Just the 4 of us...we can make it if we try

So I didn't handle the idea of missing the beach this summer very well. That whole idea just did not work for me. So when the sitter told me she needed to be off on Friday the 28th, I started thinking...could we go to the beach. It would be just the four of us...long ride with the kids...wouldn't be able to leave until 4:30 on Thursday afternoon....hmmm. I called and booked the condo last minute, and we headed out on our first family-of-four vacation. The first change I made in hopes of having an easier trip was to turn Ronin's car seat around. He weighs 23 lbs, and it was only 20 days before his birthday. So I did it. And I was not disappointed. I felt like such an old mom doing it too. Certainly not something that I would have done as a "new" mom, funny how that changes. By the time we made it to Grenada, Jax had asked for the beach 6 times. I truly felt like we were in Shrek the third where donkey keeps asking "Are we there yet?" The kids watched Saved by the Bell (without a doubt, they are their daddy's boys) and the Bee movie all the way to Jackson. They fell asleep around 9:00. We got to the condo and John unpacked the vehicle. I stayed with the sleeping boys while he set up the pack-n-play in the boys' bedroom. We were pulling the covers back on the bed in their room, when Jax fell off the bed. It was not good. He walked backwards (in the very sleepy state) and hit the tile floor on the back of his head. Needless to say we didn't get the boys right to bed after that. Mommy and Daddy had to calm their racing hearts before anybody could sleep. We decided at that moment to move Jax into the king sized bed in our room. The next morning, we headed to the beach. It was certainly not a disappointment to any of us. Jax was thrilled with the water, waves, sand .... every bit of it. Ronin was fascinated by the sand, the crunchy stuff to eat in the sand (sea shells, sand dollars), and the birds. He absolutely loved the sea gulls and waved at them obsessively. Ronin took a little time in figuring out what this ocean/wave thing was about. But soon, I couldn't keep him under the tent. He was making a beeline for the water. When he'd fall, he would just start crawling head first into the waves. He did not like sand in his eyes or salt water in his eyes, but who does? We took the kids in for a nap after lunch, and John let me go down to the beach for a while to tan and soak it all in. We brought the kids back down and stayed on the beach until almost 6:00. We saw dolphins close by just as we were heading in. Then we walked across the street to eat at Peg Leg Pete's. The kids played on the playground, and then we ate yummy yummy seafood. Saturday we were back at the beach all day. Jax and Ro did more playing in the little blow up pool we took. Ro also decided to throw down his pacifier (which I had decided was a safety in keeping the seashells out of his mouth), and chew on a sand dollar. I could hear it crunching in his mouth, and grabbed him to scoop out as much as I could. Yuck. It sounded like he was chewing up gravel. John and I took turns on the beach during nap time. We took the kids back out and played in the water and sand the rest of the afternoon. Then we went to Flounders for dinner. After dinner, we went to Fort Pickens. It was the coolest thing to me. We took lots of pictures, and climbed up to the top to see the cannons. I would definitely like to go back when we can have more time to spend there. We stayed until it was too dark too see anymore. Then Sunday we headed back. I was a little nervous about the long trip with the kids, but it was great. It truly was the best vacation for our little family! I think we need to have some time to spend together (all 4 of us) without the chores of home and the routines of work. John and I talked on the way home about how special it was. I can't wait to do it again next year.