Just before the world shut down last March, we were busy planning and preparing for our annual Spring Break trip to Florida. Lists were being made, bathing suits were bought, and we were desperately needing our sunshine and beach time. To say that the cancelled trip (due to Covid) was a disappointment was an understatement. So, a year passed by, and we hoped and prayed that our annual trip could be resumed. Thank goodness for science and vaccines!
Our trip started on Friday. We drove part of the way and stopped at a hotel in Nashville for the night. We've learned that traffic through Alabama can be horrendous during Spring Break time, so we thought that breaking up the trip and getting an early start on Saturday would help. Much to our dismay, traffic was still as awful as always...perhaps because every single person in America was heading to Florida for Spring Break?!? We took the traffic jams and used it as an excuse to hit the side roads, which gave me the chance to fulfill a few bucket list items. We stopped in Birmingham and saw the 16th Street Baptist Church. We also headed to the town of Selma and walked the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The discussions it sparked about racial justice were great. The best quote of the day was by Joel when he said that he was going to go back to school and tell his teacher that he walked in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr.! We were so thankful for the chance to experience these things with our kids and hope that the memories will last a lifetime for them.
We finally arrived in Florida on Saturday evening and the kids immediately reunited with their favorite Florida pals, Emma and Cole, while we unpacked and got settled in. We made sure to stop unpacking for a bit and headed down to the beach to capture footage of Nyla's first time on the sand and in the ocean. Her love for Florida started at that moment and she definitely enjoyed her first Florida/Spring Break vacation!
We had an absolutely wonderful week with lots of sunshine and warm temps. The younger three loved getting to spend time with Emma and Cole, and we loved getting to hang out with their parents, Jeff and Joanna. There were also lots of memories made with Grandpa, Grandma, and TiTi. Ozzie even got to join us for this trip, and it was nice to have a dog with us to snuggle! The only major downfall of our trip was when Joel earned a trip to urgent care after a bad fall on a skim board. What was originally diagnosed as a break ended up only being a very bad sprain, so he bounced back after a few days and happily enjoyed what was left of our vacation!
All in all, the trip was as amazing as it always is. We truly enjoyed the time together as a family and were so thankful that Nyla got to finally enjoy our annual Florida trip with us!
