The Beach!

We just returned for our annual neighborly trip to Jacksonville, Florida. This time, we had three families, three cars, five adults, six kids, and we all crammed into one lovely house. It was the best. This is the third year we've been on the trip and every year it is different. This time we kicked Amy's very obliging parents out of their house and took over (to be fair, we sent them to a very nice hotel room!)

Jacksonville or bust!

We hit the road on Friday right after picking up all the kids from VBS. Violet was so excited to be going to Florida, but also at the prospect of all the movies she was going to be allowed to watch in the car! Annie was a trooper, not losing it until 6 p.m. when we finally stopped for dinner.

Shopping for 13

After settling into DeeDee and Papa's house and doing a little night swimming in their pool, we hit the beach nice and early. I'm happy to say both my girls absolutely loved it. Annie sat by the water's edge and explored the sand between her fingers, Violet braved the waves. This crew really knows how to set up a beach camp - we had plenty of tents for shade, a nice little bed for Annie to nap on, plenty of food to keep everyone happy - it's the only way to do the beach right!

Annie beach tent - perfect!

My sweet beach baby!

Crazy girl!

Annie fell in love with Papa's dog Cooper. The two of them had the best time - well, Annie did at least! She would hold out a ball to him and he would grab it and drop it. Then she'd scoot her little self over to it and repeat the whole process, giggling the whole time. I really thought she would learn to crawl while we were there. She is so close and Cooper was such good motivation!

Post breakfast shenanigans.

Starting the sand castle with Christian

Finished product with Reece

Amy taught us how to make lemonade with lemons and peppermint sticks!

Day two we headed to the beach again, although this time a massive thunderstorm cut our visit a few hours short. We made up for it with movie night at the house. The last day, Matt and Violet headed to the water park while I stayed home with Annie. I can't bear the thought of paying the crazy entrance fee to the park, only to sit around with the baby. Fortunately for me (though unfortunately for her) Kim had to stay home as well with a sick kiddo. And very unfortunately for the rest of us, the stomach bug got passed around. But at least we made it home before it hit anyone else!

Down the slide by herself!

Watching My Little Pony in the morning.

Our beach crew!