Navarre Beach

Alas, this post is not poetic, or even journalistic...it's just a regular uninspired post.  Ignore the "alas" even...it's an effort at it but not much more.  It has taken me a week to punch this out...so here goes.  Shawn and I took the kids on vacation this month.  Five random things about this trip amazed me:  #1  We packed all of our stuff in one (albeit huge) suitcase.  Amazing huh!  I am still proud of it!  I wish it was my awesome packing skills, but the truth is, we just didn't take a lot of "stuff."  #2  The 11 hr drive to and from FL was an extension of the vacation.  So much so that I (quite literally) feel like I have a brand new vehicle.  I appreciate my van so, so much more now that I've been on a long road trip in it.  It is amazing.  As far as vehicles go, it is supposed to be nearly the best, but as with anything that comes my way, I had to be made a believer.   #3  I liked the small confines of the condo.  I liked the "close-ness" it forced on us.  #4  Having a large body of water nearby would have been excessively convenient during the last trimester of both my pregnancies (that's all I'll say about that) as well as during potty training Grace!  #5 The lull of the ocean waves put Noah John to sleep while the constant motion and sound was like visual and audio caffeine for our eldest tyke.  Speaking of her,  the morning we were supposed to leave, she woke up without a voice.  I joked to Shawn, "This could be one nice, quiet drive down to FL."  Grace is a screamer.  Apparently it runs in the family.   Yes, yes, it's safe to say it's genetic.  In case you don't understand, I'll continue.  After one particularly glass-shattering and ear-ringing shriek just a couple days before her voice went out, I told her about the time I screamed so loud at mom that I instantly got laryngitis (true story).  So she assumed she got laryngitis from screaming, when really, she just had a bad cold.  The story goes that I inherited my set of lungs from my aunt Becky.   

Eleven hours after leaving WKY, we pulled into the condo parking lot.  Divia (our gps...oh, yes, we name the inanimate) sent us an alternate route through backwoods AL which I would have normally loved, but not at night!  I was relieved to get to the condo!   Thankfully, both kids are pretty awesome travelers...as long as their bellies are full, their bottoms are dry and I climb between them to read to them every few hours, they are not too hard to please (oh, and as long as I kept the Tylenol in Grace!)  Did I mention we don't even have a dvd player in the van?!

Anyway, we slept well the first night, and when we awoke Saturday, we headed to the beach.  The kids were enamored, but in totally different ways, as mentioned above ;) .  Grace played and played in the sand.  She also ran and ran....to the water's edge, to the chairs, 'round in circles, to the water's edge...you get the drift.  Noah John tuckered out after a nice little rest on me.  I finally handed him to Shawn because I couldn't stop fidgeting.  (Which is where Grace gets it also).  Since Shawn can sit still so well hahahahaha he let Noah John nap on him.  He snoozed but would never admit it.  It was niiiiice.  I was so surprised to be able to relax!  I had envisioned a stressful vacation and had told Shawn multiple times I thought we were crazy for trying a go of it with an 11 month old and croupy 3 year old.  I'm happy to say I was wrong!  My kids surprised me!  The second day, we did more of the same...and again...niiiiiice.  It was a bit harder because we were all tired for some reason.... By the third day, it became abundantly clear that Miss Grace's eyes had gotten sunburned.  Per medical advice, we kept her out off the beach that day.  We drove to Destin, ate some yummy seafood, stopped in for some Dippin' Dots, and let Grace play at the playground and fountain park near the bay.

Noah John was a trooper!  He fussed a time or two, but overall he just went w/ the flow.  He got lots of tactile stimulation from the sand...he even ate handful after handful of it.  Yuck.  The highlight was him standing for a long period of time (maybe 20 seconds?) and taking his very first step.

Shawn and I really enjoyed time away together.  The kids played well together and then separately when they tired out (*note:  which is what I think I love about their age diff of 2 yrs and 8 mos).  Grace and I pouted about leaving and begged Shawn not to make us go (double trouble when we gang up on him!) but as it always does, vacation came to an end.  We have been back in Nebo about a week now and just have the pictures and memories to cherish!