We recently returned from a trip, our first ever LONG journey as a family of five, to Santa Rosa Beach, FL where we met up with a portion of Justin's family for a week of beach madness. It takes about 9 hours to get there, not including stops or traffic issues. We left at 7 a.m., and got there at 6:15 p.m. (or thereabouts), including some traffic issues in Alabama, and a couple of stops. Overall, the kids did great! We were surprised they only slept about an hour (all at the same time, thankfully), but they watched several videos on our DVD player which really saved the experience from drama and trauma!
Owen wanted his monkey and Snoopy dog in his lap at all times, and ended up like this for a while (not sure what the pillow on the head was for).
On a sidenote, I really feel like I-65 should be 3 lanes all the way from Northern Indiana down to Florida. It would keep traffic moving so much better! Anyway, despite some lengthy delays through northern Alabama, we pulled into Birmingham around noon and had a nice walk through the botanical gardens before lunch. It's free! Stop in if you are driving through!!
The kids were happy to walk around after sitting for so long.
Owen was excited to find a nice pine cone!
This was the entrance to the Japanese Garden and the boys were pretending to be ninjas.
The Japanese Garden had a pond with fish and some swimming turtles.
Phoebe was happy to walk around, AND she tried to make friends with just about everyone she saw. Having a girl is SO different!
We had lunch at Chick fil a in record time because it was later than usual and we'd just walked around to work up our appetites. Then came the nap for about an hour, followed by music, movies and excitement as we entered Florida, our destination state! The kids really got excited when we entered each state.
This was the bay on our way into Santa Rosa. It was really beautiful!
When we got to the Beach House, and had a quick dinner, we rushed the boys down to the beach because there had been such anticipation built up for months. There was still a bit of light on the horizon.
They were pretty excited to be there, and Grandpa helped guide the way.
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