2 Years, 12 Weeks.
Close your eyes and imagine this:
An endless stretch of white powdered sand beaches for miles and miles. Turquoise blue waters lapping the shoreline, the waves lulling your senses. Sun-kissed bodies soaking in the warm rays. Quiet, peaceful moments interrupted by little shrieks of delight and laughter. Exquisite beach homes, each one unique in its design and character. Lush areas of manicured greens inviting you to kick off your shoes and indulge your feet. Award winning restaurants and quaint eateries ready to satisfy any cravings. Families leisurely strolling together, dodging avid runners and bicycle enthusiasts who share the same sidewalks. The smell of salt in the air from the afternoon sea breeze.
Hawaii, perhaps? Or maybe a tropical paradise like Fiji or Bora Bora?
Nope. Still in Florida, actually. Just a short 8 hour drive up the street.
Well, 400 miles to be exact. To the Emerald Coast of the Florida Panhandle.
We were lucky enough to join a couple of our friends and their children for a week at Seacrest Beach, a small community west of the popular spring break area of Panama City Beach, situated along the more affluent area of State Road 30A. This stretch of road and adjoining neighborhoods would prove to be reminiscent of the Hamptons in Long Island, NY with its pretentious luxury and lifestyle.
I mean, seriously, does everyone really own a Cadillac, BMW, or Range Rover over here? Most of the homes in the area were vacation rentals, and ours did not disappoint.
It was back in February when we planned this trip to the beach with the Reeves family from Calhoun, GA and the Atkins family from Berrien Springs, MI. We had a lot of fun searching and researching online for a beach house rental that would accommodate both budget and living requirements to meet the needs of 12 total individuals for an entire week. We finally settled on a three story house aptly named
Warmth Of The Sun that was several blocks away from the beach and that had access to a gorgeous community pool. And although we were renting it during the most expensive week of the year due to the holiday, split between 3 families it was actually quite affordable and even cheaper than a 7 day cruise for two.
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| Our home for the week. |
The drive up was uneventful, thank goodness, and although it took us a good 8 hours from start to finish, adding an additional hour by going into the Central Time Zone, we were able to manage and distract momentary periods of restlessness. Tangie had mapped out a route that allowed us to stop every couple of hours for either a playground for them to get their energy out, or for food/potty breaks. Alas, only Kohlden was able to sneak in a small, interrupted nap, as the rest of the crew seemed too excited to fall asleep. We finally arrived at the house around 7 pm, just minutes after the Reeves family, as they were the ones in charge of getting the key code to the house.
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| All packed up and ready to go! |
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| We found our first park just north of Gainesville. |
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| It was already stinkin' hot, and it wasn't long before we headed back to the car! |
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| Potty break at a rest area. 3 more hours to go! |
The house was magnificent: 4 bedrooms each with a private balcony, 5 bathrooms, a loft with a wet bar, a complete gourmet kitchen, an office area with wi-fi, and a laundry. Sure, it was only 3200 sq ft and the common areas could have been a little bigger, but it made up for that with other things. It was like having a very nice and very large hotel suite at your disposal for the week! I vowed that this was the way to go from now on.
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| The living room. |
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| State of the art kitchen! |
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| Our room. The kids' room was next door. |
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| Seacrest community pool. |
The first three days were pretty much the same: The kids would wake up at an insanely early hour. The time change sure didn't help us in that regard. A leisurely morning with breakfast and triple shot expressos courtesy of Cory (they brought their own roaster and expresso machine), before changing into swimsuits, slather up with sunscreen, packing up the vans and heading out to the beach for a few hours. The set up and tear down of our beach gear, including the trek to and from the cars, took the most effort. It wasn't until the last day that it seemed like we finally got it right.
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| Morning sunrise view from the third floor balcony. |
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| Our in house barista starts to make our triple shot expressos. We got so spoiled! |
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| The children patiently wait for breakfast to be served. |
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| Time to eat! |
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| Our first day to hit the beach, the kids were all pretty excited. |
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| Both families dressed and ready to go; The Atkins family would arrive later that afternoon. |
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| The sisters fashion matching swimsuits. |
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| Kohlden squatting in the sand, sipping on his juice box. |
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| Daddy and his girls enjoy the waves. |
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| Braelyn had fun building sand castles. |
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| Brae and Noah get ready to be buried. |
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| It was funny to see just two tiny heads! |
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| Day two, Braelyn and the Reeves boys get ready to hit the beach! |
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| I made some chairs in the sand for some in house entertainment... |
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| provided by yours truly. Thank you, I'll be here all week! |
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| All smiles made all the work worthwhile! |
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| Day 3, twins packed and ready to hit the beach again! |
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| Mommy and Maddy catching some rays. |
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| Kohl and Brae playing catch in the sand. |
We'd head back to the house around 1 or so, either having a packed lunch there on the beach or a quick bite as soon as we returned. Naps ensued as close to 2 as possible, with all of them up and ready to hit the pool by 4/4:30. An hour or more of swim time before going home to clean up for dinner, either assigned to a family or eating out at one of the numerous (and somewhat ridiculously overpriced) restaurants in nearby Rosemary Beach.
Really? A mushroom ravioli dish for $22??? We'd stay until it was dark, or until the kids were too fussy to handle, before heading back again for the night. It was a lot of fun hearing all the parents trying to coax their very tired children into their pajamas, what with all the wailing and gnashing of teeth. And, of course, I'm totally being sarcastic here.
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| Mommy and the twins enjoying the pool. |
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| She was like a little mermaid! |
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| Kiddos eat supper while Daddy plates the main course for the adults. |
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| Plating the beets on couscous. |
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| Nothing like mac 'n cheese to make everyone happy! |
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| Walking hand in hand en route to the yogurt shop. |
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| Enjoying company and yummy dessert. |
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| Evening walks to Rosemary Beach. The humidity at night was suffocating. |
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| Running on the village green. |
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| Our children wouldn't sit still! |
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| Maddy refused to lie down on the grass, hence her absence in this photo. |
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| Conner got a little too close for comfort with Madelyn during dinner at La Crema Tapas restaurant. |
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| Mommy found a nearby play park they visited one afternoon. |
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| Roll your own sushi was dinner on Tuesday. |
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| Comforting my eldest after getting a boo boo from her little brother. |
4th of July we awoke to gray clouds and a forecast for scattered thunderstorms, so we opted out on going to the beach, which was good, because I was starting to get a little weary of having to lug our gear back and forth from the car. So the families all decided to do their own things that morning after breakfast, to kind of give ourselves a break from each other. We decided to take a tour of the area and took a small road trip, first driving through Panama City Beach and then heading west to Destin and watching a movie with the kiddos. Then we all met up back at the house for naps while Andy and I played a couple sets of tennis on the clay courts they had in the community. After dinner all the families went down to the beach for a photo session, before watching the splendor of multiple firework displays from all the communities up and down the beach. It was breathtaking...and loud!
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| Some colorful homes along Panama City Beach. |
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| Pier Park is a huge tourist spot there, with shops and restaurants and amusement park rides. |
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| Family shot 1 |
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| Family shot 2 |
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| Group shot |
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| Braelyn being silly, trying to get the twins to smile. |
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Moment of goofiness before heading to bed.
Braelyn would go with Mommy to watch the fireworks from the beach. |
On Thursday the dads went out for an early round of golf, while the moms took the children to the pool. The kids really loved the water, and were starting to get very comfortable playing in it, both at the beach and the pool. Especially Braelyn, but more Maddy than Kohlden, although he would finally enjoy it on our last day, Friday, and would insist on staying in the water when it was time to leave. They sure loved spending time in the sun and water! And, of course, since they got the better end of the deal with getting my skin color (no offense Campbell family), they got real dark and had pretty hardcore tan lines to show for it! Poor Tangie...
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| Cory teeing off on our round. I shot a 64. Granted, the course was a par 60 and we all played best ball! |
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| A Mommy sandwich! |
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| She loved doing cannonballs! |
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| Mommy and Maddy cuddle in the water. |
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| Brae and Maddy show off their tan lines. |
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| Can you tell which leg is Tangie's? |
Friday was our last day for a chance to go to the beach, but the day started out with some pretty heavy showers, so we weren't too sure. But it did clear up after breakfast, so we all decided to go, and it turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day. And this was the day Kohlden decided he loved swimming in the water too! We spent as much time as we could there until they were starting to get ready for naps, and as they did Tangie and I started laundry and packing for our return trip back home the following morning. That afternoon we walked around town, played bocci on the village green, and visited our favorite frozen yogurt place for the last time, before heading back home for dinner and then bed. Oh, did I mention that it was also our 9th wedding anniversary that day? Well, after the children were in bed, Tangie and I stole away for dinner at nearby Seaside (where they filmed the major motion picture
The Truman Show with Jim Carrey) while our friends were kind enough to stay and babysit for us! It was a nice couple of hours just the two of us to eat in peace and watch all the people walking around. We will definitely be back to visit.
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Maddy takes a break from the waves.
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| Snack time while Brae continues to help with the building of sand castles. |
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| Kohl did not want to leave the water. |
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| She was not happy to learn that it was time to leave. |
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| Playing with blocks on the village green. |
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| Playing catch and bocci on our last afternoon. |
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| One last hurrah at the frozen yogurt shop! |
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| Pajama party before heading to bed. |
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| Tangie and I walking around Seaside after our dinner date. |
After breakfast we all exchanged hugs and said our goodbyes as we went on our separate ways back home. We decided to take the scenic route back and drove down the coastline, which proved to be more enjoyable and relaxing as opposed to the hectic and crowded highways. It really didn't take us that much longer, but we did drive through Tyndall Air Force Base (we would always see their low flying jets over the beach) and drove through some interesting named towns like Apalachicola, Wakulla, and Panacea, and over rivers like the Suwannee, Withlacoochee, and Steinhatchee. Gotta love those Native American Indians and their preference for unpronounceable names!
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| Giving high fives and saying goodbye. |
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| One last drive through palm tree lane. |
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| Hitting up the donut truck for some treats on our drive back. |
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| A more scenic route, this was our view for most of the drive home. |
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| Again, silliness ensues... |
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| before everyone got tired and crashed for naps. |
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| A very tired but happy driver. |
We made it home safe and sound, succumbing to the inevitable return to our normal schedules, and looking forward to our next family adventure!
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| Helping Daddy clean up the beach gear which meant... |
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| getting in and getting soaked! Oi vey! |
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| Can't stay away from the water for too long, here we get ready to hit our pool. |
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| This week's Costco run. |
Randoms:
- Monday night Maddy woke up around 2 crying and screaming and could not be comforted. I woke up with a start and was the first to get to their room, and confusedly searched around for her pacifier, which didn't provide her with any satisfaction. I finally set her down to change her diaper and put her back into her pack 'n play, but it was still a few minutes until she calmed down to go back to sleep, but then by that time I was too frazzled and had a hard time going back to sleep myself. After about 15 minutes of restlessness in bed I noticed bright flashes of light outside the window and then I heard a huge rustling in the nearby trees. I asked Tangie to check the weather and sure enough, there was a huge thunderstorm heading in our direction. We quickly made our way downstairs and outside, where everyone's towels, strollers, and beach gear were stowed on the front porch, sure to be soaked or blown away with this tempest. We were able to get everything indoors just minutes before the torrent of rain arrived, awed at the fact that we wouldn't have been able to save our things had Maddy not woken us up twenty minutes prior! Coincidence? Or...
Foods prepared/eaten:
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| Vegetable garden on couscous. |
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| Homemade Belgian waffles. |
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| A very happy triple shot expresso. |
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| Dragonfruit with mango and raspberries. |
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| Our names in pancakes! |
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| We had fresh cut watermelon every afternoon! |
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| Roll your own vegetable rolls. |
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| Cod filet, Enoki mushrooms, and a soft boiled egg! |
Have a great week!!
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| Making some lasting memories. |
