Fall Break in Florida Part 1

Hello!

I can’t believe we’ve almost been home from the beach for a week, and I’m just getting around to sharing about the first few days of our trip.

Like I shared last week, it felt odd prepping for our trip as we weren’t sure the exact track of Hurricane Ian. Florida saw a lot of devastation, but the hurricane didn’t make it to the 30A/Destin area.

30A is a “hot spot” for vacations for the southern states. We have lots of friends who go there many times a year. I believe there are direct flights if not from Lexington, from nearby cities. That being said, most of the time, I think people drive. It’s about a ten hour trip. Travis and I had been there once before with friends many years ago. I’m sure we’d go there more if we didn’t have Siesta Key as our main Florida vacation spot thanks to Trav’s family.

Anyway, here’s a bit about the first few days of our trip…

Saturday:

We were sharing a house with three other families, and we couldn’t check in until Sunday. It ended up that Kentucky was playing Old Miss at noon that day, so many of our friends left early in the morning to get to our pit stop of Birmingham, AL by game time. Hayden had a cross country meet, so while many families left in the morning, we didn’t leave until about 2 pm. We arrived in Birmingham around 8:00 and just hung out. We were all the same hotel, so the kids got together, and the adults hung out too. We just got carry out dinner and watched football on tv before going to bed.

Sunday:

Since we still had about 3.5 hours left of the drive, we all wanted to leave by 9:00. Everyone was up and having breakfast before packing up for the rest of the drive. Who doesn’t love a “free” breakfast?

We hit the road, and arrived in the 30A area around 1:00. We were traveling with two families who were pretty familiar with the area as they’d vacationed there quite a few times. They suggested Hurricane Oyster Bar and Grill for lunch, and that’s where we all met up.

I had the lobster tacos, and they were so good. They kids ate and were able to walk around a bit while the adults chatted and ate. Hayden and Travis got their first oysters of the trip.

We were guaranteed check in to the house by 5:00, but just as we were getting into our cars around 3:00, they texted that the house was ready. Perfect timing!

One of the moms ordered groceries for delivery between 3:00 and 5:00. The Instacart person was in the driveway as we arrived. Again, perfect timing!

The house was pretty big and so charming. It was nestled in a neighborhood about 1/2 a mile from the beach, and the neighborhood had two pools…one of which was only a few steps from our house.

The screened in front porch was my favorite part!

We all got settled in our rooms, unpacked groceries, and got organized. There was a carriage house above the garage, and it had a king bed and two twin beds. The four girls got it. It was funny because Hadley kept calling it the “out house” at first. I told her it was a far cry from an out house. Throughout the week, they called it the “other” house, the “back” house, and eventually the “she shed.” They definitely had a good spot!

Our house also had a golf cart, so a couple of trips on that to get everyone there, and we were at the beach by 4:00.

We all sat around while kids played.

Then once we realized how early the sun would be setting (6:30!), we decided to grab some drinks from the house to enjoy while we watched the sun set. I ordered these cups from a Lexington girl (@cupsoncochran) and brought them for us to use on the trip.

I love a beach sunset. I try hard not to miss one while on vacay!

Of course, we had to have some sunset pics on the first night.

Then, we headed back to the house for dinner. I’m so glad we had made the plan to grill out at home. We were back from the beach around 6:45, and had dinner around 7:30. The kids played games, and the Chiefs were on tv. We all hung out, and I think most were in bed around 10.

Monday:

We eased into the morning with people waking at various times. Before we left for the trip, the moms made a tentative breakfast plan. Of course, we bought cereal, but then we also planned for pancakes, sausage biscuits, omelets and more. We spaced those out throughout the week.

We had coffee on the screened in porch before the moms walked on the beach. There were two other families nearby that we hung out with as well.

When we got back from our walk, everyone packed up to head to beach for the day.

First full day at the beach, and everyone enjoyed it!

The kids caught all kinds of things: crabs, snakes, fish. We even saw lots of jelly fish.

In Seaside square, the moms hit up an early happy hour…

…while the girls walked around, shopped, and got ice cream.

We made it back in time to load up and head to the beach for sunset.

The moms got a pic:

…as did the daughters. Any guesses on what the girls bought while we were at happy hour? haha

This is one of those photos (both photos, actually) that I think we’ll treasure forever.

Are you even a “tween” if you aren’t doing Tik Tok dances by the ocean?

We enjoyed the sunset before heading back to the house.

Again, it was a full day at the beach, so I’m glad we planned ahead for tacos at home. Even better, someone had the good call to put the taco meat in the slow cooker. Dinner was basically ready when we got back.

Then, most of the kids settled in for Hocus Pocus 2.

It was a great day.

Tuesday:

I had coffee on the front porch before the moms biked to Modica Market for mimosas and breakfast. The mimosas were a great way to start the day. Also, I caved and bought a Seaside sweatshirt too. Hadley gets her love of sweatshirts from me!

Travis drove some of the kids up to the market on the golf cart to pick up breakfast, so we saw them for a few minutes as well.

Once we got back, we packed up and headed to the beach.

I’m glad we got this family pic because that’s about the last time Hayden was at the beach. He’d hurt his leg the day before playing football on the beach (strained a muscle, I guess), so he laid low at the house or did stretches or exercises in the pool the other days.

The beach was never super crowded, and on this day, the water was hardly moving!

I read my book and enjoyed the sunshine.

I went back to the house mid-afternoon to check on Hayden and see what the kids were up to. Then, I took an afternoon nap on screened in porch. It was lovely.

The guys (and Hayden) went out for happy hour and oysters.

For dinner, we met up with the two other families at the Hub (which I think is also called The Big Chill now). This was the perfect place for dinner because it’s all outside, there was a movie playing, and there were many food options.

After a few hours there, we headed back to the house. Again, the kids played for a bit, and we all hung out. We ended up turning on The Addams Family which we all hadn’t seen in forever.

We had a great start to our vacay….I will share the last couple of days next week!

See you back here tomorrow for Friday Favorites.