Fall Break! Pre-Hurricane / Beach Post 1

Fall Break 2018!! A few weeks before the boys' fall break we decided to be spontaneous and booked a condo in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. There were very few options left and having just had a 3 month unpaid maternity leave meant we didn't need to spend money on the nicest condo remaining. So we booked a 1-bedroom condo and decided it didn't matter, we would be on the beach most of the time anyways. Then I got the invitation I had been waiting on for my high school best friend's baby shower. Devon and her husband had been trying to get pregnant for YEARS and they finally were and I couldn't wait to attend her baby shower! But wouldn't you know, it was the same day we were to be in Florida. And then she ended up in pre-term labor and on bedrest. (As of this post, she is still pregnant and is nearly 38 weeks!! Praise God for that!) So on our way to Florida we stopped in Nashville to visit her and love on her sweet baby bump. She was staying with her parents and it was so nice to see them and her little sister Allison, who has two children. I am incredibly excited for Dev to become a mommy!!!

Now time to get on the road...and let me tell you, Ivy was a horrid traveler. I don't know if she is worse than Finn, but it was pretty bad.

When you have a million kids and you can only pretty much fit them into the minivan, this is how you get the rest of your stuff to where you are going. Haha!

On the way down to Florida we were trying to learn what we could about the supposed Red Tide that had come into the area. We were mildly concerned, but couldn't find much about it online and the natives really didn't seem concerned at all. And we also got wind of a tropical storm that was forming near Mexico and supposed to be heading towards Florida. No big deal, we did that last year with Hurricane Nate and it just set us back one day. And we shopped that day. Upward and onward...Florida or Bust...

I hate to say it, but when we finally got into our condo Josh and I were both a bit disappointed. It was stinky. It was small. It was stinky. But we decided it was fine. It was going to be fine, we were going to enjoy our week and everything was going to be fine. We were at the beach.

The next morning brought new perspective and a beautiful beach. 

So we loaded up our new beach cart and headed down to the sand and surf! When you have a million kids (including a toddler and a baby) you pack like this...it is quite comical. (Where's Waldo!?)

Maclyn's love for the first half of our beach vacation can best be summed up in this picture....

But the boys....oh they love some good salt, sand, and waves!!

And this little one was just adorable. She didn't love it, but she tolerated it if she was held. This is a rare picture (there are a few) of her hanging out in her pod. She did much better as the days went by.

The boys were dying to go swim in the pool. Maclyn thoroughly enjoyed herself at the pool as well. Unfortunately while we were at the pool we heard people saying that tomorrow would be the last day on the beach because of the red tide and hurricane. HURRICANE?!!! No way, it is just a tropical storm. We tried not to worry about it but the boys were given this information by strangers and they were a little upset that our vacation would surely be ending tomorrow. (thank you perfect stranger. I could strangle you for putting anxiety into my boys on their vacation). I told them not to stress, we would figure it all out. After this information Josh and I pretty much stayed glued to our phones to watch the weather.

Check out Maclyn jumping into the pool!!!

After lunch we went back on the beach to enjoy the remainder of our vacation, and poll other vacationers on what their plans were. We also let the girls get some good beach naps.  Check out the curls on my big girl!!

During the girls naps and some downtime we realized that the tropical storm would likely be a hurricane when it made landfall, but probably a category 1 at worst. We were just gonna ride out the storm and enjoy our vacation. Maybe it would help the red tide go away. At that point the red tide was the aggravating factor on our vacation, it was causing us all to cough and sneeze and rub our eyes when we were out on the beach (luckily we had no symptoms while we were in the pool or away from the beach).

Considering we had no idea what tomorrow would bring, we went ahead and got a family beach picture. Our 2018 Beach Vacation was sure to be a memorable one!!

That night after supper we decided to go crab hunting. Finn had been asking about it all day (and if you know him, you know he doesn't take no for an answer)...it was a good time other than me having to carry two girls out in the black of the beach!!