2020 Navarre Beach Trip

By the time July rolled around, we were in desperate need of a change of scenery. We had been in “pandemic mode” for several months already and spending a lot of time at home. Thankfully, Rae Rae had booked our annual beach trip for July 11th-18th, so we had that to look forward to. As far as travel goes, we felt like a beach trip was about as safe of a vacation as we could get…outside of a camping trip or a trip to a national park. This year it was just the 7 of us who could come (our family + Paw and Rae Rae), as Jenn had just started her dermatology residency in NYC and couldn’t take off that soon. We were especially happy that we could still go to the beach since our Disney trip had to be postponed back in the spring.

Abigail made sure the floor was nice and clean before we all loaded up in the van to leave that morning :)

One thing that’s different about traveling during a pandemic is what to do about meals. We stopped at Chick-fil-a on the way down to the beach, but their dining room was closed due to the virus. (although, out of caution, we wouldn’t have eaten inside the restaurant anyway even if they had been open). So we picked up our order in the drive-thru and sat in the parking lot of a nearby bank to eat it…haha. If I’d been thinking, I would have packed a big blanket to spread out on the ground. Oh well, we made it work. When our kids are a little older, we will be able to just let everyone eat in the car, but we’re not there yet! ;) The funny thing is that another car or two did the same thing as us, so we weren’t the only ones.

Another difference…remembering to pack enough masks for everyone for the week. We also learned shortly after this not to hang the masks around the rearview mirror because it stretches out the ear loops ;) Things you never thought you’d learn…

It’s always exciting when we finally get to the bridge going over the sound…there’s our condo in the distance.

Sunday morning bright and early…we love waking up to this beautiful view!

We tried to take a few pictures on the balcony before church. This was the best I could get of the girls together. (I also packed two “left” sandals for Abigail by mistake…we have the same sandals in size 6 and 7…so she had to wear her Crocs to church. Whoops!

This one of Rae Rae with the girls turned out a little better :)

Waiting for the elevator so we could head to worship…

After we got home and had lunch, we headed down to the beach for some afternoon fun. It was super crowded…way more crowded than we’d ever seen it before. This was our first trip to Navarre in July, so I’m not sure if July is just typically busier than May and August, or if it was the pandemic and everyone trying to get away.

Our chairs were on the 2nd row, so there wasn’t easy access to get to the water…

We ended up just taking our box of sand toys and finding a spot to sit down on the sand near the water. That made it easier to watch the girls play in the water and build sand castles all at the same time :)

The water was perfect that day…calm with no seaweed. Brooklyn took off like a little fish just swimming around.

Brooklyn and Savannah enjoyed jumping waves and looking for shells.

Abigail even got in the ocean and loved it!

That night a storm came up from the land, and there was a crazy shelf cloud overhead. It had fingers hanging down and looked pretty ominous. The sand was blowing on the beach, and there was lots of wind/lightning.

I didn’t take this photo (James Spann shared it on Facebook), but this was the same storm at a nearby beach. Such a cool photo!

After a few minutes, the storm passed by and we saw the most beautiful double rainbow overhead. It stretched from the ocean to the sound. It was definitely the brightest rainbow we’ve ever seen. And being up so high, it was almost like we could reach out and touch it. It was seriously amazing!

Pictures don’t do it justice!

(picture shared by James Spann)

Another picture that James Spann shared…we couldn’t see the whole rainbow from one end to the other from our condo, so I thought these pictures were incredible.

And, to top it all off, we got to see a beautiful sunset a little while later that evening.

God’s handiwork was definitely on display!

On Monday, we started off the day at the pool and stayed until lunchtime…

Savannah and Abigail had a blast jumping into my arms from the side of the pool. Savannah has come a long way in the last couple of years! Abigail had no fear—just fell forward into the water with no hesitation at all. I was definitely glad we brought her life jacket and made it wear it the whole time just in case she jumped in while we weren’t ready. Brooklyn and Savannah also enjoyed playing two games they made up, “Lion King” and “Fish Fry”, with Daddy in the pool.

Cool kid!

Abigail fought her nap that afternoon, but she finally fell asleep on our bed ;)

After Abigail woke up, we went down to the beach late in the afternoon…

The water was a lot rougher than the day before, so Brooklyn went out there but not Savannah…

Brooklyn loved trying to boogie board!

Travis took Abigail out on a boogie board and she absolutely loved it. We might have a little dare devil on our hands!

She kept wanting to go back out again!

Savannah had fun looking for shells and building a sand castle. It was a good afternoon!

I started doing a daily Bible reading with my sister-in-law and a friend over the summer, and the balcony was a great spot to sit and read in the mornings.

On Tuesday, we started off the morning at the beach and saw a big crab on the sand! The girls were really excited :)

Travis caught the crab in a bucket, and we checked it out for a few minutes before letting it go in the water…

We finally got chairs on the front row today! Hooray!!

We also saw dolphins…and Travis caught a jellyfish! This was apparently the day for wildlife, I guess ;)

Brooklyn also found a bunch of dead dragonflies on the sand and gave them a proper burial and decorated the grave with shells :)

Abigail LOVES her Paw!

Brooklyn and Savannah went on a walk with Rae Rae, and then we ate lunch on the beach before going to the pool for a few minutes prior to naps…

The Pearl had cones around the hot tubs blocking them off from use all week because of the pandemic. There was also an employee monitoring the pools to make sure there were only 10 people in each one at a time. She wasn’t super strict about it, but most of the week the pools weren’t too crowded. We even had them all to ourselves a few times!

Brave Savannah!

Another beautiful sunset that evening…the views never get old!

On Monday and Tuesday night, there were rogue fireworks shows on the beach. The first night, the fireworks were literally exploding right outside our window at eye level because our condo was so high up. After about 5 or 6 of them went off, someone came and shut them down. The second night we actually hurried out on the balcony to see them. Navarre Beach in July definitely has a different feel to it…a little rowdier than other months we’ve been there.

On Wednesday, we got down to the pool after breakfast and it started thundering/lightning before we even got in the water, so we had to head back up to the condo…

It was cool to see the rain coming in from a distance…

We ended up playing dominoes on the balcony until lunchtime. Although it was a different start to the day, we really enjoyed it.

After lunch, we headed down to the beach and the rain had cooled everything off. It felt so nice! Abigail made it her mission that week to help push the cart down the hallway to the elevator and up the ramp to the beach ;)

Another bonus is that it wasn’t crowded at all when we first got down there. I guess most people had given up on the day when it started raining that morning.

The water was so clear and calm that you could see your feet in the ocean. It was really nice! Savannah even got out there with her boogie board all by herself!

We thought Abigail might take a nap in Travis’s lap while we were down there, but she fought it hard ;) Instead, she asked us at some point that afternoon, “Why are all those people so nakey?” Haha :)

My sweet girls!

After we stayed at the beach for a while, we stopped by the pool for about an hour before heading inside. No naps for anyone, but the girls did pretty well overall. We made homemade vanilla ice cream later that afternoon and ate it after supper. It was delicious!

On Thursday, Paw had plans to meet a former co-worker for lunch at a nearby restaurant. Once the girls got wind of that, they decided to come up with a plan to stop him from leaving…haha

This was their attempt to trap Paw inside the condo…haha. They love him so much they didn’t want him to go ;)

After everyone got ready, we headed down to the pool first. Paw left to go get ready for his lunch after a little while at the pool, and the rest of us stayed and had fun.

Look at that big smile on Abigail’s face!

We ate lunch by the pool, and she was so tired that she fell asleep in Travis’s lap for a little catnap…then woke up to eat her own lunch ;)

After lunch, we went down to the beach for a little while. It was super crowded that afternoon. Brooklyn and Savannah had fun trying to build a pool with big walls all around it.

The ocean water was crystal clear…you could see your feet…and there were hardly any waves. Really nice for young kids!

It wouldn’t be a beach trip without eating Pop Ices on the sand!

It was such a beautiful day!

Mom let me borrow this book, and it was a quick read. Really good and thought provoking!!

That evening, we picked up takeout at Scooter’s for supper and took it over to the playground/splash pad area to eat it outside (since we weren’t eating indoors at restaurants). My fish tacos were delicious, and the girls had fun running around and playing before and after we ate.

Abigail went down the big kid slides all by herself!

Playgrounds don’t get much more scenic than this one :)

The playground is located right next to the sound, and this picture is looking across to the condos on the beach.

We enjoyed the evening outside and then headed home to eat more homemade ice cream ;)

Friday was our last full day in town. We started out the morning at the beach. Savannah had really gotten brave by the end of the week. She took the boogie board out by herself and kicked around in the water. Brooklyn liked swimming around with her goggles and looking for fish underwater. At one point, she thought she got stung by a jellyfish, but after a few minutes she said it stopped hurting. She was brave enough to go back out there later!

Abigail’s favorite thing to do at the beach this year was sitting on top of the boogie board and letting her daddy paddle her around ;) Savannah liked boogie boarding and digging in the sand.

Brooklyn loved being in the water…jumping waves, swimming around, looking for fish, and making “sand cities”.

Abigail needed some quick sugar from her Pop Ice to recharge after all that playing ;)

After naps/quiet time, we went down to the pool for one last swim. Abigail ate some apple slices on the pool deck before getting in, and she was looking so cute with those curls!!

I loved these pictures so much I couldn’t share just one ;)

Savannah made a little friend that afternoon named Chase who was 4 years old. (His grandmother lived at the Pearl full time…Rae Rae doesn’t meet a stranger and got their whole life story…haha). Savannah and Chase had a great time playing together (I didn’t have the heart to enforce the social distancing–the girls are so starved for friends right now, and Savannah is rarely brave enough to initiate playing with a kid she doesn’t know…so this was truly special and unique!).

They had a big time. They enjoyed ganging up on Daddy (the tickle monster) with water guns…haha. And they had fun sitting on Chase’s boogie board together and then “falling” into the water :)

It was nice for things to feel normal even for just a little while…

The girls churned out tons of artwork this week. I took pictures of some of it and will share it in the artwork recap post for the last half of 2020. Savannah was really into drawing patterns at the time. I don’t remember Brooklyn ever doing that, so I thought that was interesting. Abigail was a big ham this week. She loves to be silly and entertain! We were sad to leave the beach on Saturday and wishing we could stay longer…

Traffic was pretty heavy coming home on the interstate that day. We stopped in Andulusia for lunch at Zaxby’s. We picked it up as takeout and took it to the Dream Park/playground nearby. The kids enjoyed playing for a few minutes and stretching their legs after lunch. We got home around 6:15 PM, and Abigail threw up all over her carseat when we were literally pulling into the neighborhood…a few hundred yards from being home. I guess it’s better than her throwing up at the beginning of the ride that morning. She acted completely fine after that and ate a normal dinner…so we are thinking she may just have a problem with motion sickness. We got inside, and Gabby had pooped on OUR bed AND Brooklyn’s bed…and thrown up on the living room rug, Savannah’s carpet, the stairs, and the playroom carpet. Welcome back to reality! ;)