water even though the waves were almost nonexistant. Once she heard everyone talking about jellyfish, she kept saying, “I see jellyfish over dare!” Who know if she really saw anything. I think she was just being her usual silly self :)
Brooklyn loved on her sister a lot while we were there, including asking to hold her a few times. Her favorite phrases were “She’s so cute!” and “She has little hair/little toes!”
So sweet!
Our condo was on the east side, and there were no blinds/shades in the living room, so the morning sun was BRIGHT. All the better to illuminate some lovely bed head ;)
Savannah enjoyed her activity mat this week!
…and she got pretty good at rolling to her side! I think she’ll be rolling all the way over before much longer.
Hanging out by the pool!
Lounging around with Daddy on the balcony one afternoon – Brooklyn took really long afternoon naps (2.5-3.5 hours) most days because she played so hard, so we had some time to relax in the condo during the afternoon.
And sometimes Sister took a nap at the same time, so we really had some peace and quiet. Those times were nice!
Paw enjoyed some time with Savannah this week too.
Paw’s birthday was the Sunday after our trip, so we celebrated while we were there. Our gift to him was a new camping chair, so we wrapped it homemade style–in a big black trash bag decorated with stickers. Brooklyn had fun decorating it before the trip :)
Brooklyn also enjoyed hanging out with the cousins/aunt and uncle while we were there. She’d never really hung around Cecil before since he and Claire just got married last fall, but he was definitely her favorite of the week. She randomly nicknamed him “Noodle” (because Noodle sounds so much like Cecil?) and it stuck, so all week she kept asking where Noodle was…haha.
Entertaining (or annoying?) the big kids again! This was the night we had Frogmore Stew, and Travis and I made cookies and cream ice cream to go with it. Yum!
“That’s Chandler–he’s my uncle!”
We also went back to the Fish House in Pensacola one night for supper. It was really good again this year! We took the scenic route to get there, and Brooklyn kept saying, “We’re going to the restroom!” I think she meant to say “the restaurant”…haha!
Savannah did well while we ate until she had a blowout diaper and then got hungry herself…right as our food came. I was proud of myself because I successfully nursed her and ate my dinner at the same time in public! Two years ago when I tried that with Brooklyn, I ended up in tears in the car during a monsoon. Much better this time :)
Our table just happened to be right beside a big fish tank. Score! Brooklyn loved it, and it helped keep her attention for part of the evening. It was past her bedtime before we even left the restaurant, but she was really well behaved the whole time. She even tried a bite of fried oyster!
The game of the week this year was dominoes (Mexican train). I’d forgotten how much I like to play dominoes! It had been a while since I’d played before. We figured out that we’d been playing it wrong before when we actually read the rules…haha. So we played a different way for the first time!
Daddy was concentrating hard (notice the tongue). He had a big helper on his team! ;)
Brooklyn was really happy to be in this year’s family picture!
They don’t have any kids to mess up their pictures…haha ;)
We can take a good one when it’s just the two of us :)
Sad that this turned out blurry. It was the only decent picture of the two of them since Brooklyn wouldn’t look and smile…
It was another fun trip to the beach! Thank you, Paw and Rae Rae, for a wonderful time! We can’t wait until next year. Brooklyn is still talking about the trip…I think she thinks we’re going back soon. Hopefully next year will be even more fun! It will definitely be even more exciting with 2 kiddos on the move…eek!
This is the only picture you’ll get of the drive home. We won’t mention it except to say it was full of crying from Little Sis. Like the whole way home except for a few cat naps. Not sure how Brooklyn slept through it! I’m crossing my fingers that Savannah turns into a better car rider before next summer, or we might just fly instead! ;)
