Our Florida Road Trip!

We were all set to drive down to Florida for our spring break vacation! We were all so excited to get away as a family and relax in the sun! This was by far the longest car drive we have ever embarked on as a family. We had the car packed with many books, snacks, and movies for when we got desperate. The kids did great and impressed us with how they handled the long drive.

Greta taking a snooze.

Greta is showing off her cute new swim suit before we left for our trip!

She liked the ruffles on the butt. 

We did have some emergency lollipops on hand to break out if it was getting long for the kids. 

The kids having fun at a rest stop in Illinois. 

Our friends Zach and Jody Gray invited us to stay at their house in Franklin Tennessee for one of the nights on our way down to Florida. Our kids played together so well! We enjoyed having dinner together and playing outside. We headed back on the road again after breakfast the following morning.

Then we made it to Panama City beach in Florida where we stayed at a beach condo for 4 days! It was beautiful! The warm sun felt so good. We spent each day on the beach, playing in the sand and ocean. We enjoyed many beach walks looking for shells. The kids gathered quite a collection! On one of the mornings as we were playing on the beach we saw a dolphin swimming right by us! It was wonderful to be able to watch the sun set each evening and fun to get some beach pictures as a family. 

We love these three!

I love Asa's expression in this picture!

After Panama City Beach, we headed over to stay with our friends Allen and Carol near Tallahassee Florida for three days. We had such an amazing time with them and their family! They treated us like family and our kids loved playing with the teenagers. We went to Shell Point with them one of days which is a private beach. The kids loved looking for more shells and we enjoyed the sunshine. Their teenage kids even babysat for us one of the evenings so that we could go out to dinner on a double date with Allen and Carol for some delicious southern food. 

The last day with them was one of my favorite days on the whole trip. They took us to Wakulla Springs where we got to swim in the natural spring and take a boat ride on the spring river. We saw many alligators, manatees, turtles, and beautiful birds. It was a joyous day!

The kids playing on their trampoline

The kids loved catching lizards at their house.

Haha! Brian took this picture of the boys celebrating on the deck of our beach condo!

TJ was so good with the boys.

We visited my cousin Holly in Tennessee on our way home! They served us a yummy dinner and dessert. We are so excited to spend more time with them when we visit Illinois this June!

We stopped and stayed with the Grays again on the trip back home. Greta and London love to play together. 

God truly blessed us with a beautiful trip and I am thankful to adventure with my husband!