Spring break Road Trip

We took a road trip to FL for the kids Spring Break last week. (As if moving next month with four kids 1200 miles were not enough!) It was just too tempting to be within driving distance of those white sandy beaches not to mention Dave's sister Amy and the O'Gwin family right there to visit. It was a great trip! And I am happy to say that the kids did fabulous in the car. Looks like we might make it to CO in one piece! We packed a lot in for just nine days, but it didn't feel rushed, and we got home a day early due to our camping being cut short because of the nasty weather that decided to go through the south. (Luckily we were well out of the way from tornado alley.) We stopped in Baton Rouge for a night and a temple session. That was a nice start to an Easter weekend I must say. Then continued on to the O'Gwin's for a great reunion with good friends all around where we spent the next few days doing Easter activities, a beach day, and lots of play time for the kids.

This is about as close to the waves and Spencer would get, and after getting surprised by a big wave he didn't bet close again the entire trip...maybe in a few years?

The sand was fantastic here and the water was so blue and clear. The kids even saw a sea turtle with Chris and Dave out in the water. So cool. I would love to come back and snorkel here one day when the surf isn't so rough.

From there we traveled to Amy and Rob's house to share a fantastic Easter meal, Rob made the most render Roast ever. And Monday we prepped for the camping trip. This was not just a normal car camping trip, of course I would not make it that easy. This was a full on take a passenger ferry loaded with 14 peoples worth of gear to an island (Cumberland island national seashore to be exact) then track this same gear across 1/2 mile, in carts in true pioneer fashion, to the campsite with lots of little kiddo's in tow. But even though it was a ton of work, it was so gorgeous, huge trees tons of palm bushes, a secluded beach close by, and there was so many wild animals (turkey, wild horses, armadillos that would just walk right through camp, huge lizards and a few raccoons to provide some nighttime entertainment).

Our mini trek...we all chipped in a lot to get six of these carts to our camp site.

Then they became toys for the kids

They all took turns being the royalty while the others pulled the around camp, at this point Jacob was "sir diaper Jacob"!

Spencer in front of our tent...(whoops I mean the O'Gwins extra tent since we left ours in LA! Thanks again for taking up our slack Y'all!

The girls each got to share a two man tent with their friends. Here is Maren and Analise when I woke them up on our pack up morning. Gorgeous gals! Neither were very happy we were leaving so soon.

Amanda and Aly loved playing together again, they built a fort at the O'Gwin's house and spent lots of time in the water boogie boarding.

Obviously they weren't the only ones to enjoy the surf a little.

On the hike we took to see the ruins of the mansion that stands near our camp site.

Dave's creation with the sand after the surf destroyed the one they had been working on for an hour.

Spencer keeping as far away from the waves as possible. But he had fun playing bulldozer.

These massive Oaks were so amazing. they had this canopy effect and looking back from the beach you would never even know this forest existed. Thanks Amy for taking some great pictures for us!

Aunt Amy with the girls.

An amazing place, although I think next time we would do it without kids, and backpack the whole island. The place has a ton of history and old buildings including some huge estates but only a few families own land these days. Very cool experience. And the kids were super disappointed that we had to leave early, but who wants to camp in the drenching rain with a bunch of kiddo's? Obviously not us.

After getting back to Amy's we took the kids to a children museum to kill a few hours. Then we took off the next morning for our drive home. The kids did fantastic and we got into our halfway point early enough to stop and visit the USS Alabama. That was definitely a highlight of the trip for everyone, as it is amazing to see inside that massive battleship. They also have some cool planes and a submarine to tour as well. The boys were all googly eyed the whole time, including Dave who made a beeline to see what medical facilities were in a WWII battleship.

Fun trip with great memories...now we get to get this house in order in the next three weeks! Ah, where did my time go!