John and I took turns driving through the night. The twins slept peacefully and woke up to stretch their legs each time we stopped to get gas. John and I each slept only an hour or so but it was so worth it to drive through the night. We got there in 11 hours and saw our beautiful beach house named Jubilee.
We woke up my parents, who arrived a few days earlier to setup. We ate breakfast, got settled, put on our swimsuits, and headed down to the beach. The kids were apprehensive of the water at first but as we spent each day on the beach they became more and more comfortable. By the end of our trip they loved the sand and waves.
Day One: Taking walks with Grandma, rolling in the sand, and playing in the waves.
Day Two: Who doesn't need to golf on the beach? We had fun digging holes too.
Day Three: Great cuddles for Mommy! Chilling out with Daddy and building drip castles with Mommy.
Day Four: T-ball playing, hat and sunglass wearing, seashell finding, sand digging, wave splashing with Pop-pop, and clam digging fun!
Day Five: Sand rolling, wave jumping with Daddy, cuddling with Mommy, and sunglass snacking on the beach.
Day Six: This is where the excitement begins. Tropical Depression Debby was lingering out in the gulf all week. It was predicted to move toward Texas and not hit the gulf coast in Florida. Well we woke up to dark skies and rain on Saturday. We filled the day with grocery shopping, rib cooking, coloring, movie watching, and rib eating!
One afternoon, we drove into Appalachacola to do some exploring and eat dinner.
One night John and I were able to enjoy some time to ourselves and an awesome dinner at The Owl Cafe in Apalachacola. For some reason, the twins HAD to be in our picture before we left. :)
Each night after dinner, we walked on the beach to enjoy the beautiful sunsets. It was a great way to end the day and we got some beautiful photos of the family and our two sweet loves.
On Saturday night, when we went to bed, the national weather forecast reported that now tropical storm Debby was heading towards Texas. We were predicted to get four inches of rain the next day. We figured we would be fine to pack the car the next afternoon to get ready to drive through the night again since the parking was covered. We went to bed. We woke up on Sunday morning to a swaying house being battered by 60+ mph winds. It was disconcerting to say the least. There were many pendant lights in the house and they were all swaying too, which just added to my anxiety. Overnight the storm never turned towards Texas as predicted and Cape San Blas was getting a direct hit. The wind and rain were non-stop so when we decided to leave early in the day we knew we'd have to battle them just to pack the car.
John was heading down the two flights of stairs to the cars to check out the situation and asked me to hold the door from the inside so it wouldn't blow off the hinges. When he let go a gust of wind came and the door slipped out of my hand ripping it off the top two hinges and slamming it into the outdoor light. George and Clara witnessed that whole debacle, which was scary and loud. They cried for the next hour and a half as myself, my Dad, and John opened the door battling the winds to get our suitcases in the car. We finally had enough of this exhausting task and decided to just leave behind whatever was left. It was nuts. We finally got in the car and on the road by 10:30 am. My parents decided to leave as well even though they had a week left on the rental. No one was sure how long this weather would last, if they would lose power, or if the water would come up over the dunes. Too much uncertainty for them. Once we were off the peninsula the winds weren't as bad and the rain died down. Nonetheless, we took the first road North and started driving inland.
It took us 14 hours to get back home to Texas. The twins occasionally had their meltdowns about being in the car so long, but then again, so did the adults. They surprised me with how well they handled yet another new situation. I was honestly so proud of how they conducted themselves all week.
It was an unexpectedly exciting way to end our amazing vacation. While that was quite the experience, all of the cherished memories of the twins first beach experience definitely outweigh the chaos of leaving. Here is my absolute favorite photo from the week. My sweet lovely beautiful little family on our first big vacation. Simply priceless...
On Saturday night, when we went to bed, the national weather forecast reported that now tropical storm Debby was heading towards Texas. We were predicted to get four inches of rain the next day. We figured we would be fine to pack the car the next afternoon to get ready to drive through the night again since the parking was covered. We went to bed. We woke up on Sunday morning to a swaying house being battered by 60+ mph winds. It was disconcerting to say the least. There were many pendant lights in the house and they were all swaying too, which just added to my anxiety. Overnight the storm never turned towards Texas as predicted and Cape San Blas was getting a direct hit. The wind and rain were non-stop so when we decided to leave early in the day we knew we'd have to battle them just to pack the car.
John was heading down the two flights of stairs to the cars to check out the situation and asked me to hold the door from the inside so it wouldn't blow off the hinges. When he let go a gust of wind came and the door slipped out of my hand ripping it off the top two hinges and slamming it into the outdoor light. George and Clara witnessed that whole debacle, which was scary and loud. They cried for the next hour and a half as myself, my Dad, and John opened the door battling the winds to get our suitcases in the car. We finally had enough of this exhausting task and decided to just leave behind whatever was left. It was nuts. We finally got in the car and on the road by 10:30 am. My parents decided to leave as well even though they had a week left on the rental. No one was sure how long this weather would last, if they would lose power, or if the water would come up over the dunes. Too much uncertainty for them. Once we were off the peninsula the winds weren't as bad and the rain died down. Nonetheless, we took the first road North and started driving inland.
It took us 14 hours to get back home to Texas. The twins occasionally had their meltdowns about being in the car so long, but then again, so did the adults. They surprised me with how well they handled yet another new situation. I was honestly so proud of how they conducted themselves all week.
It was an unexpectedly exciting way to end our amazing vacation. While that was quite the experience, all of the cherished memories of the twins first beach experience definitely outweigh the chaos of leaving. Here is my absolute favorite photo from the week. My sweet lovely beautiful little family on our first big vacation. Simply priceless...
No comments:
Post a Comment