Florida Vacation- Days 1-3

Hi, friends!  Happy Monday!  I am back in the blogging world.  It was so nice to unplug for a while and enjoy my family on vacation.  We had a great time and I can’t wait to share all the fun things we did with you!

Because things are crazy right now in our household with getting a new foster placement, to save on time I am going to break our vacation down into three different posts.  That way I don’t overwhelm you with all 300+ pictures I took at one time.

Day 1 

We loaded up the car and headed out the door early Friday morning.  The girls were so excited for vacation and got up with no trouble at all that morning.

Friday we only traveled for about six hours and stopped at Prattville, Alabama.  We stayed at a nice Hampton Inn and Suites there.  Chris’s parents went with us on vacation for the first five days so we met them at the hotel there in AL.  We all settled into our hotel room and then went and ate a nice dinner together at Texas Roadhouse.

After dinner, I took Emily down to the pool to swim and Chris and his dad went to the Bass Pro there in Prattville.  Elizabeth didn’t want to swim and decided to stay up in the hotel room with Nana.  Emily had her mermaid tail with her and it was a big hit at the pool.  She strutted her stuff and thought she was something else with showing them how her mermaid tail worked.  It was sweet to watch her.  She never meets a stranger and doesn’t have a shy bone in her body!

Day 2

Saturday morning we checked out of our hotel and headed to Florida!

From Prattville it was only supposed to be about a three hour drive, but due to a wreck and heavy traffic, it took a little over four hours to get there.

Around 12:00 we finally made it to Florida!  YAY!!!!!

We arrived in Navarre, FL and saw our favorite sign ever!  We love staying in Navarre.  It is right in between Destin and Pensacola.  Not a lot to do there, but not nearly as crowded as the major cities in Florida.

We ate lunch and then went souvenir shopping to waste some time before we could get into our condo.  We stayed at the Beach Colony Resort in Navarre this summer.

As soon as they called us and told us our condo was ready we took everything inside, got into our swimsuits, and headed to the beach!

I really wish I could relay the girls’ excitement level through this post.  They LOVE the beach!

We had a great first day on the beach together!

After the beach we ate sandwiches at the condo and rested a little before going to our favorite place in Navarre:  Tommy’s SnoBalls.

When we got back, we went crab hunting.  We caught a few crabs {not any big ones} and laughed a lot at Emily trying to remember how to catch them with her net.

Day 3

Sunday morning when we woke up it was raining.  We knew the forecast was calling for it, but Florida weather is very unpredictable so we didn’t know for sure.  Since it was raining we decided to drive into Destin and take the girls to an arcade.

Before the arcade we went to a different souvenir shop in Destin and let the girls pick out a few items.  They had both been saving their money for vacation and it was burning a hole in their pocket!  They just had to spend it!

We made the girls think that was all we were going to do that morning and tricked them into thinking we were just going to go back to the condo.

When we pulled into the arcade parking lot and they realized what we were going to do, they squealed with delight!  There is nothing better than hearing little girls squeal!  HA

We let them play at the arcade for close to two hours.  Emily was able to get 500 tickets just from 1 game!  Emily ended up with 985 tickets and Elizabeth had around 595 tickets.  They picked out their prizes and were happy girls.  It was a great way to spend a rainy morning.

Chris’s parents met us in Destin and we ate lunch at Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakery.  I had never eaten at one before and I was VERY impressed!  We all loved it.

We drove back to Navarre just in time for the sun to start shining and we were able to hit the beach again.

We sat and watched the girls look for sea shells, sat and people watched, and then swam in the ocean for a long time with the girls.

After about four hours of swimming, we decided to head back to Destin.  Now that I think about it, we were kind of silly driving back and forth to Destin twice in one day.  However, we were excited to be on vacation and wanted to experience something else.

The girls chose to go to The Track in Destin to ride go karts and play putt-putt golf.

We rode go karts first and it was a blast.  Chris and Elizabeth paired up together because they are NOT thrill seekers, and Emily and I were partners because we love to go fast!

After go karts we were going to go play putt putt golf, but Emily saw the Sky Flyer ride and wanted to do that.  Actually she begged and begged and begged.  She somehow talked me into doing it with her and before I realized what we were doing we were strapped in harnesses and being lifted up about 75 feet into the air!  It didn’t look THAT high from the ground but being lifted up to the top was SCARY!  I was in charge of the rip cord and when he said 3, 2, 1, I just closed my eyes and pulled it!  Believe me, it was a RUSH!  You basically go straight down towards the concrete and then at a point it breaks and you start swinging.  Once we did a few swings I could breathe a little easier and laughed and enjoyed looking at Destin from way up above.  I tried to get Emily to raise her head up and look at Chris and Elizabeth down below, but she just kept her head down and held on.

It was neat being able to experience that with Emily.  She is my daredevil!

After Emily and I did the Sky Flyer we watched Chris and Elizabeth play putt putt golf.  That is more their forte and speed of things.

Next, we headed back to Navarre and decided to meet his parents at Culver’s for some ice cream since it was national ice cream day.  Well, I think the whole town of Navarre and down through that area decided to go get ice cream at Culver’s!  It was packed.  We were able to get our ice cream and enjoy a nice bed time snack.

We ended the night with crab hunting.  This time Papa came with us and we found a HUGE crab!  We actually found it’s hole and I dug and dug down until I finally got him.  He came RUNNING out of the hole and everyone started running away from it instead of trying to catch him.  It was hilarious and there were definitely lots of laughs trying to catch him.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back to share days 4-6 with you.

Please pray for Chris and I and the girls as we are accepting a new foster baby into our home.  No matter how long we have her for, we want to be able to show God’s love to her and provide her a warm, safe, and loving home.

~Jen