Our First Family Vacation – Destin, Florida

**This is super long, but it’s more for me than anything.  I just wanted to document our first family vacation so I can look back on it.

Our first true vacation as a family of four was better than I ever imagined it could possibly be.  The last vacation was husband and I went on was for our birthdays.  I turned 18 and he turned 19 on a cruise to the Bahamas back in 2007.  Suffice it to say, a lot has changed in the past 4+ years.  A wedding and two babies later, we were beyond ready for another get-away.

As much I wanted a vacation, I didn’t expect it to be very stress-free.  To say I was blown away by just how carefree I was able to be would be an understatement.  For 4 days, I didn’t have a worry in the world.  With the help of  my husband, my mom and dad, and my gangan, the kids were well cared for and I only changed a few diapers.  Justin seriously amazed me with how much he helped out.  He always helps  out, more than most men, but I expected it to be 50/50 on this trip.  Not so.  One day, he watched both of the kids so I could enjoy a day of shopping.

With that said, Bella slept horrible the entire trip.  The first night, we attempted to use the pack ‘n play.  After listening to her wake up and scream every hour, I finally put her in our small full size bed and managed to get a couple hours of sleep.  Justin and I fought all night because we were both so tired.  We laughed about it the next morning, but we were so frustrated that night, LOL.  The rest of the nights, we didn’t even attempt to put her in the pack ‘n play.  We just let her sleep in the bed with us.  She still woke up every two hours or so and nursed pretty much the entire night, but it was better than hearing her scream.

One morning, Bella decided 6:20AM was the perfect time to get up on vacation, so I threw on some clothes and took her down the beach.  I was hoping to catch the sunrise, but there were too many clouds.  We still enjoyed the almost empty beach and I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of her and thank God for such an amazing life.  I also spent time reflecting on the loss of Monica and how it still stings.  One of my favorite photos of Monica was taken on the beach, so standing there, listening to the waves, and watching my daughter play made me think of her.  October is Domestic Violence Awareness month too, so I thought it was fitting.

The waves were a little rough so we couldn’t go far out, but Bryson loved the water.  He was absolutely fearless and didn’t care if it was over his head, in his eyes, whatever.  We literally had to stay in front of him in the water at all times, because he would just venture further and further out without a worry in the world.  Thankfully, he listened well and stayed on the beach and played in the sand so him running into the water alone wasn’t a concern.  Wouldn’t you know it though, when we packed up and left Monday morning, the water was totally calm and slick.  We could have taken Bryson out, but we had to head home instead.

Bryson made a friend our first day on the beach.  His name was Wyatt and he was 3- he told us so.  He and Bryson played so well together and we were sad that it was his last day there.  Bryson never did pronounce his name correctly, he called him Quiet instead.  My husband’s family came down the second day, so Bryson had our niece and nephew to play with.  Next year, Bella will be able to play with him more so having someone to play with won’t be a big deal.

I didn’t take many photos, because I was having too much fun!  It was wonderful to just be totally in the moment.  I did manage to drop one of my lenses and watch it break in two.  Fortunately, I was having such a good time, that I grabbed a glass of wine and didn’t cry over it.  I almost could thinking about it now though!

So, there is our vacation wrap up.   I didn’t cover everything, like the fact that I came home sick as a dog and I’ll never be able to eat Japanese food again, but I did cover the best parts.  I just wanted to type something up so I can look back and read years down the road.

One quick note, Bryson’s Season’s UV Superman suit was amazing.  Not only was it great for protecting him from the sun, but it also protected him from getting sand in his diaper, etc.  We let him wear regular trunks one day and the sand rubbed his legs raw so badly that the salt water hurt him the next day.  We won’t go back to the beach without one (or several) of these suits!