Joey and Crystal's: Florida Vacation: Part 1

A few years ago, Joey's family decided to start a family vacation tradition where we all meet somewhere for a destination vacation / reunion about every other year. The first year (when I was just 6 weeks pregnant with Jack!) we went to Myrtle Beach. This year we choose St. Augustine and got a big house on the beach that slept all 26 of us (12 adults and 14 kids!).

We flew out of San Diego early on a Saturday morning - which also happened to be Joey's birthday (a 5 hour flight with 2 kids, what a birthday present!). The airport was nuts and super stressful. I hate flying Southwest, especially out of SD.

This was Kara's first flight and we were pretty nervous since she has been known to have quite a few unconsolable screaming episodes from time to time but she was actually great. She slept on me a lot of the time and was pretty happy when awake.

Jack was also awesome. He looked at his books for a couple hours and then watched a copious amount of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He is totally obsessed with that show.

Things were going pretty smoothly so far!

We flew into Orlando and had to drive to St. Augustine which was about 1.5-2 hours away. This is where things went downhill. We found out quickly that Kara HATES, and I mean H-A-T-E-S the car. She slept for maybe 20 minutes and then screamed the remaining hour, hour and a half. We pulled over to feed her but then she just resumed screaming so we had to just bear it and go. It. was. awful. I spent half the ride trying to stick the paci in her mouth which helped a little bit...

To make matters worse, right before we arrived at the beach house, Jack threw up all over the place. As I mentioned before, he has a problem with getting carsick...But finally we arrived, with a super soaked and stressed out baby and a shirtless toddler that smelled like vomit. Oh the joys of traveling with kids!

From there on out, things got much better. The house was awesome, right on the beach, and it was so great to see everyone. Jack was obsessed with his cousins and I swear I didn't see him for more than 5 minutes at a time all week. He was just part of the posse. It was adorable.

I had my hands full with Kara most of the time so I didn't do a great job getting pictures but here are some highlights of the week.

Jack and his buddy Kate eating watermelon. She was so sweet in taking care of him. He was so spoiled!

Uncle Tim taking on all the kids in a game of soccer in the backyard. Isn't that a great view of the ocean??

The grandkids sitting with grandpa on the back porch. He had his hands full!

Lots of time spent at the beach! Grandpa playing in the sand with the kiddos...

Grandma sitting in the waves...

Jack LOVED the ocean!

When the tide went out, it made a little stream - perfect for the little kids to play in!

Jack getting a little ride.

Grandma and all the kiddos.

Jonah eating sand and shells. Yum.

Swimming in the tide pool with cousin Luke. The water was pretty icky by the mid afternoon.

Our tired little guy ready for a nap.

Kara out of the wrap and in need of sunglasses.

Jenny and cutie pie Claire.

Joey teaching the older kids to surf. The waves were very mild which made it easy for the kids to give it a try.

Kara getting her feet wet.

I even got a chance to boogey board. Weee!!

It was easy to go back and forth to the house throughout the day. Here is the main living area of the house at lunch time.

My little culinary assistants Leah, Alex, Kate, and Brianna helping make a layered cookie ice box cake to celebrate Joey's birthday. It may look like a mess but it was delicious!

Jack and Claire building lego towers in the upstairs kid's bunk area.

Grandma with Leah and Kara.

Evening whiffle ball by the dunes. The weather was perfect in the evenings!

Kate and Jack looking for seashells.

Me and my baby girl. :)

Morning fun in grandpa's bed. Did I mention Jack had a BLAST???

Joey and his mom during a group walk on the beach. Joey was nice enough to wear Kara for one of her naps. She spent about 90% of the week in that wrap!

Kate and Jack looking for more shells.

My SIL Samantha and her new baby Jonah.

A few pics from the guys morning out deep sea fishing.

They caught 2 big king mackerel and 1 barracuda. We grilled them for dinner that night and they were delicious!

Celebrating Joey and Grandpa's birthdays...

Jack taking a mid afternoon snooze. The beach and the excitement really wore him out!

One morning a professional photographer came and took some pics. You may notice that Jack did not cooperate AT ALL this day...but otherwise I think they turned out quite nicely!