Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Florida Vacation

Back in the fall the Manz family began to talk about a spring vacation in Florida. Jonathan's grandpa lives in Port St. Lucie and is 92. J's dad has always made a trip each spring to visit him, and we thought we should join in while we are still living in this vicinity and he is still well enough to appreciate visitors. As the timeline developed it worked out that all of J's siblings and their wives would be able to join in!

So just as Blacksburg was getting hit with more snow and multiple days of temperatures in the single digits, we busted out of town late February for a warmer climate! We drove to the inlaws on a Friday night, staying in Georgia for the weekend. The folks then rented a minivan that we could all fit in and took off Monday morning for the ~8 hour drive south. The kids did pretty well in the van. Reese is still not a lover of the road trips, but comparatively, 7/8ths of the time was spent not screaming, so I call that a win!

Enjoying the Dodge Grand Caravan!

Our first full day in Florida we visited the beach as it was the sunniest day of the week. Reese LOVED the sand. She rolled in it, snuggled her head and cheek on it, ate it, ran her fingers and toes through it- just loved it! Here is a brief clip of the first moments there.




We also took advantage of the hotel pool while we were there and it was Reese's first time swimming. Her big brother Heath who is in lessons right now showed her all the ways to kick and jump and blow bubbles.


One day we all drove 90 minutes south to visit Jonathan's great aunt, Mil who will turn 102 next month. She was wonderful to be with and Heath enjoyed reconnecting; she reviewed with him how to spell his full name and it finally 'clicked' for him on this trip. The family all enjoyed having the kids around.
Heath, 4.5, Aunt Mil 101, Reese 1

I think we tallied about 30+ hours in the car for the week experience, but the vacation was well enjoyed! We now have the minivan drive experience that helped us to consider a future model for our family (you know, when we have two incomes again). We returned to snow on the ground, but some good vitamin D in our body that will hopefully get us through the last of this Virginia winter.

If you want to know how my minimalism plays into packing, feel free to journey back to 2012 for this post and read my tips!


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