Florida Sunshine

I love my Florida roots. Even though I rarely get a chance to go back to my actual hometown of Palm Bay, just getting back to FL always gives me warm fuzzies inside.

Last Wednesday I flew down to Jacksonville for a long weekend. It was a surprise to my niece and nephew and the looks on their faces were priceless!! I wish someone could've gotten a picture of it! They were the main point of the trip - visiting with the rest of the family was an added bonus. When I originally made the plans, though, it was to see them play soccer and take them to the beach. Well, I got to do half of that.

We spent Thursday preparing for the beach on Friday. It was a little drizzly on Thursday morning, so the option of going to the beach was out that day. So instead, we went out and bought beach gear and found new suits for the kids. I grabbed the sunscreen and a beach blanket, as well. So Thursday turned out to be a pretty lax day of just hanging around the house besides that trip out. I still have fun taking them shopping.

Friday was beach day, though! We tried to get out as early as possible, even though it was slightly chilly for FL standards. By the time we actually hit the sand, though, it was perfect! The only downside to the day was the extremely cold water temperature. No one was in the water when we got there, and we quickly learned why! It had to be in the low 60's, maybe even upper 50's! We still enjoyed what we could, though - the water temp just kept us high and dry. Still had fun, still got some sun!

Saturday was supposed to be the day of soccer games. Darian's game was cancelled early on in the week, and Kristopher's game kept wavering, to the point that they decided not to go home and risk not having it. More so to keep my mom and I from driving down unnecessarily. So we had Saturday to spend together yet, which was nice. I took the kids to see Hop, which they were really wanting to see. Cute movie for kids. When we got home, we grilled out some awesome burgers on the grill and then they finally had to go. Kristin wanted to have one full day at home before the kids went back to school after spring break.

So that left me with my parents for a quiet Sunday, which was just perfect. We went out to breakfast and then took an early afternoon walk around the neighborhood before I had to head out, myself, to go to Orlando - my flight left early this morning, so I was staying at a nearby hotel. Didn't want to wake up earlier than that and have to drive!

All in all, it was a great, low key vacation for me. I just needed a little time away from the cold weather of Indiana, really, so it wasn't going to take much to make me happy, there! But it's always good to come back home to your own bed, which I'm going to thoroughly enjoy sleeping in tonight.