First off, I was so nervous to take Ellie on the plane. I had seen so many (okay not so many, but two) toddlers who had been kicked off planes. I knew for sure that we would be next. We had an early flight to Atlanta (we left the house at 4:30 am). I thought Ellie would sleep (boy was I wrong). She was SUPER tired, but for the most part she was okay. I thought the "ear popping" would bother her, but she acted like nothing was wrong.
When we arrived in Atlanta, we waited for about an hour to get on a smaller flight to Tallahassee. Ellie fussed a little on this flight, but soon crashed (she was SO tired). We arrived in Tallahassee after 45 minutes, and then drove about 45 minutes to Grand Ridge (Sneads, FL) to see our family (I'll get to this in the next post). We stayed for two days in Grand Ridge, and then headed to the beach.
The beach was a two hour drive from Grand Ridge. We stayed Saturday to Friday. Grandma GiGi paid for three condos. We stayed as a family (Ben, Mom and Dad, and Dan, Ellie and me). Joni, Grandma, Lucas, and Shannon stayed in the other one on our floor, and Tosh and Maggie stayed on the second floor (no one really wanted to stay with them anyway...honeymooners...gag!)
We had a beautiful view from our room! I love the ocean, it is so beautiful. Ellie loved the beach and the pool. I thought she would tire of it, but every day as soon as she awakened, the first thing she wanted to do was go to either the beach or the pool.
I realized that it was a lot different to travel with a child than what it used to be, but I was so grateful that Ellie has grandparents who love her so much, they often took her to play or watched her so Dan and I could do our things too!
We went out to eat about three of the nights we were there, and cooked the rest of the time. Mom, Maggie, Grandma, Joni and I went to the base to get some groceries. We had a couple good laughs, especially when we were told that only Grandma was allowed to drive on the base. We thought of arguing, but the man enforcing it had a really big gun! Grandma was a really good sport!
We were also able to go to church while we were there. Right before we left though, Ellie was jumping off of the couch and hit her chin on the table (it was pretty deep). The ward was a really small, but they were all so friendly! Ellie wanted to go to nursery (but Dan, Ben, and Lucas bolted for the car as soon as sacrament was over).
While we were at the beach we went to an amusement and water park. I'm the type of vacationer who likes to sit on the beach and do nothing, but the occasional waiting in line is okay.
One day, we went to the Big Kahuna. It was fun, but had more kiddie-type rides. Ellie wasn't allowed to go on anything, so it kind of made it a long day at the kiddie pool. Her grandpa ended up taking her for a while. She was so beat and grumpy that she threw a fit and ended up peeing on him. Luckily, he still loves her, I don't know if I would have been able to!
Also another night, Dan, Ben, Tosh, Maggie, Lucas and I went back to the Big Kahuna to ride the Sky Coaster and the Cyclone. I love roller coaster rides, so it was right up my alley. Dan of course had to take his dramamine (he even needed it when he went in the ocean...wuss!).
We took some family pictures on the beach, here are some of our favorites (besides...these are the only proof I have that I was actually in Florida with my family)...I'll also throw in some other pictures, and a little less talking!
We really had such a good time, and realize why it is important to go on family vacations...
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