Sweatshirts on the Beach!
For months my girls have been asking to go to the beach. Literally, every day I hear “Mom! Have you found a house in Florida yet?” Spring break is something our family loves and this year we splurged on a Florida trip instead of our normal (cheap) Texas State Parks camping trip. Two days before the trip it was a sweaty 86 degrees in Conroe. Lowand behold the morning we pull out of the driveway for the 12 hour drive to Seaside the temperature begins to fall the farther east we go. By the time we reached Florida it was 50 degrees, raining and we were under a tornado watch for the rest of the evening. 🙄
While navigating through the pounding rain, we found a hole in the wall in Destin. Of course we ordered enough appetizers for an entire football team and made the best of it! Don’t be fooled though…we still heard “Can we please just go to the beach house now?” about 20 times until we could finally check in at 4pm.
That night we cooked frozen pizzas, played silly games with our kids and their friends and laugh so hard we almost peed our pants. That night alone was worth every bit of the 12 hour drive to make those memories with them. 💕
The next morning Jake and I set off the smoke dector twice cooking breakfast. “More mimosa please!” was all I could say as I tried to fan the smoke from the burnt bacon. Soon after we put on our bikinis and hoodies, bundled up in beach towels and made the best of the perfect 40 degrees ice cold air as we paraded around Seaside in our jacked up golf cart with hands that felt like popsicles. Even in the cold the beach was unbelievably beautiful and the water was crystal clear. Thank goodness for our Grace Goods Boutique matching sweat shirts and our cheetah beach towels.
On the beach we quickly made friends with a group of college students from Missouri. They are precious and I loved every minute of talking to them. Here is what I learned…kids are the same everywhere and what they desperately want is someone to talk to them and listen to them without judgement. We simply hung out with them and talked about real life things they said they couldn’t talk to their parents about. These kids are precious and just want to be heard and loved. My daughters were surprised I chose to hangout with these new friends all day, but they actually opened up and talked to Jake and I. Hopefully our own girls overheard these kids saying “I wish y’all were my parents!!!” Honestly, we learned so much from them and I truly believe God had me there the listen to them so I can be a better momma to my girls. 🙌🏼
By the way, the sun still burns when it is 54 on the beach! Thank goodness for aloe and big umbrellas the rest of the week! I think Madi may still be sunburned from the roasting she got. Of course Molly lathered up with sunscreen because she doesn’t want wrinkles one day. How come we didn’t know this in the 80’s?
Overall our trip was perfect…even though it felt like it should be snowing each morning when we woke up and headed to the beach. Unexpected circumstances often bring the biggest blessings. ❤️ The time with our family was priceless.
My advice to all of you…get the beach house, spend the money, wear the matching sweatshirts and embarrass your kids but at the same time listen to them. Sit by them when it’s quiet and peaceful and you will end up hearing what goes through their minds, if not directly from them you will hear it from their friends. I’ve heard it said “You only live once!” But I disagree…you only die once and get to live everyday. Take that trip with your people…ride in a golf cart through a beach town in your bikini even when it’s 40 degrees outside. Do your best to make HAPPY DAYS!