8 States, 9 days, a 5 and a 3 year old...Florida 2013

This may be a record for me as far as timelines go... I mean, I still haven't blogged about Christmas I don't think, but when you get home from the BEST VACATION EVER, you just want to keep replaying it over and over again...

We decided early on to make a vacation out of the road trip to Florida and not make plans for the way back until we left.  I would have NEVER thought I would take a long road trip, much less with young kids, but after moving to Houston and driving home all the time, we learned that our kids are super road trippers.   Anyway, I'm always anxious to leave for vaca and want to get on the road by like 5am, so we decided to pack a bag with everything we need for our travel days and get a few hours in the night before our original departure to not have to get up so early and to get some sleep. After t-ball on Thursday night, we headed straight to Paris, Tx. This stay was a total blur since we all went STRAIGHT to bed.  The next morning we got up, ate breakfast, put the bag in the car and took off for West Monroe, Louisiana, the home of Duck Dynasty.

On the way we needed to have lunch and what did we see?  A Margaritaville! J and I LOVE Jimmy B and his resturatants, so of course we stopped.  It's right off the interstate and a great vaca preview.  They have palm trees and turf grass, so it really gets you in the "we're on vacation" mood. There's even a pool outside that you can let the kids swim at while you eat.  We skipped out on the pool though b/c I didn't back swim suits and I wasn't about to mess up my master packing job in the other suitcase.  We went from there to West Monroe.  It was a short stay.  I was SO surprised that so many people actually made that place a stop AND they have taken a corner of the warehouse and made it into a (hot) store.  It was fun to see stuff that you see on TV, the kids thought it was pretty cool (believe it or not) and it broke up the long day nicely.  From there we HAULED.  We made it almost all the way across Mississippi before stopping for dinner.  The kids just chilled/slept/played w IPADS, so we took advantage.  In Mississippi we stopped for dinner at Outback (we usually try to eat local/tourist places, but we were HUNGRY and it was close).  A waitress offered us drinks outside while we waited and watched the kids run up and down the sidewalks, I of COURSE said yes, it IS vacation!  We had a great dinner and finished up the last two hours to Mobile, AL.

This night was also a blur, we stayed in downtown Mobile, really neat looking area, however, the kids were almost asleep, so we headed up to bed.  On our way up, some guys offered us some beer they had left over from a wedding, of COURSE we said yes, we HAD spent 14 hours traveling! We got up to our room, got the kids in bed, C was a little hyper, so L came in between us on our bed where we were enjoying our free beers like real classy people and passed right out, we quickly followed...

Side note- we survived 14 hours of travel thanks to my friend Lauren Phelps who shared her idea she used on her road trip- we put a clothes pin for C and a hair clip for L on our visor and told them that they got a treat at every stop IF they didn't lose their pin/clip.  WORKED LIKE A CHARM!!!!  Even worked while IN Florida...

The next morning I was up by 6 because my legs were killing me from not working out AT ALL the day before, so I went down to the gym to run and lift a little.  When I got back everyone was almost awake, so we got ready and had breakfast, loaded up the bag and headed to the USS Alabama.

This ship was big.  I had NO IDEA how crazy big this was.  We spent every bit of two hours just exploring the ship.  C had to climb all the way to the top and J had to take EVERY self guided tour.  By the end of that we were all HOT HOT HOT and tired, but Lyla HAD to see the "submeen" and she insisted on me taking her.  ME, the one who is turning pretty claustrophobic (the battleship was pretty hard on me...)  But, I toughed it out, carried her up all kinds of stairs (like I said we were tired- and Lyla's "hair was hot"), got up on the submarine and Lyla said "Now, make it go under water!" well.... it's on LAND.  I was hoping this realization would keep me from having to climb down into the TINY but LONG hallway that looked like a miniature version of the battleship, but nope.  She was REALLY interested in this "submeen."  So, in we went.  She found a bed and wanted to take a nap, when I told her she couldn't she cried a little, so I took that as my chance to leave.  We headed back to C and J and took off "to the beach!"

We only had about 4.5 hours to drive, so we figured we'd get there around 3:30 with a lunch stop, and since we couldn't check in until 4 I suggested that we go to a closer beach for lunch.  J, always the trooper, said sure, so we headed down to Pensacola Beach to have lunch and to check out that beach.  We had a great little lunch at Peg Leg Pete's and took a little visit to the beach, found some seashells and played in the water, with our clothes on.  By the time we got back to J's truck we were covered in sand and soaking wet.  SO, being the classy mom I am, I literally hung my kids over the side at the marina one at a time to wash the sand off before stipping them naked in the parking lot.  Some guy came over, right when I was finishing up and was like "um... you can use my water hose, it's right THERE."  LOL.  Too late.  We got the kids changed (into dirty clothes- never unpack the bag, remember?) and took off to OUR beach.

This was the hardest stretch for J and I.  It was crowded and SLOW getting through Ft. Walton and Destin- their was a nice view- but WAY too crowded for this girl. I learned driving through Destin that it's too 'touristy' for me.  Beautiful, but crowded.  And my beach is just as pretty. Anyway, after crawling through Ft. Walton, witnessing a car accident, talking to police, crawling through Destin, then Panama City Beach, I was READY for the last 45 minutes to be over.  And finally, it was.  We drove into Mexico City, got our key and headed a couple miles down the road to St. Joe's Beach, where we unpacked at a speed you've never seen before, got beer at the store, changed into bathing suits and got our chairs and butts to the beach.  Seriously, in like 15 minutes.  We sat their that evening congratulating ourselves on a good and well planned road trip, reflecting on how amazingly fun it was, and enjoyed the view of our babies playing away!

A couple hours later our Dwight friends from Tulsa arrived and we enjoyed pizza and beer from our patio and our week officially began.

We spent the next day totally on the beach after a 4 mile run for Brian and I.  We relaxed, swam and played in the sand and topped it off with smores and a beach bonfire.  This was one of my favorite things b/c I've never gotten to have a bonfire on the beach, and of course, smores rock! And there was a super moon that night lighting up the sky.  It was a beautiful and perfect evening.

The next day we did a little crossfit on the beach, then beached it in the morning, had our only rain right around rest time, beached it a little more, then J and I had our date night- shark fishing.  We were the ONLY couple on the boat who didn't catch a single shark, I picked a bad place to stand. But it was totally made up for when some girl brought in a 6-7 foot hammerhead shark!  It was AMAZING!  I've never seen large sharks in the ocean and it really ruled!  Except for the part about it being uncomfortably close to where the babies SWIM...After this we headed back, and had adult time on the patio.

Side note- we got FOUR kids to bed every night without a fight at a decent hour.  It was AMAZING how tired those little guys were!

The next day we did a little beach running, played on the beach after that and then went out on a snorkeling trip.  I love love love to snorkel, but was a little nervous about having the kids, but they did AMAZING!!!  The boys snorkeled away and Lyla just swam around in the water looking at fish, but would NOT put her face in and little Charlie just hung out with her mom or dad. They all had a ball getting to find cool fish, crabs, and seeing other cool things people found like seahorses, and puffer fish. After this we came back and the Carroll's went out for their date while we fed the kids and had a movie night.  J and I had all four kids in bed by 8:30 and enjoyed some wine alone on our balcony watching the sunset.

Side note- This region has some AMAZING sunsets...

Brian and Elizabeth came home and we stayed up WAY late (like 11:30!) lol, hanging out, enjoying cocktails, and chatting it up about plans for the next day.  B and E had explored the peninsula across the bay on their date, so we decided to load up the next day and check it out.

After a long crossfit workout (can you tell I LOVE working out on the beach???) we went to check out the peninsula, and it was really cool!  There were awesome homes/rentals, parks, snorkeling, kayak rentals (we rented one), hiking, and picnic tables.  We started the afternoon with a picnic lunch (we had to beach in the morning of course), then took turns snorkeling and riding in the kayak.  When that was all over, we headed to the other side to check out the beach. It was quiet the hike through sand dunes, but it was BEAUTIFUL!!!  Unfortunately, we had nothing to sit on, and some tired kids on our hands, so we cut our stay short.  Besides, we had to get back and get ready for dinner and a sunset cruise.

We ate a great steak and/or sea food dinner, oh wait, Brian had a BURGER ;), before heading out on the same boat we snorkeled on for our trip around the bay.  We had a good time with the extra expensive ;) champagne J bought (at a gas station) despite our kids who would have liked to run around more than we would allow.  Each kid who wanted to got to drive the boat and wear a captains hat.  It was super cute. They loved it and the sunset was the best we'd had on the trip.  I'm thinking about canvasing one of my sunset pics from the trip...

The next day was already go home day. Boo.  I DID NOT want to leave.  I LOVE St. Joes beach, I LOVED our condo, I LOVED the company.  I was FINE where I was.  BUT...We slowly packed up while the kids got a little more beach time in.  AMAZINGLY, they all came in one by one announcing they were done BEFORE we had to ask them to BE done.  So, since we were all ready to go earlier than expected we decided to head to Panama City to Gulf World.  Gulf World is a VERY miniature Sea World that's a great day trip- especially if you have a bad weather beach day, or a great stop to ease the kids out of town.  This was the only place we had to bribe Carson to leave. LOL.  B and E had to catch their plane, so they took off and we had decided to not stay at the beach another day, but to instead explore some cities on the way home, our first stop was Montgomery, AL.

Montgomery was BY FAR my favorite stop on the road trip.  We stayed at the Embassy Suites downtown and (of course) arrived in time for the complimentary happy hour.  We each enjoyed a couple of cocktails before taking off to explore (on foot of course).  We were RIGHT by the river, so we walked over their,  one of C's highlights was climbing on the rocks and taking pictures, we then went over to a neat little area called "The Alley" and sat outside for dinner.  The kids were able to run around and play without feeling at all like we were allowing our kids to run around a restaurant, after all we were in an ALLEY!  Food was GREAT and CHEAP, drinks were yummier and cheaper.  After dinner, it was about 9 so we headed back. Everyone was having so much fun, we decided to let the kids swim (I was prepared this time!).  The kids swam and swam until they finally said they were tired.

The next day we decided to take the kids on a history tour, even thought they wouldn't care or remember we decided it's important to get them in the habit.  So we asked the best thing to do with limited time and we were told about a trolley RIGHT beside the hotel that would take us around the city, let us get on and off and give us a history lesson along the way. It was great!  We toured around and saw all kinds of neat stuff, like the church MLK Jr preached at and his house, the capital, Civil Rights Museum, Rosa Parks, etc.  We got off at Old Town Alabama. This is a old town created right in the middle of Montgomery where they brought in OLD houses, mills, schools, etc.  It was really neat to see, the kids only kinda liked it thought, C's favorite was the school. He thought it was cool that all the kids went together.

After this, we hoped over to the Farmers Market Cafe (or something along those lines) and got the WORLD'S BEST service and GREAT home cooking!  When we went to pay we had to double take the price!  It was $20 to feed all four of us a TON of GREAT food. I really recommend it.

Side note- I thought Oklahoma people were friendly, but we have NOTHIN on Montgomery, Al!!!

Around 1pm we took off for Memphis, booked a hotel on the drive right on Beale Street.  Got there, dropped off our bag and went to explore.

Side note- one of my favorite things about vacation is the simplicity.  We took two bags, (well three if you count the beach bag that held the lifejackets).  The big one was for the beach, and I packed a large utility tote for travel.  It was SO easy just taking in the one bag at each hotel, putting dirty clothes in a sack and throwing those in the back.  The bag got lighter and their were NO decisions, clutter, or hassle! :)

We ALWAYS asks locals what they recommend.  In Memphis, we were told to go to Blue's City Cafe.  And MAN was that a good pick!  FANTASTIC steak, and I'm not a big meat eater, fun environment, good beer selection and some of the best people watching around.  After dinner, we hit up Beale Street and planned for more fun, but, well, J and I finally got tired.  So, we went up to our hotel room, hung out on the balcony listening to the music enjoying some wine, while the kids watched a movie, then went to BED.  The only bad thing about our hotel, was that it WAS on Beale street, which means, it was LOUD all night.  But, we were all really too tired to care.  I had planned on working out the next morning, but when I woke up at !!!7:30!!! everyone was still fast asleep, so we stayed that way until around 8:30.  We then let the kids swim awhile after breakfast and took off for Little Rock.

We had NO expectations for Little Rock. In fact, it really was just a planned lunch stop.  However, due to my app on my phone failing me, we wondered into a FANTASTIC area by the river (key to finding cool stuff- find the water).  We had lunch at a local pizza place then headed over to the park by the river to find the COOLEST park EVER!  It was so fun I played ON it with my kids.  There was boulder climbing, tunnels to go through, rock climbing, all surrounded by sprinklers so it wasn't too hot.  There was a splash pad and of course, the GIANT bridge you could walk, or in our case, run across.  It was a REALLY REALLY neat stop!  I really recommend it!

We had planned for our next stop to be Ft. Smith.  J and I spent every weekend for several summers there, so we were stopping for a snack and that was it.  However, for the first time all trip (no lie) Lyla had to pee before planned so we took the first exit we saw.  This exit led us to a VINEYARD!  There is a cute little family bistro where we enjoyed a cheese sampler tray and wine tastings!  We left there TOTALLY full from GREAT cheeses, quiche, bread, and meats and a bottle of wine to take home for $17.  Obviously, it's cheap wine, but pretty good!

Anyway, that was our trip.  We made it into Shawnee and headed straight to the Brewery.  We had no food at home or desire to go there right away.  When you have such an amazing trip, you really don't want it to end.  But it did.  However, I am SO excited to keep showing my kids the world b/c they are TOO MUCH FUN to travel with! :)