Let's Drive to the Beach!

When we decided we would put our annual family trip to Florida back on the vacation calendar this year, we did not count on the exorbitant airplane fares.  Seriously.  $700 a ticket times five?  To go to Florida?  No, thank you.

Chris was, of course, thrilled.  He, crazy guy that he is, loves to drive and the thought of a 24 or so hour  drive to Florida seemed like a great way to start a family vacation.  I, on the other hand, suffered severe post traumatic stress and had flashbacks of the last time we attempted the drive.  (Spoiler:  it hadn't gone all that well the last time around.)  But, I attempted to pep talk my way out of it.  The boys are older now!  I am not pregnant this time around (thank goodness!).  We could do it!  (That's what I was saying out loud, but honestly, wasn't feeling it all that much.)

We left bright and early on a Friday morning.  And honestly, it wasn't bad at all.  In fact, it was sort of good.  The boys were truly at their best.  They were thrilled to be on their way to the beach and made barely a peep of complaint.  They didn't even fight!  (At the end of the car ride I commented on the lack of bickering and Griffin smiled proudly at me.  He replied, "Do you think we outgrew the fighting?")

The boys watched movie after movie, content to snack and nap while we drove hour after hour.  At one point, Brennan woke up, sleepily took in the scenery outside the car and asked, "Are we in Canada?"  Yes, maybe we need to work on our geography a little bit.

The only tough part of the trip was the boys insistence that we just keep driving.  They never wanted to stop.  Not ever.  At one point, they asked if we could just go through a drive through for dinner so we could make even better time.  They were a determined little bunch.  They even talked Chris into driving straight through instead of our plan of stopping for the night.  My poor sweet husband loaded up some coffee and a few five hour energy drinks and kept on trucking (listening to the unabridged Steve Jobs biography I downloaded for him before we left.)

We all slept blissfully beside him.  Until, he finally woke me around 3 am to ask if he could take a break.  Sure, I told him.  I would love to drive!  I managed to convince him all would be good, took the wheel and watched his eyes quickly close as he drifted off to dreamland.

I managed to get lost all of twenty minutes later.  I still don't know how it happened.  And Chris was sleeping so nicely beside me, that I didn't have the heart to wake him.

He woke up about forty-five minutes later.  I had to confess we were good and truly lost.  After I had only driven for all of an hour.  I am useless.

Chris didn't sweat it.  He had us back on track in no time and didn't even let in one tiny dig about my lack of directional skills.  (But I can't help to notice, he hasn't asked me to drive us anywhere since.)

We made it to Longboat Key before 7 am.  We stopped for a family breakfast at the resident favorite diner, Blue Dolphin Cafe and then headed to the local public beach.  The boys were off and running, thrilled to have their feet in the sand and surf.  Brennan stopped for a moment, sighed a big satisfied sigh and said with his arms outstretched, "That drive was totally worth this."

It was a lovely week at the beach with family.  We were thrilled to have a house rented just outside of St. Armands circle and spent most of the week, ending our days with a walk into town for dinner and ice cream.  (Kilwans made a killing on our brood.)  We swam.  We all enjoyed kayaking in the surf (even me!).  We took a day off to visit the Sarasota Open.  We spent long, full days at the beach, soaking up the sun.  The boys played poker with Uncle Mark and had a family game time one afternoon.  It was truly a perfect vacation.

A highlight for us was an unexpected beach moment while Aidan and Brennan were out in the ocean kayaking.  A school of dolphins swam up next to them and swam alongside them for a good ten to fifteen minutes.  It was simply incredible and a memory the boys will truly remember forever.

I also loved how we managed to have our own family of five family time this vacation.  While we had great quality time with our large extended family, having our own place brought us nice moments of with just our five.  Our walks into town, our dinners, our many a night of ice cream, were all great memories for us.

Our little beach house had two well sized bedrooms, with extra sleeping in the family room with a Murphy bed and a pull out couch.  The boys decided they would prefer to sleep all together in the living room, rather than make use of the nice king size bed in the second bedroom.  Aidan got the pull out couch.  Brennan chose the Murphy bed.  And Griffin, not be left out, slept on the couch closest to his brothers.  It was so, very sweet.

We even survived the drive home.  The boys were champs through the whole ride.  (Okay, Griffin did get a wee bit car sick on our first few hours of the drive.  And there may have been an issue of there being a hole in the bag we gave him to catch his "car sickness."  And well, I would rather forget the quality time I spent with my poor G in a Dunkin Donuts bathroom off the thruway in Florida.)  But otherwise, hey - all good!

 I may even consider doing it again.  (Maybe.)

Florida 2014: In Pictures