Jacksonville

We didn't have any big vacations planned this summer outside of going to my mom's house for a week, so we decided to take a deep breath and attempt to drive to Florida. One of our sweet friends moved there last summer from Williamsburg and we were missing them. They have babies all the same age as ours. The oldest ones are exactly three months apart, the middles are six weeks apart, and the babies are nine days apart. We apparently have this down to a science. Anyway, we hopped in the car Sunday morning and drove! The way down took us a total of 12.5 hours including stops.

The kids did incredibly well - we had to stop at a rest stop 40 minutes down the road for a diaper change so we weren't feeling very hopeful, but after that we rallied and only stopped twice - once for breakfast/bathrooms and once for lunch and playing at a playground that had a zipline and a splash pad! We made it to their house just in time for a late dinner.

Here is the Captain's Log from our journey down. It's 5 minutes long, but I love that we did it to document our first loooong (12.5 hour) drive with the kids.

We primarily spent the week playing at the beach! It rained every day for a short (but usually torrential) burst and then was sunny the rest of each day - I think Jacksonville is on some sort of streak of rain every day for 50+ days. It made it not quite so hot, and much more bearable, so I think we lucked out with the weather. Plus, we got rainbows! Jane, characteristically, loved being in the water but never wanted to take of her swimmies. She is such a fish, though! The girls enjoyed and did very well boogie boarding.

The rainbows...

We stayed on the beach late in the evenings to play in the tidal pools.

We even had dinner out on the beach one night. Jess and I rode beach cruisers down the beach to pick up the pizzas we ordered and then we picnicked on the sand.

We flew kites...

...had a drink or two (including a night out with free babysitting!)...

...enjoyed the waves...

...and even the babies enjoyed it.

Chris and Hawley had a sleepover with the big girls at the beach one night while Jess and I went back with the babies.

We had indoor play time back at the house.

We also spent lots of time in the pool, where Eleanor finally learned how to take a breath while swimming and then made it ALL the way across the pool (the short way) by herself! She is getting to be a decent little swimmer!

One of my favorite memories was bedtimes reading stories and playing sardines the last night we were there - I was so impressed with the little girls particularly! They were so quiet and so good at hiding!

Another great memory was setting off fireworks a bit too close to the house on our last night!

We had such a wonderful time!

We left after lunch time on Friday to head home and made it back in just 11 hours with only one stop for dinner. Ben cried the last half hour of the drive home, but we were so close that we just pushed through. I was so impressed with our kids travelling in the van!

It was truly a great trip with many memories, and despite the fact that we don't live close anymore, our kids picked up like no time had passed at all. The friends I've made in this stage of life are so special. It was worth every second of the almost 24 hours we spent driving to have this time with them again!