Florida Vacation

We decided to make this year full of nothing but fun and vacations and relaxation and memories, thus all the vacations this year! We haven't gotten to take many vacations over the last few years since all of our time off was spent in Cincinnati, but since we didn't have to make that trip this year or spend any of our vacation time in the hospital we decided to travel!! We started the year off with a trip to Kansas City, then came Sea World and San Antonio, then Colorado, and now it was time for Florida!

Nelson and I have always "disagreed" on vacation spots. I am a mountains, hiking, relaxation vacation lover and Nelson is a beach, sun, and sand vacation lover. We made both of us happy this year and went to each! I have to admit, the beach was fun!! The boys really really enjoyed it and we had a good time too!! It was a little difficult with an 11 month old at the beach, but we managed and all still had a GREAT time!! Plus, we got to through 4 states that we have never been in: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida!! We are trying to take the boys to all 50 states, we are getting there!!

The drive was a long one!! But the boys are WONDERFUL little travelers!! Thank goodness for DVD players!! They are such troopers!! We spent two days getting there, stayed for two days, then took two days getting back, so a long trip, but well worth the fun!! I think we could have stayed a few more days though!!

We started off the trip with a walk on the beach the night we got there! Will was soooo excited!! We told him he couldn't go in yet since he didn't have his bathing suit on, so he snuck over to his Grandpy and talked him into taking him waist deep in the water!! Little sneaker!!

We got up early the next day and were down at the beach by 8:00am, and we spent the entire day down there playing in the sand, making sand castles, and playing in the ocean.

The next day Will had had enough of the ocean and wanted to play in the pools, so we spent that day playing in all of the resorts 5 pools! It was a great time and Will played soooo hard, he had a blast! Ajay loves the water so he was just a happy little camper too!! They almost turned into fish that day!!

Here is the view from our condo, it was gorgeous!! We just enjoyed sitting out there on the balcony and taking it all in!! There was a great breeze and view, perfect!

Of course, one of our favorite things to do on vacation is eat, so we had to go out to eat for our one real meal each day! We could only talk the boys into getting cleaned up once a day, so we had a late lunch/early dinner each night at a restaurant and then had the other meals on the beach or poolside! Here is Nelson and his Dad at Old Bay Steamer, it was delicious!!
Here is the huge pile of steamed sea food we gobbled up! There was lobster, shrimp, oysters, clams, mussels, crabs, mmmm good!!

Here is Mommy and her two boys at Old Bay Steamer!

I think we might have worn this little boy out!! He just fell asleep right on the beach!! It is hard work playing in the sand all day!!

Here is Daddy and Ajay hanging out at the beach!

Will decided to cover Daddy all up with sand and try to bury him, he was quite a busy boy!!

Here is Mommy and Ajay our first day at the beach! Ajay could not wait to get his toes in the sand!! He is such a water baby and wants to do EVERYTHING his big brother does!!

This is the first time everyone saw the Emerald Coast and got to stick their toes in the ocean and sand! Will got a little more than his toes wet, he went with Grandpy and was soaked!! He just couldn't wait!!

After the first day at the beach, Will decided that he really didn't like it because, "That beach and ocean just has too much salt and pepper in it, can we just play at the pool today?" He got hit in the face with a wave and got salt water in his eyes, so I guess the salt and pepper were just too much for him, so we spent the next day at the pools. They have a kiddy pool with a pirate slide, he LOVED it!! I think he probably went down that slide 50 times!!

Ajay got to get down and be "free" at the kiddy pool too and he LOVED it!! He was all over the place trying to get everywhere his big brother was! He wasn't afraid of anything!!

Ajay and I spent the first day watching the older boys swim, it was really kind of cold, there was a storm moving in so we opted to stay out and watch the older boys swim! Ajay had a blast just watching though, he is such a people watcher!!

Here is Will shivering, it was cold!! It couldn't stop him though, he was a little fish, we all were!!

We had a wonderful time!! We will definitely go back! We just spent the entire day relaxing and taking it easy and just doing whatever the boys wanted!! It was a GREAT vacation!! I just wish it was closer!!

We tried to make the most of each day, got up and down to play by 8:00am, then stayed down there until about 3:00pm, then came up to the room for a quick nap and to get cleaned up, then grabbed a bite to eat by 5:00pm to beat the rush, then back to the condo to swim again until 9:00pm, then showers and bed, then started the day all over again the next day!! It was GREAT!! I think we all made memories we will keep forever!!