Geting out of Dodge!

This sign sent happy shrieks throughout the van!

Robert was out of town at a meeting, so the kids and I decided to get out of Dodge and visit our friends in Florida.
On the way down we made a pit stop in the middle of nowhere and Alyssa was amazed at this truck and had to take a picture.

We hadn't seen our friends for over 4 years - since moving from UT. We were so excited that they moved 6 hours away and near the beach!
We went to the beach twice - out of our three days there, taking a break the second day to recover from lots of sand and sun and not enough sun screen - even with reapplying.
I'm posting all the beach pictures together. The kids loved the water and the sand - who doesn't! It was hard to get them out!I finally let Logan play with the boogie board making sure he stayed very near shore where he could easily stand when needed.

The first day was really windy, making the waves very choppy.

I took Logan out to the bigger waves. We had a great time but he loved playing where he could jump over the waves and use the boogie board. He said he was going to ask Santa for one for Christmas.

There were three boogie boards and 6-8 kids wanting them.

They were very good at taking turns and staying together in the water.

We went to two different beaches, the second one had a lot more shore to play on than the first one.

So, along with playing in the water, sandcastles were built.

The younger boys started playing with the toy boat and turtle in the waves, watching them get rolled over and then catching them.

Our friends have a small pool, so the kids would go from one water to another.
Pure delight!

As I mentioned earlier, the kids looked pretty beat up after the first day at the beach - Natalie was especially red.
The second day we went down to St. Augustine and went to the old Spanish fort there.
Right along the river, it was beautiful
(Please note that Alyssa is NOT yet taller than me. I'm standing behind her and am in completely flat sandals, while she is in sneakers.) - although just a chain along the water front made me a bit nervous.

We loved exploring all the rooms in the fort! and reading about the history.

The boys couldn't get enough of the cannons.

I stayed with Logan while the others wandered around - some of my shots I had to take from across the fort.

The view from the top was gorgeous.

Logan needed a picture by every cannon.

Here are only a couple of the ones we took.
He would go to sleep each night looking at the pictures we had taken that day.

Here are all the kids together on the top of the fort - minus the baby (he and Renee stayed in the cooler areas on the ground floor).

After finishing checking out the fort, we walked around the town.

And all the shops. The Pirate shop being a favorite.

We had so much fun playing and talking and staying up late.
We can't wait to go back and to have them come up to visit us!

On our drive back we hooked a left into the Okefenokee Swamp!
since we drive right along side of it.

We didn't have time to get tickets to take any of the tours or walk through the main areas, but we did walk around the parking lot and through one area with a path.

We saw 12 alligators!

All the signs warning you to stay on the paths and to keep your young children with you freaked out the kids.

If ever Logan stepped onto the grass Natalie and Jake would frantically call him back.
It was sweet and pretty funny.

We'll have to go back when it's cooler and check out more than the parking lot and gift shop.
The rest of the way home felt a lot longer than when we were going down - doesn't it always.
I had been feeling a need to take a trip and get away for a bit this summer.
Our trip to Florida was perfect!