Grandma's and the Beach

This is going to be a long one. So, grab a cup of joe and relax :) For our first trip with all the kids it actually went pretty darn well. Of course, I am a glass half empty kind of gal so for it to go better than what I could possibly have imagined it would really isn't all that big of a stretch! Anyway, Friday we had planned on leaving about 10. Right after I fed EG. And we actually were pulling out of the driveway by 10:17 which I thought was phenomenal! The first thing we noticed, though, before making it out of the driveway was that the luggage bag straps on top of the car were making a horrendous slapping noise. No way could we listen to that for 5/6 hours. So, we went down the street a couple of houses, passed the exit of our subdivision so daddy could stop and fix the straps. All the kids were yelling "Daddy, where are you going?" "Daddy what are you doing?" Then he pulled into a cul de sac and got out of the car. Boop said "Daddy, what are you doing?" Daddy looked at Boop and said as serious as can be "We are at grandma's!" Boop preceded to unbuckle his carseat straps and get out of his carseat! We were less than a minute from our house! He seriously thought we were at grandma's. I understand you kind of had to be there but we laughed so hard! We were stopped in front of a house we walk by almost every night!!

Once we got on the road we made pretty good time until we stopped for lunch and then everything started to get a little hairy. Even though we had all the kids go to the bathroom before we got back in the car, Boop had to go potty twice. The first time was a false alarm. But we still had to stop twice. Then we ran into a big accident and then a small accident that had traffic at a standstill for miles. By the time we got to Tampa we had hit Friday afternoon traffic which was moving at a snail's pace. But the kids did great and were so excited to see water, an airport, planes and a big city! We got to grandma's all in one piece and that is all that really matters.

The kids swam literally all weekend. We had plans to spend Saturday at the beach. BUT the winds were incredible. Gusts up to 41 miles an hour. Winds like you would see during a hurricane but with the sun shining and no rain. My mom's house is surrounded with all kinds of trees and the wind whipping through them was such an awesome sound. So peaceful and relaxing. We decided by late morning to try the beach. Sissy and Alex went first. My mom lives about 10 minutes from a really great family beach. Anyway, we got to the beach and got out of the car to put sunscreen on. In less than a minute, Nature Girl got hit in the head with a large, dried palm branch that was being tossed about in the air by the wind. Boop was assaulted with flying sand in his face and eyes and was screaming and crying. We looked on to the beach and the sand was flying 6 feet in the air. It looked like a sand storm from some desert country. We saw families venture out to the beach and 5 minutes later come back to the car covered in sand. As much as we hated to turn back, there was no way we were taking our entourage out there. Daddy said it was blowing as hard as a commercial grade sand blaster. My sister came back from the beach all red on her back. Daddy was pretty sure it wasn't a sun burn but sand burn! Anyway, there was a nice playground at the beach so we hung out there for a little bit.

Later that night we grilled hamburgers and had my mom's good friends over. Of course, the kids swam all night until bed time. Everyone slept great. It was so neat because we left the windows open and you could still hear all the wind rustling in the trees. The greatest white noise. EG even slept 6-7 hours each night!

Sunday we just hung out. Had a good breakfast. Daddy did some chores for grandma then we got on the road. I guess because it was Sunday the traffic wasn't near as bad and we made it home in about 5 hours. We have learned a few things about traveling to grandma's. We are going to try to leave some stuff there that we will need every time. We have to be careful not to hit Tampa in the afternoon. And we probably will try to stay one more day next time. It is a long way to travel with four kids for only one whole day. . .