Florida

We weren't planning a vacation this year. Work was busy for Wade and the summer seemed shorter than usual. Wade called me from work one day after he learned about a death in his family in Florida. My tenderhearted(yes, that is Wade) husband decided, without hesitation, that we needed to be at the funeral to let the family know that we love and support them. That is one of the things I love about him; his love and dedication to family. He would do anything for family.

This was a long trip to make in short notice but we arranged it and left as soon as we could. We could only be gone a couple of days and our children understood the purpose for our trip and that it was not a vacation. We attended the funeral and spent some time with family. I was so proud of the kids and how they behaved. They were great in the car and respectful at the funeral. Since we had traveled so far we decided to spend one day at the beach before we headed home.


We rented a condo on the beach. The kids LOVED the condo. It was the perfect size for our family. Lucas especially loved the "bed-couch" were he and Gage slept.

The kids had never really played at the beach before. On our first trip to Disney World several years ago we stopped by a beach to let them see the ocean. Macy was a toddler and Lucas wasn't even born yet. We were only there for about 20 minutes so this trip was a whole new experience for everybody.

We walked down to the beach from our condo as soon as we finished breakfast. The weather was perfect. The water was perfect. Not too cold and not too seaweed-y. I was amazed at how well the kids played together. They had so much fun together. They fight so much at home sometimes I wonder if they will ever get along. It's nice to know that they can :) At lunch time we walked back up to our condo to eat. The kids ate on our balcony and loved it! Then back down to the beach we went for the rest of the day.

Macy was being her typical 'social' self. Chatting with any other kid that walked by. She loved watching the waves. Her main mission though was...seashells. She hunted for seashells the entire day. Her daddy helped her find some really good ones.


Lucas liked the water a little bit but LOVED the sand a lot. I have never seen anything entertain him for longer than 10 minutes but he played all day in the sand and didn't want to leave. He was a very happy boy.

Gage loved swimming in the ocean and trying to make a sand castle. He and the girls worked on their sandcastle a lot but could never stay out of the water long enough to finish it. The big girls loved swimming in the ocean too and trying ot dive into the waves.

Of course, no beach trip is complete without burying somebody in the sand. So everybody took turns burying each other in the sand...even daddy.

Even though our trip was out of unfortunate circumstances, and we only spent one day on the beach, it was the most relaxing 2 days we have had in a long time. Maybe ever. We were humbled by the reason we were there which made us love each other more and squeeze each other harder. We enjoyed the simple time and just being together more than we have in a while. We watched our children play together for hours without one single argument. The entire trip reminded us of the importance of our family and how much we love it!