Every year, we look forward to spending a week at the beach with my parents. This year we spent the second week of May at Navarre Beach, which happened to be the same week that we went in 2017 as well. We even stayed in the same condo, so we knew ahead of time what to expect as far as where everyone would sleep. Everything worked out great!
We had planned to get up Saturday morning (May 12th) and load up in the car as soon as we packed the last of our bags. However, we weren’t counting on getting hit with food poisoning from eating taco salad at a graduation party the night before. Travis was up and down multiple times during the night, and it hit me right when I woke up that morning. Even Brooklyn had some “intestinal difficulty”, although hers wasn’t too bad. (Thankfully, Savannah was spared. It’s probably the first time I’ve been thankful she didn’t eat her supper!).
Needless to say, we weren’t moving too fast that morning. On top of that, Abigail was pretty fussy and did not want to be put down so that I could get anything done. Brooklyn snapped this picture of me rocking Abigail in my pajamas that morning. Oh well…babies don’t keep, right?
Brooklyn and Savannah were troopers and didn’t complain that it took us FOREVER to actually get on the road. Travis and I were feeling well enough by late morning that we felt like we could make the drive, so we got everything packed as quickly as we could….
We finally hit the road at about 12:45 PM. It was definitely record lateness, but what can you do? We learned over the course of the day that pretty much everyone who had eaten the taco salad the night before had been affected, including the graduates…haha. Travis was joking about sending an email out to the church with the subject “Explosive News”, but he refrained…haha.
The drive to the beach went surprisingly well, although we did have to make an extra bathroom stop or two ;) At one gas station, they were completely out of toilet paper in the men’s bathroom, so Travis carried his own roll of TP in. Thank goodness we packed some in the car! During one bathroom break, Brooklyn asked me loudly in the stall, “Is it okay if I ‘diarrhea’ in here?” Didn’t know that was a verb, but I guess it was appropriate for the day we were having…haha. Gotta laugh so you don’t cry! Okay, enough with the potty talk…we finally made it to the beach around 8 or 9 PM I think. Much later than we planned, but at least we made it there that day!
The next day was Mother’s Day, and thankfully we were feeling much better. I wouldn’t complain about spending every Mother’s Day at the beach…it doesn’t get much better than that. We snapped a few pictures before church that morning, and the girls cooperated pretty well :)
Rae Rae and her girls! (We were missing Jenn and Chandler, who couldn’t make it this year)
I am so thankful to be a mom of such sweet little girls…
After church, we headed back to the condo for lunch. Can’t beat the view!
Brooklyn and Savannah were so excited to head to the beach that afternoon. Rae Rae had bought them each a bag for collecting shells, and they were excited to start hunting :)
Abigail’s first time on the beach! This shovel was about as big as she was…haha
Ready to do some digging :)
Poor Savannah…this is what happens when you wear hand-me-down swimsuits from your big sister. The elastic in these shorts is super sad! Thankfully they never fell down completely :)
I love that Paw is such a hands-on grandfather. He’s so great about getting down and playing with the girls, including making sand castles!
For supper that night, we ate at TC’s Front Porch, the same restaurant we tried out last year. This was Abigail’s first time to sit in a high chair at a restaurant. She’s getting so big!
Brooklyn got the best seat at the table…right between Paw and Rae Rae :)
So silly! We had a great meal, and it was nice to not have to cook on Mother’s Day.
Monday morning – hanging out in the shade by the pool trying to keep Abigail out of the sun :)
She managed to avoid a sunburn the whole week, so I think we did pretty good…
We ate our lunch by the pool!
Then we headed to the beach after everyone finished eating. I think Abigail was happy with that plan!
Savannah is getting so big. She fetched water for her “sand castles” all by herself!
Travis helped Brooklyn hunt for shells by the water…
She liked using the shells to decorate her sand castles :)
It was a fun afternoon at the beach!
After a while, we headed back to the condo for nap time/chill time :)
Already in our PJs before supper time :) These girls played hard!
Tuesday morning (May 15th) was Abigail’s first time in the pool. I think it was a little chilly for her liking, but she didn’t cry!
Her hat…haha! I promise she’s under there somewhere…
We hit up the beach for a little while after leaving the pool…
…and then headed back to the condo for lunch and naps.
She’s the sweetest little thing!
We did a little shell hunting late that afternoon. This picture is straight out of my phone with no editing…check out that beautiful sky!
We had the beach almost to ourselves! 5 PM is the time to go down there, apparently :)
While we were down there, Brooklyn spotted a rainbow out over the ocean…
She exclaimed, “Look! A rainbow! It’s God’s promise to never again flood the whole earth with water!” :)
Tuesday night after supper, we headed to the Twist for some ice cream. Brooklyn always picks whatever flavor is most colorful, so she picked some kind of cotton candy ice cream (I think). Not surprisingly, Savannah chose the same thing!
Despite the look on her face, Abigail seemed to enjoy trying ice cream for the first time. I think it was probably the first cold food she’d ever tried, so I’m sure it surprised her!
Tired eyes, but enjoying that cone anyway!
Plastic spoon…nom nom :)
One happy girl!
As usual, Pookie was the last one to finish, so we all sat there watching her eat. It was a yummy ending to a fun day!
Wednesday morning, we headed back to the beach for more fun in the sand.
There was no shortage of toys available for digging/building :)
Abigail got to stick her toes in the sand for a bit. I loved her little rashguard swimsuit from Target. I ordered a different one that was two pieces, but it just didn’t fit right because she is so long and lean. This one worked a lot better, and it has snaps at the bottom for easy diaper changes. A definite win!
Contemplating her next sand castle creation?
It’s so fun to get buried in the sand!
I love this picture :) Brooklyn’s enthusiasm is definitely contagious.
As usual, we ate lots of Pop-Ices over the course of the week.
For lunch that day, Daddy let Abigail try one of his pickles. She seemed to like it!
Thursday morning game time – playing Candyland with Paw!
Savannah preferred playing with blocks instead.
Brooklyn is pretty good at “borrowing” my phone and snapping hundreds of pictures without me knowing :)
We finally made it down the pool by mid-morning. Savannah was pretty scared of the water this year. I guess it had been so long since we’d been swimming that she’d forgotten what she’d learned in swim lessons last summer. She pretty much stuck to the steps of the pool the whole week. I think she let me hold her in the pool one time, and that was the only time she actually got in the water all the way. She still had fun…just in her own way!
Brooklyn, on the other hand, was practicing her swimming all week long. “One, two, three…take a breath!”
She wore her puddle jumper some of the time when she wanted to go in the deep end, but she also liked swimming without it near the steps.
Savannah was happy as could be to sit on the side of the pool and play with toys :)
After pool time, we ate lunch and got the big girls ready for naps. I love being able to give this baby girl some undivided attention…it doesn’t happen too often!
Savannah was getting a little braver by the end of the week ;) We headed down to the beach after nap time to jump some waves…
Brooklyn and Savannah had a blast! We stayed right at the edge of the water, but they had the best time, and it wasn’t too scary :)
Happy Friday! Someone was excited to start her day :)
Morning nap time! Abigail slept pretty well in the pack n’ play all week. She typically woke up around 5 or 5:30 AM to eat and then went back to slept for a little while longer.
We ate lunch by the pool on our last full day…
Mom made Travis a monster sandwich for lunch…haha. She knows her son-in-law well!
He had no problem eating the whole thing :)
After lunch, we headed down to the beach one last time. The girls wanted to jump waves again, so Travis stood by the edge of the water with them while I held Abigail in the chair.
Brooklyn got brave and went out further into the water to jump a few waves with Daddy. The waves were a little rough that day, so she was clinging to him for dear life I think!
Travis said Brooklyn had fun until a big wave came and went over their heads…haha. Then she was ready to head back in. I don’t blame her!
Saturday morning blues – a.k.a. time to head home. It’s always sad to leave!
Bye, Navarre Beach!! See you next year!!
They were worn out from having such a fun week ;)
Navarre Beach Notes and Quotes
- We were eating at TC’s Front Porch on Sunday night for Mother’s Day. Brooklyn looked up at Rae Rae and told her, as nice as could be, “Even though you’re old, that doesn’t change my love for you.” Hahaha! She said it with the best of intentions!
- I was jumping waves with Brooklyn, and she was a little nervous. She said, “God will take care of us!” She also said, “These waves are trying to kill us!”
- We were out looking for shells Tuesday evening, and Savannah found one. She exclaimed, “A shell!” I went over and looked at it, and it was a shell: a PEANUT shell! Someone had been eating a bunch of peanuts that day…it looked like the floor at Logan’s. Needless to say, we didn’t take that one home with us!
- Savannah and Brooklyn were jumping waves right on the edge of the water on Thursday. After doing that for a while, Savannah told us: “I’m all out of jumping!”
- The girls really got into knock knock jokes while we were at the beach: Savannah: Knock knock. Travis: Who’s there? Savannah: Abigail! Travis: Abigail who? Savannah: Abigail GRAPE! Travis: I don’t get it? Savannah (who didn’t miss a beat): I don’t get it either!
Thank you, Paw and Rae Rae, for a wonderful week! We love making memories with you!
One reply on “2018 Navarre Beach Trip”
Such a fun week.