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Seaside, Florida Vacation Days 1 and 2 Recap and Jane’s 4th Birthday

Hey, hey, hey!  Happy Monday!  I’m over here asking myself what just happened in the last three weeks.  It was a complete whirlwind.  I’m behind on blogging, behind on blog reading, behind on responding to comments, just behind on most all things.  I did manage to actually put away most of our packing from our trip to Florida, so there’s that.  Now we just have Easter weekend to get through and I’m here for it and super excited for a slow weekend full of staying home, Easter egg hunts and a big breakfast on Sunday morning, but first, I blog.
Today, I’m going to share day one and two of our trip down to Seaside on 30A.  I hope to share a little everyday!
We started off with a beachy paper link countdown.  I usually start our countdowns weeks ahead, but the month of March was so crazy that I made this up less than a week ahead of leaving and then the day before we left I told the kids to pick which links they wanted to tear apart and have at it!  It wasn’t our traditional countdown, but hey, it was still something and it made them happy!
We left around 4:45 in the morning.  Jane stayed awake for a bit but then all the kids eventually fell asleep.  Jon had made pancakes and I brought coffee so that we could really utilize the morning hours without having to stop.  It’s  13 /12 hours from our house down to Seaside, but there’s always extra stops added in and, you know, traffic.
Boy oh boy, that traffic was something else this time around.  We’ve taken this route before, but the traffic had NEVER been this crazy.  My Facebook was full of friends being stuck in traffic all over the place!  It was bonkers!!!  We’ve never gone on spring break during actual spring break so this was definitely different for us.  We learned a lot and later in my posts I’ll share how we took a different route home to avoid the center and northern part of Nashville.  Phew!  I’m sooo happy we did!
But back to the beginning…
We had made it to Alabama and I knew we’d be passing by a Buc-ees and I was soooooo hoping to stop.  I knew on our way back there’d be no way we’d want to stop.  Luckily someone had to use the restroom – WOOHOO!  LOL!  So we stopped real fast, used the bathrooms and looked around as we walked through!
I soooo would’ve bought some merch, but we needed to be on our way after the atrocious traffic slowed us down.
I drove for a few hours and was bummed the sun came out since I had worn my glasses.  I can’t drive without sunglasses, so I had to double up.  Haha!
We made it to Alabaster, Alabama – a great little place to stop.  We took the kids to Olive Garden and then we all went to Crumbl Cookie – none of us had ever been there before and it was sooo good!
We went to our hotel, showered, put on pajamas and then snuggled our little three year old Jane, she would be turning 4 the next day!
Don’t mind all my face cream!  LOL!  I thought I’d cry, but I didn’t.  I haven’t been able to cry much since losing my dad, other than if I’m crying about him.  It’s so strange and I can’t wait to get my emotions back…sometimes those cries really help us get through the moments, you know…  anyhow, no tears for this Mama…just big hug and tight snuggles!
The next morning I found Henry greeting Jane with morning birthday wishes!  It was precious!
We all got dressed, headed to a really good breakfast and then took some more birthday pictures before heading out for a four hour ride to Seaside!
We were on our way!
We had arrived!  Here are some pics of our rental…
After unpacking and settling in, Jane wanted to go to the beach, so that’s exactly what we did – she was the birthday girl, after all!
Jon called a bike rental place associated with the house and had bikes delivered to our house while we were at the beach, actually we’re pretty sure we saw them go by as we walked to the beach access!  Helmets were delivered, too!  It was perfect!
The pavilion in the middle of the road just feet from our house, one of the locations from the movie, The Truman Show.
We walked way too far for our first beach visit.  Jon eventually found beach access crazy close to the house and it was perfect!
The walk was super fun, though!
This was the second ocean visit for the kids and they loved it!
It wouldn’t be a beach vacation without lots of handstands!
Henry “taking a picture” of Jon and myself.  So silly!
Got it!
Selfie!
 
Love this girl!
All the heart eyes!
More heart eyes…  😉
Trying to relax in a broken chair.  LOL!!!!!!
Besties!
Finding sea creatures…
Living her best life turning four at the beach!
Henry wanted a turn.  Bahahaha!
My world.
We walked back to the house and showered off before heading back out to explore Seaside, find food and find a dessert for Jane!
Our bikes had been delivered and we were ready to go!
A quick picture.
We decided to have dinner from the food trucks and it did not disappoint.
I got myself the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had!
We walked around for a bit and Jane was being so goofy…
When in Seaside, one must get pictures in front of the Post Office…
We found some ice cream.  Jon and I didn’t get any, but the kids loved it!
We sang Happy Birthday to Jane and it was perfect!
We couldn’t believe how great Jane was doing on the bike – you guys – SHE LOVED IT!
Pics with the OGs
As we biked our way back to the rental, I snapped some pics of some houses!  I just loved all the color!
This pink one was my absolute favorite out of all the houses!
We were so excited to have more beach days, to find some places to bike, to explore more of Seaside and beyond and to eat some yummy food!  Until recap of days 3 and 4!
If you made it this far, thanks for stopping by and scrolling through!
Marie 🙂
I’m linking up with Hello Monday.

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3 Comments

  1. EEK! I can't wait to read more! I'm so behind on blog reading and I'm trying to get caught up this week! Your rental was soooo cute! I hate that y'all got stuck in bad traffic, though. 13.5 hours is a loooong drive. Sheesh! We're 3.5 hours from 30A and that's long enough for me. Lol. I can't imagine having to drive 13.5 hours! haha. And isn't The Meltdown soooo yummy?! Seriously the best grilled cheese!!

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