Fall Break

We headed south for fall break this year and it did not disappoint.  As a matter of fact, I don't think we will go back to the beach as a family in the summer ever again.  The weather was perfect.  The crowds were lower.  It was awesome.  Every.single.minute.
Our plan was to leave by 4:00 am Monday morning.  Andrew woke up screaming about something around 2:45 am and woke up the entire house.  I got him settled back down and realized our alarm clock was going off in 45 minutes.  I was awake.  I quietly spoke in the darkness and asked Fred if he was awake.  I got a yep.  I ran upstairs and told the boys to stay awake and load in the car.  We were leaving our driveway at 3:23 am.  Our boys really are the best travelers.
Around 5:00 am Andrew presented us with this "map" in case we needed help with directions.

We got to the beach house by 1:00 pm...stops and all.  I went to the grocery and we all unloaded.  Within two hours of arriving this was our scene...

 Those are my people in the picture above.  Honestly, does the view get much better?!?

We closed the beach that night and had a frozen pizza.  We watched a movie and called it a night.
Two of our three days consisted of waking up, hitting the beach, eating some lunch, hitting the beach, eating some snacks, playing in the ocean, and then eating supper.  The temperature was in the mid eighties and absolutely beautiful.  The water was clear as deep as you could go.
One day we decided to mix things up a bit and we rented bikes.  There was a bike path you could take to Seaside, Florida.  It was about 6 miles from our house to Seaside.  We walked around in the cute/pricey shops and had some expensive delightful lunch.  (Okay, it wasn't really that delightful.  The boys had $10 hamburgers and were still hungry.  I strategically chose tuna salad and tea b/c I knew they wouldn't eat it.  My lunch was $17!!  It's about the memories, right?!?)

One morning the big boys and Fred went out early to watch the sunrise.  There was some kind of lunar eclipse or something going on.  I'm not getting up early on vacation.  Andrew and I stayed in bed.  They did not get to see the thing with the sun, but I think they enjoyed their time together.  

 I think this is the only family picture we have...

 Our last day on the beach there was a wedding.  We were literally hanging out 20 feet away as they had this wedding.  I felt like an intruder, but like a wreck I couldn't turn my head away.  Once the wedding was over I had the brilliant idea to pose for this picture.  You should have heard my big boys.  They were mortified and my suggestion that we set up this funny picture.  We finally convinced Jack to snap it for us.  Clayton was hiding behind the beach chair from embarrassment.  It still makes me laugh.

While we were on the beach we found a crab and a snail.  We kept them in a pail and watched them all day.  At the end of the day we released them, because, you know, crabs can't make it in the big city...right?!?  Any who...Andrew was devastated that we released them...as in cried for 5 minutes.  Bless his heart.

 My birthday was Friday, the day we headed home.  Jack got up and told me happy birthday.  I said, "Awe, thanks bud".  To which he replied, "Dad told me to."  Feel the love people.  Feel the love.  Ha!

 We drove home that day, picked up Dash at Fred and Renee's and then met some friends at the movie to see Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (highly recommend this one).  It was a full, fun fall break and I wouldn't trade one minute of it.  God has blessed us beyond measure and this week was a great time to step back and let it just flood over us.  Happy Fall everyone!