Monday, May 30, 2016

Ormond Beach - Day 1

Quite a while ago, we started trying to figure out our plans for the summer.  Laura, Gino, and Ben asked us to go with them to the beach at the end of the summer to celebrate Ben's birthday.  We knew we also wanted to go as just our family, so we started thinking about a second trip.  Cooper's birthday is in June, our other beach trip is in July, so we decided to go with the very end of May.  This was so good for lots of reasons - 1- We had something super fun planned for right after school got out 2- It isn't super hot yet 3- it spreads out our "extra" summer expenses.  Around the beginning of March, I got online to go ahead and book our trip.  Last year, we went to St. Augustine.  When we went, we decided that we want to try and do a different beach each summer (for a while anyway).  At the end of the summer, we're going to Panama City.  After researching, we ended up going with Ormond Beach (Which is right next to Daytona.  Literally.  Like 4 miles away.)

We scheduled our trip for a Thursday - Sunday.  Thursday, Cooper had swim lessons in the morning.  We also had to trade out my vehicle (I got in a wreck so it was in the shop, and now my ac isn't working), so we ended up leaving around 11:00.  It worked out perfectly because we were able to just drive straight to our hotel to check in at 3.

Beach bound!!!

We made it!  We had a beach front room with a little balcony.  The kids loved it!



Originally, we planned to check-in, go to dinner, and go play putt-putt.  Since we got there right at 3:00, we had some time to kill before dinner.  What to do??  A quick play time on the beach!  We told the kids we would only have about an hour before we had to come in and get ready for dinner, but they were so happy to get any time on the beach!

Bless him.  Kid has sensitive eyes and does not love bright sun!

My best boy!

So excited to have some "days off" with my favorite guy!

The tide was out and some little tide pools were left over.  The kids loved playing in them!

My beach girl!!  She absolutely loves being at the beach!

After about an hour, we went back to our room to shower and get ready for dinner.  I love dresses and bright colors at the beach!

LL took this for us, and it turned out cute with Cooper in the background.  :)

We initially planned to go to a local seafood place for dinner, but on the way, we spotted a Joe's Crab Shack that was huge and way out on a pier, so we decided to go there instead!

Cooper got a new fedora for this summer!  He is all about the hats.

What is he not all about?  Pictures at dinner.  I had to sneak one of him and Daddy in when he wasn't looking.

What is this girl all about?  Calamari!!  She tried it for the first time at our beach trip last year, and we've eaten it several times since.  Her only request for this night at dinner was to have calamari.  We just didn't tell Cooper what it was, and we all gobbled it up!

After dinner, we spent just a few minutes admiring the ocean from the pier.  I love this beautiful girl!!

Vacation, the beach, and these two kids.  It doesn't get much better than that!

My two boys walking hand in hand down the pier.

After dinner, we went to another beach favorite - putt-putt!  It's always a good "first night" activity because we usually don't have time to do much more than traveling, it's pretty quick, and the kids get to stretch their legs a little.  We went to Pirates Cove in Ormond, Beach, and they had these cute stocks set up for pictures.

Love this smile!




The three putt-putters!  They play, Mommy helps and takes pictures.  ;)

Daddy takes his game super seriously!

Cooper's technique is very interesting to say the least - haha.


Looking at the pirate water!



This smile makes me happy!




My favorite!

After putt-putt, we went back for an early bed time.  It didn't take long for these kids to be out!

Up next: our first full day of beach fun!!

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