We were lucky enough to be invited to FL with our great friends Matt, Carrie and Faith Rufkahr. They are lucky enough to have awesome parents, Gary and Alana, that have a beautiful home right on the beach that we got to stay in. Tuesday March 2nd, 2010 - we left our house around 1pm for the LONG car trip to FL. We are crazy for even attempting this with two 2 yr olds and a 1 yr old, we know! We were anticipating the worst though, so anything else was just a bonus. About an hr into us leaving the house, it was your naptime and you were all asleep at the same time. We thought, this isn't so bad right? We listened to the radio, coincidentally, this would be the last time you guys all 3 slept at the same time in the car for the rest of the trip and the last time we got to listen to the radio vs Disney movies. Soon you woke up and we stopped for dinner to avoid traffic in Nashville then we continued the drive to Georgia and stopped at a hotel somewhere north of Atlanta. This was you guys' first hotel stay so you were pretty excited to A) get out of the car, and B) see a hotel and find out what that was all about. As soon as we entered the room, you guys were wired! Keep in mind that it's now almost 11pm and WAY past your bedtimes. Finley immediately walks in with hands on hips and states, "this is really nice guys." Like she's been to a million hotel rooms before! You guys proceed to run around and test everything out, loving the fact that there are remotes, phones, and pens and paper all within your reach! Once we finally got you all settled in bed, Quinn in a pack n play staring at us, Brody in one bed with Mom and Finley in the other with Dad, it took a while for you guys to fall asleep. This sleeping with mom and dad in a hotel bed thing was pretty exciting...but you did finally fall asleep, thank god! Finley proceeded to fall out of her bed around 3am and cried and then woke her little sister up...needless to say, we're not ready for "big" beds yet!
Wednesday March 3rd, 2010 - After what felt like not sleeping at all and a quick hotel breakfast, it was back on the road again with FL on the mind! We arrived at the beach just in time for dinner and a beautiful sunset! Overall, the drive was not at all what we thought it would be and we're all here in one piece. We just hung out with Rufkahr's that night and had homemade pizza for dinner. Heaven to be able to eat your pizza overlooking the ocean though!
Thursday March 4th, 2010 - Dad, Matt and Gary go to the Phillies/Yankees Spring Training Game and us girls decide to venture out to a park to let the kids play for a while. The parks down there are either with sand or seashells instead of boring old mulch or rock like here in MO. They had a blast just running around and not being in the car. Then we came back and met up with the guys for dinner at Crabby Bill's. The restaurant tables were picnic tables where you could be seated next to people that weren't in your party on either side of you, which is fine until you kids that may or may not bother the people on either side of you. We had 3 2 yr olds and a 1 yr old. Needless to say I was a little worried when we were seated next to an older couple and another adult. They looked less than thrilled being seated with us. And they had placed Finley and Brody's highchairs right next to them! I warned them to be on their best behavior while visions of food (macaroni in cheese no less) flying onto these people's plates danced in my head! By the end of dinner, these people were best friends with the kids and had won Brody over by talking to him about Thomas Trains. They even complimented Andy and I and said we had some of the most well behaved children they'd ever seen in a restaurant! Whew! Crisis averted...b/c it isn't always like that but I will say you guys were on your best behavior that night!
Friday March 5th, 2010 - It's finally semi nice here, still windy but in the mid 60's and we're heading to the beach! We put Quinn down for her morning nap and Alana stayed back with her to get ready and we headed down to look for seashells. Brody is a man of many schedules and routines and was not crazy about what he'd heard the beach had to offer...sharks, sand, crabs, water, etc. He was already saying he didn't want to go to the beach. Once we got there though...they both loved it! We drove 18 hrs and it was definitely worth it just for this one moment...you both running around wind blowing like crazy chasing seagulls! Priceless! You had a blast chasing birds and picking up shells just getting to run around like crazy! You could have cared less that it was cold outside! After that it was afternoon naptime for kids and cocktails on the patio for the adults. Then we all got ready and headed to Clearwater for a pier festival type thing, they had a nice playground on the beach but it was really windy out on the water so we went to Jimmy Iguana's for dinner. It was good food with good friends and you guys were pretty well behaved that night also...until the end of dinner as we were walking out. You guys were looking a wall full of pamphlets and Daddy told you guys you could have one to take home and a fight ensued, not sure what really happened b/c I was changing Quinn's diaper. I just came out to Daddy slinging a temper tantrum throwing Finley over his shoulder and carrying her out of the restaurant kicking and screaming. She kicked and screamed pretty much the entire way home, approx a 15 min drive! She went straight to bed when we got home...at least we made it through dinner I guess?!
Saturday March 6th, 2010 - Our last day of family vacation! It went by way too fast for sure! We had a fun day planned though. It was beautiful outside, our nicest day here yet. We had plans to go to the Shelton's gorgeous place on the beach and swim and bbq on the beach. All was going as planned, suits were being put on, bags were being packed, and then Quinn got her fingers slammed in the door by her siblings. All three of fingers on her right hand completely in a heavy door with the door almost shut! Needless to say, she cried a lot. Blood everywhere, wouldn't let me touch them, screaming w/o taking a breath! I finally got her to calm down and let me look at them, not broken, but the skin of her poor little fingers was definitely gone. Can we say painful? This will be the 1st of many injuries she will sustain by trying to keep up with her older siblings! She just wants so much to be like them. So that kept us from a little beach time but after a little first aid, thank god mommy's a nurse :), we finally got to the pool. So worth it too! We swam and built sandcastles, had some good food with our friends...and then came the it's-naptime-meltdown! So our car headed back to our place and we put the kids down for a much needed late nap and Andy and I sat out on the balcony and talked and enjoyed our gorgeous view of the ocean and our last day at the beach! It was lovely! We had to wake the kids up to enjoy the sunset with us, that is the picture taken above. Minus Quinn's finger injuries, the trip was a huge success!
Sunday March 7th, 2010 - We have to start the long drive headed for home today :( We started on the road around 10am and had to make many stops for lunch, etc. We had to stop at a rest stop at one point just to let you all run around b/c you were getting so antsy in the car. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel just outside of Atlanta and then got back in the car and drove to Chattanooga, TN to stay for the night. Out of the car and into another hotel we go, we're less excited this time around :).
Monday March 8th, 2010 - We woke up and had some breakfast and then decided to try and tire you guys out a little this morning by taking you to the Tennessee Aquarium. You guys did love it and was very cool, but you were still antsy when we got back in the car! We stopped for lunch at a Taco Bell somewhere in TN and all was going well and we were getting ready to get back into the car when Brody and his sister ran into eachother and he fell backwards and conked his head pretty good on the ceramic tile floor. I heard it hit! As a mother and a nurse, I HATE that sound! Brody isn't known for his toughness :), so he cried pretty hard. The nurse in me was worrying about head injury and watching his pupils, asking him questions, feeling his head etc. But he seemed fine after a while and didn't complain too much. However, a couple of days later I would take him the ER b/c he kept complaining of a headache and they would go on to diagnose him with a mild concussion. So overall the trip was a huge success, minus the minor finger injuries and mild concussion my children sustained! All went well...we're looking forward to another beach vacation in Sept with my family...hoping it's a bit warmer this time though!
In wrapping up their thoughts as I'm writing this tonight, Finley loved the hot tub and Brody loved digging in the sand!
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