We just got back from a fabulous beach vacation in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. The trip came together pretty quickly, but we are so glad we were able to make it and spend time soaking up the beauty of the beach and enjoying some fun times with Kev’s family. There were some priceless memories made, for sure! {Warning: This post has a good amount of pictures, so proceed at your own risk}.
The trip down was a bit long. We left home at 4am and pulled up at our condo around 8:30pm {central time}, for a total of about 17.5 hours of travelling. We were so thankful to be out of the car and at our destination. DVDs were very helpful, but it was still a little rough at times for Mr. Brady Boo.
We stayed in an oceanfront condo, with a beautiful view of the gulf and easy access to the beach and pool. We took is pretty easy on Sunday {I think I was still recovering from the long trip down}, but enjoyed a nice meal to celebrate the fathers.
We enjoyed some time on the beach on Monday, but we opted to visit a nearby area along the bay side. It was really shallow, which made it so nice for the kids to play. Once we came back, we spent a long time in the pool at our condo. It was so nice to have easy access to both the pool and the beach.
On Tuesday, we decided to head to Pensacola {about 45 miles away} to see the Blue Angels practice. It took us longer to get there than we expected, so we missed half of the show and ended up seeing the rest from the side of a road once we got on base. The kids were excited about it when we were driving in the car, but were pretty scared once they heard the loud noises. This is how they spent most of the time.
Even though our view wasn’t the best, I’m so glad we got to see some of it in person. It was amazing and I got a little patriotic watching them fly over us. We are so blessed to live in a country with men and women who are willing to sacrifice for our freedoms. The whole time Savannah was scared of the planes, I kept telling her how those planes would never hurt her and how they were there to protect us.
Before driving back to Ft. Walton, we enjoyed a nice seafood meal at Landry’s Seafood in Pensacola. I’m a huge lover of shrimp and their dirty rice was delicious!
On Thursday morning, we decided to take the kids over to Destin so they could enjoy the fountains at the local outdoor mall. It was really hot, but the kids loved running around and getting splashed on. We had lunch at Johnny Rocket’s, which was a change from all of our seafood meals.
The rest of the week, we spent our days alternating between the beach and the pool. The kids loved playing in the sand, but Brady was a little timid with the water. He finally got brave and put his feet in on his own.
The final day, the boys took the kids to an air museum while us gals got pedicures. We had so much fun together getting pampered, but I think the guys and kids enjoyed themselves too!
One of the main highlights of the trip for us was getting to see family. The cousins played constantly and eventually started fighting like siblings. The kids also soaked up some good time with their Maw-Maw, Paw-Paw, Ye-Ye {their great aunt}, Uncle Chris, and Aunt Stacey.
We decided to break our trip back home up into two days since we left later on Saturday. Who wants to leave at 4am on their last day of vacation? We stopped in Greenville, SC for the night and drove the rest of the way home on Sunday. It was still long, but made for a much more leisurely trip back home.
We’re so thankful for family and the week we had enjoying the beach. We are ready to go back again soon!
* * * * * *
Where do you like to go on vacation?
Related posts:
10 Ways to Save Money on Road Trips
Packing for a Family Vacation
Related posts:
10 Ways to Save Money on Road Trips
Packing for a Family Vacation
