Recapping our summer beach trip from a few weeks ago! We’ve gone to Destin, Florida twice now, and just love it there! The water is so clear, it feels like you are in the Caribbean crystal-clear waters. There is so much to do there, we just love it.

Friday, August 11
We left our house bright and early Friday morning. I bought Hadley one of those plastic lap desks for the car and she pretty much used it the entire time we were in the car. We stopped about two hours in for breakfast and gas. We let the kids walk around as much as we could, even let Huxley stand in the booth when we’d stop to eat so he could stretch his legs.

We had the plans to stop in Birmingham, Alabama and stay at a hotel. We weren’t quite sure how Huxley would do in the car, so we had a plan. Since we couldn’t check into our hotel until 3pm I think it was, we decided to take a pit stop and visit the infamous Buc-ee’s! We went to the one in Athens, Alabama and it was amazing! If you ever get the chance to go to a Buc-ee’s, go. It is one of a kind, huge, and a bit overwhelming. But so so cool. I plan to share what we purchased while we were there, to give everyone a taste of what they have.

I was a little anxious how Huxley would do in the car for long periods of time, but my loving husband stopped for all the things. Breakfast, lunch, and diaper changes. Huxley did pretty good! He had his moments, and I even had a bag full of new toys he had never seen before, and they would last maybe 3 minutes at a time. Towards the end of the drive to the hotel, I did hop in the backseat in between Hadley and Huxley and entertained him a little.

We arrived at the hotel, checked in, and went up to our room and changed into our swimsuits. Went down to the pool, ordered pizza, and ate dinner outside. I’m not a huge fan of sleeping all together in one room with kids. One reason, I’m a very light sleeper, and don’t sleep the best anyways. We put up the pack ‘n play in the corner of the room, shut the blinds, turned on the sound machine, and he went to sleep.

Saturday, August 12
On the road again bright and early! We took our time checking out at the hotel, they have a really great breakfast at this particular hotel, so we relaxed and filled our bellies before heading out again.

Huxley has never been a big napper in the car, for this trip he only slept 30 minutes the entire trip! I guess it’s better than nothing but was hoping for a longer nap. We brought the travel sound machine we’ve had since he was a newborn, stuck it in the side of his car seat, and turned the radio down. It worked because he fell asleep, just didn’t stay asleep!

We arrived at the condo and walked straight out to the beach! The water was amazing! Hadley was so happy, and Huxley wasn’t so sure. I love staying at condos that are right on the beach, with a very very short walk to the beach. When you have kids, they come with lots of stuff to bring to the beach, so the shorter the walk the better. In my opinion, you can’t really go to Florida without staying at a place with a view of the ocean, right? After dinner, we took a walk on the beach and the weather was amazing.

Sunday, August 13
Started the day with a walk on the beach! It felt amazing to be by myself, and I luckily forgot my headphones for the walk, so I literally listened to the sounds of the ocean and just took it all in. It was so relaxing, while I was sweating my booty off!

Kevin and Hadley went down to the beach and set up the umbrellas and tents. Little man wasn’t a fan of the sand! He would either sit on a chair or stand on the mat and barely move. It was pretty funny as the days went on, but he loved the water!

Hadley could live in a pool, like she would rather swim at a pool all day instead of the ocean. She loves the ocean, but not as much as a pool. We compromise and spend most of the day at the beach, and then one of us goes up to the condo with Huxley while he naps, and then the other one of us goes to the pool with Hadley. It all works out!

We went to a place called Fudpuckers for dinner, we’ve been to this place before Huxley was born. You can feed the alligators while you wait for your table, and they have places for the kids to play. For dinner, we got seated right away so we fed the alligators after dinner. Kevin ordered a bucket drink which consisted of vodka and lemonade. I did a fun poll on Instagram and asked everyone who they thought ordered the drink, me or Kevin. Everyone voted me which I thought was soo funny, because Kevin ordered it. I’m not a fruity drink person, and this drink was fruity! Hadley loved her meal; it came with tiny alligators on her food.

After dinner, we went to feed the alligators. Hadley loves to pet animals, so of course she wanted to pet the alligators they brought out. And then she fed the alligators! While she was feeding them, Kevin was holding Huxley because it was super-hot out and let’s face it, I hold Huxley all the time! Huxley felt the need to take his ballcap off and toss it in with the alligators! We were laughing so hard! Kevin told the employees just in case if the alligators decided to eat the hat and by no means did we want or need the hat back! Well, the employee used this huge net to get the hat out of the water! They said that alligators get super territorial over things like that, and they’d rather get something out of the water, than leave it in with them. It was a memory we won’t forget!

After dinner, Kevin stayed at the condo with Huxley and put him to bed. Hadley and I went to get ice cream, it was such a cute little shop. After ice cream, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts to get breakfast for the next day. At the condo, we love to sit out on the deck and just listen to the ocean!

Monday, August 14
Started the day with another solo walk on the beach! I just love how the walk to the beach is so close, I can’t imagine going to the beach and not staying so close can you? Kevin and Hadley went down to the beach to set up the stuff again, I stayed up at the condo and got Huxley ready for the beach. He ate so much sand, he started **itting sand, it was insane! I can’t get over how amazing the water is! It’s crystal clear, and it was the perfect temperature! Refreshing, not too cold and not too warm, it was perfect!

I’m so glad we brought his floatie we use at the pool for the ocean; it was a lot easier than holding him or putting him in a life jacket. The water was pretty calm most of the time, so we felt comfortable putting him in a floatie.

Kevin and I took turns going up to the condo with Huxley and to feed him lunch. We brought a travel highchair that was perfect. It folded up like a mini camping chair, so it didn’t take up much room at all. The condo was very nice, I wish I would’ve taken more photos of the inside. The only complaint we had was it wasn’t the cleanest, and the door to the entrance looked like a tiger had a little brawl at the front door! The condo is an older building, and needs some updates, but we still loved it.

After Huxley went to bed, I ran to the store to get some more Titos. I had to take a photo of how much cheaper it was in Florida than in Ohio! Like ten dollars cheaper! And I took a photo of the “reddy ice”, which isn’t the best ice because it melted so fast. I like the home city ice in Ohio, it stays super cold! This was the end of day four!

Check back later this week, to recap the rest of our trip! Thanks for following along.

Happy Monday and thanks for reading!

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