Beach Bound!!

We left Memphis BRIGHT AND EARLY Sat June 15th!! We hit the road at 6:30am! Got kids to bed fairly early so the wake up call wouldn't be horrible ;) And to be honest it wasn't bad at all!! The kids were EXCITED about going to the BEACH!!! The hopped right in the van and were ready to GO!!

Car rides don't always go so well with our crew so I decided to try something different this time. I made a little sign that had a good section, warning section and bad section. Put the kids names on some clothes pins and stuck them on the good section to start off. I explained to the kids if they stay in the good section then every so often they will get a prize. I loaded up on some items dollar store, target, walmart prior to leaving and wrapped all of them and stuck them in a bag. A few of the items were a little more expensive but I am going to get those things in the travel bag so that they are new come travel time again. Anyways, it worked like a charm!! They were so GOOD!! Em got to warning once but she worked her way back to good. I would like to say our "positive reinforcement" project went well ;)

On the way down we stopped twice. Once earlier in the trip to potty and change the kids clothes. Then a second time to gas up and grab some lunch. We stopped at a McDonalds to let the kids play for a bit. We have learned that running them around a little helps too! 

The kids have been asking for these little Squinkies toys for a while. I have just waited bc I wanted Em to be old enough she wouldn't just toss it in her mouth. They were a HIT!! Kids have really played with them to my surprise!

About 2 hrs out Em was getting RESTLESS!! I think she was fighting a nap but she would NEVER tell me that ;) We ended up playing the alphabet game, looked for FORDS, and whatever else came to mind...

Silly boy trying to cheer Em up!!

I put in the movie Brave (Em's request) and the kids were GLUED to the movie!! They have only seen it once I think and it was a while ago. That totally helped pass the rest of the time. 

Almost THERE!! We got lost right before we got to the bridge. Our garmin tried to take us a closed down way but thankfully my iphone helped us to get back on the right track!!

About 3pm we pulled up to our little BEACH HOUSE for the week!!! We went right in and checked it out! Nana and Pawpaw where already there unpacking!! We let the kids play around for a while and we made out our grocery list for the week. Then we strolled around the neighborhood to figure out where the beach access was, the pool, etc. 

Then off to Pompano Joe's for dinner!! One of our fave places to eat by the way and it was EXCELLENT that night as well!! The kids, Craig and I headed down to put our toes in the sand after we ordered our food! So thankful for Nana and Pawpaw to hang out at the table so the kids can be entertained!! 

When we got down to the beach Craig, Max and I took off running. Em however stayed back on the deck. She walked out into the stand and quickly went back to wash her feet off. It took me a good 10 minutes to convince her to walk towards the ocean. She DID NOT want sand on her feet. She wanted me to just hold her but I didn't want to start that so I just talked to her for a while until she decided on her own to just do it! 

It didn't take her long and she was running around splashing and playing in the sand like the rest of us!!

After our yummy dinner Em and I went and sat by the singer to listen. He was really good!! Sounded like Jimmy Buffet!! Em just LOVES music so we enjoyed signing and dancing to this nice man!! 

Then he asked if the kids wanted to come up and play maracas with him. Em practically jumped up on stage!! She was ALL ABOUT IT!! And she has a BIG grin on her face most of the time!!

She would just giggle while she was shaking the maracas too!! So adorable!! She went up their a couple of times. We couldn't talk Max into going up there at all!! Em is our little show stopper though and LOVED every minute of it!!

Shortly after this last song we headed back to the beach house! We dropped Craig and the kids off to have some downtime while my parents and I made a Walmart run to get groceries for the week. Let me just tell you it was the CRAZIEST place on earth!! We have only been to the beach during off season May, Aug, Sept. June is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT ballgame!! Walmart was PACKED and by packed I mean it was like BLACK FRIDAY packed. People were grabbing things off the shelf as soon as they restocked and everything. It was CRAZY!! So thankful we decided NOT to take the kids. We got out of there ALIVE and with most of what we needed thankfully and headed back to the beach house!!