We spent a wonderful week on the beach in Seaside, Florida for our first vacation as a family of four. We went to Watercolor, Florida last year after Frank's Auburn MBA graduation, and we absolutely loved the South Walton area so we decided to go back this year. The beaches are huge, with white sand and clear, turquoise water. This year we stayed in a townhouse right on the beach, which was awesome. The place had amazing ocean views and a huge deck outside where we could spend the mornings drinking coffee and watching the sunrise and spend the evenings grilling out, eating dinner, and watching gorgeous sunsets. Frankie got to sleep in his own room which had a queen-sized bed and a set of bunk beds. He started off in the big bed and then moved to the bunk beds by the end of the trip.
We spent the week with a lot of time on the beach, time at the pool, kite flying, pirate ship cruising, food truck sampling, and awesome family bonding time. Lily is so young, and she obviously will not remember this trip, so this vacation was really all about spending some quality time with Frankie. Frank took him to the beach most mornings while I watched Lily and then we would join them up at the beach for about an hour before heading up for lunch and nap time. I tried to take Frankie to do something with just me and him every day, which included a late night trip to the ice cream shop, his first time flying a kite, and many trips up to the pool. I really, truly treasured this time I got to spend with him, as well as all the time we spent together as a family.
Lily did FANTASTIC sleeping on this vacation. She slept in a pack-n-play, and she slept great every night except one when I had a little trouble putting her down. She also continued to take marathon 4-hour naps every day in the pack-n-play between 11:00 and 3:00. A couple of the days we got Frankie to nap from about 1:00 to 3:00 so Frank and I could enjoy about two hours of downtime. Frankie also slept great for the most part, except he refused to nap two days, which were LOOONG days for sure. He also did not have one single potty accident the whole time we were away, which was great.
We mostly stayed near our condo or in the Seaside area, but we did venture out to Destin one night for dinner and to enjoy the sunset on the boardwalk and to Panama City beach one night for a really cool sunset pirate cruise. We met up in Panama City for the cruise with one of Frank's classmates from Auburn and his family, and then we went over to their house after for dinner. They have two boys ages 5 and 7, and Frankie was running around with them like a crazy man. He loves playing with older kids, and he was absolutely in love with their vacuum. Even at our house on the beach, he asked to play with the vacuum at least one time every day. He is completely obsessed with them.
On the pirate ship, the crew kept the kids entertained with a ton of cool games, including a water gun fight, finding a treasure and pulling it out of the ocean, face painting and tattoos, swabbing the deck, and a pirate dance party. Frankie had a blast! We also got to see a bunch of dolphins and a gorgeous sunset on the cruise.
There was a sweet family staying in the townhouse next to us with a 2.5 year old daughter named Charlotte. We both arrived last Saturday, and the kids played together a lot during the week. We stayed up on the deck and had too much wine with her parents a couple of nights and really enjoyed meeting such a nice family.
This trip was not perfect. We had those two napless days I mentioned earlier, and every single family member had at least one meltdown. I almost fell down the stairs on the deck on our last night while carrying Lily and scared three of us (me, Frankie, and Lily) to tears. We had to leave by 4:30 a.m. on our last day to make it to the airport in time for our 7:00 a.m. flight, and on the way there Frankie threw up. However, overall, it was a wonderful adventure and we made memories that our family will treasure forever.
I took more than 400 pictures on this vacation because I wanted to treasure and remember every single moment. Here are some [A TON] of my favorites:
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| First sunset on our deck |
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| gorgeous sunsets |
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| Me and my girl at sunset |
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| Running down the beach at sunset |
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| Handsome boy |
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| Frank and Lily at sunset |
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| Most gorgeous sunset ever |
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| Just a little morning play time before heading to the beach |
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| Lunch on the deck with Mommy |
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| Hot and happy baby at the pool |
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| beach beauty |
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| Nap time = glass of wine |
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| me and my sweetie |
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| on the deck |
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| flowers my sweet boys bought for me |
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| Frank and Lily |
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| silly boy! |
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| Mommy and me |
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| giant hotdog on Destin boardwalk |
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| Destin boardwalk |
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| Me and my loves |
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| watching the sunset at the Destin boardwalk |
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| Dinner at Dewey Destin |
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| my handsome hubby |
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| my boys |
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| Frankie |
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| silly Frankie and Mommy |
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| just me |
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| Lily is like...what are you doing to me?? |
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| Baby on the beach! |
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| swimming with Daddy |
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| To get Frankie to take this picture, I told him to say "POO!" |
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| Frank was eating oysters, which made him very happy! |
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| Dinner at the food trucks in Seaside |
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| Frank and the kiddos at sunset |
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| Frank and his girl |
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| Mommy and Lily |
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| A super nice lady took these pictures of our family! |
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| Bernardos on the beach |
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| Another sunset shot |
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| pure joy |
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| Running on the beach with Daddy |
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| Our townhouse |
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| Look at the sun, Daddy! |
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| I'm just putting her to bed Mommy. |
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| Frank's favorite bow for Lily. |
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| my boy on the beach |
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| building sand castles with Daddy |
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| his vacation friend Charlotte giving him a lollipop |
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| heading out into the ocean [again] |
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| I finally caught a smile! |
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| my sweet girl |
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| getting ready to fly his new kite! |
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| so excited to fly the kite! |
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| wahoo! |
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| so super high in the air! |
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| looking up, up in the air |
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| handsome boy |
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| another gorgeous sunset |
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| Cheese! Sweet siblings. |
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| wearing Baby Lily's sunglasses |
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| just a little morning siesta |
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| baby girl is getting so big! |
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| sweet smiles |
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| eating popsicles on the porch |
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| ice cream date with Mommy |
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| view from the master bedroom deck |
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| early morning at the beach |
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| sweet baby in her bathing suit |
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| sailor girl! |
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| view on the deck |
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| pirate ship! |
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| Lily on the pirate cruise |
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| swabbing the deck |
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| my little pirate |
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| loved the beard and mustache! |
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| picking out some treasure |
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| family pic on the pirate cruise |
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| captain Frankie! |
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| with the captain pirate |
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| sweet, sweet siblings! |
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| happy at the beach! |
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| on the sand with Daddy |
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| just chilling in the ocean |
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| pretty beach |
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| beach bums |
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| me and kids on the beach |
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| family pic in the water |
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| silly boy wouldn't look at the camera |
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| beach babe |
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| flying his kite with Daddy |
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| last night on the beach |
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| me and my sweet kids |
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| family pic at sunset |
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| love my family! |
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| Seaside 2013 |
