We Survived! {Our Family’s First Summer Vacation}

This year was our first family summer vacation. We headed east to Florida, more specifically, Fort Lauderdale. Why Florida? Well, my husband graduated from Knox Theological Seminary with a Master’s Degree in Classical Christian Studies. I am so super proud of him and all his hard work these past three years. It took a lot of perseverance to get where he is, and I am excited and anxious to see where the Lord will lead us.

So, when he told me that graduation was in Florida, we contemplated going alone… without the kids. But we changed out minds, deciding we wanted to include them in this milestone.

We made the decision to drive with our four kiddos (YIKES) and it was something else! We made the drive to Florida at night, thinking the kids would sleep the entire way. Well, we were wrong! They slept in little increments and in between, there was a lot of crying and crankiness. But we made it in one piece the following morning. We arrived early, so only one of our two rooms was ready. Oh, by the way, if you can afford two rooms (one for you and one for the kids) I highly recommend it. It was so peaceful and the kids had a ball in their own room. Of course, they were adjoined rooms! We spent the rest of the day resting and relaxing. That night my hubby slept with the kiddos, specifically my daughter, and our 21 mos old son slept with me on the huge king bed.

I woke up around 5am to something scary. Long story short, I called 911 and turns out he was just in a ‘deep sleep’ from all the traveling. Sounds kind of funny, but it was really scary and if I had to make the call again, I would. So, back to sleep we all went!!

The following morning (Friday: graduation day), we woke up and headed to the golf range with my husband’s brother. My 4 year old had so much fun hitting golf balls into the lake! He actually had a pretty good swing. After golfing, we headed to Dave & Buster’s and it was so much fun that we actually lost track of time and stayed for two hours! We rushed back to the hotel to get ready for graduation, which turned out to be awesome! The keynote speaker was great, but my children? Not so cooperative. Even still, I’m thankful I could see my husband graduate… even if it was through a window in the cry room.

Saturday was ours to explore, so we did what any family would do when in Florida… we headed to the beach!!! I know, I know. We are from Corpus Christi and we went to the beach? But, let me tell you, the beaches in Florida are nothing like the beaches here in Corpus Christi. The sand was so smooth and gentle to the feet. The water was so blue and cool. It was a fun time to be had by all.

Sunday we ventured out to the closest mall we could find (I wanted to shop!) But cue the kid attitudes an tempers. Oh well…. we ended up eating lunch and heading back to the hotel. So, we just enjoyed ourselves and had a nice dinner inside the hotel and went to bed early to venture out back on the road to Texas.

Some may call our vacation boring because we didn’t really do a lot, but I call it blessed and adventurous because it is a trip that I will never forget. Maybe as our kids get older they will travel better, but right now they are small and crave routine. And that’s okay. We will eventually head back to Florida because we want to see Disney World, but that’s in like five to ten years!

What are some of your favorite family vacation spots?