St. Augustine and Palm Coast

Two weeks ago we had plans to hit the road with Cacky (and without Eddie - he was staying home to work and pay for our trip!) to Palm Coast. This will be the boys' only trip to the beach this summer so we had to make the most of it. {Our summer is seriously jam-packed with all kinds of fun. We almost always go to the beach twice, but not this time. We *may* go once more after school starts.} On Monday morning my car went into the shop as soon as it opened. I had been having some problems with it. When it idled for a bit it would start getting shaky and smelled bad. They've tried to discover the source a few different times and couldn't. It happened again on Friday after 5pm (of course!) so into the shop it went on Monday. Unfortunately, by 11AM they hadn't come up with a good reason for the problems so Eddie suggested we make other plans. Mom has kept Sonny's car so that she could have a car with carseats (which was what he always wanted and I discouraged it) so we took that. We hit the road a little later than planned and we were in a much smaller car but we were off!

After we arrived we went to the pool. Pizza was on the menu for night one at the beach. We almost always have Tony's once while we're there and this was our night. We swam, went in and ordered, and I went and picked it up so we could eat at the condo.

Day Two was spent by the ocean. We packed a picnic and drove down to the public beach at Marineland. Mom's beach has rocks in front of it so it's hard for little boys to play and run. It's awesome for sitting and reading, but not so much if you're 3 and 5. We arrived around 10 and left around 2 and had a fun time. I'm going to be honest here and say that I had my panic flag flying on this day. Between all of the shark attacks and the FLESH EATING BACTERIA posts on Facebook, I was skerred about the water. Will, however, was NOT. He would've been pulled out to sea if it was up to him. Crazy. We built sandcastles, walked up and down the beach, and CACKY got in the ocean with the boys while I watched.

Yes, his swim shirt is on backwards. Welcome to life with Will.

Pinterest FAIL. Apparently baby powder, when mixed with WET sand, creates a paste and does not get the sand off. #publicserviceannouncement

On our third day we went to Marineland. We had never taken the boys to Marineland and the last time Eddie and I went was in 2004. SO...it was different! There isn't much to see on the general admission ticket (2 turtles, a few sharks, and lots of dolphins), but you can add in a behind-the-seas tour AND you can add on lots of interactions with the dolphins. We wanted to start small. We'll probably swim with the dolphins in years to come. We've heard it's fantastic because it's not crowded and you can take your time! The dolphins could CLEARLY see us through the tank and would swim by and look at us. We saw one splash a man over the side. And from the top of the tank we could see them swimming with their heads out of the water looking around. I bought the book Marineland which is about this park. It was a good, quick read that I highly recommend if you grew up going to Marineland.

Marineland was fun, but HOT. My recommendation? Go in the spring or fall (or even winter!) when it is not blazing outside. It. was. so. hot.

We left Marineland and had lunch at South Beach Grill which is a favorite for its view.

We left from the restaurant and headed to Palm Coast to Target for some shopping and then came back to the pool later.

The next day we headed BACK out for morning entertainment. We started with lunch at the Conch House in one of the birds' nests. It was so breezy that it was VERY pleasant. We enjoyed watching what we *think* was a shark swimming through the marina. The waitress disagreed, but I am pretty certain I was right. After lunch we walked through the marina and saw a sea turtle. Later we rode the carousel and played on the playground before taking extra long naps at the condo.

{Conch House has baby alligators every year when it's warm out. They've redone their habitat and it looks great. We always like to go look at them. They go back to The Alligator Farm at the end of the season, I think. #gottagetnewbabies #bigalligatorbigproblem}

On Friday we had lunch at J.T.'s after we were all packed up to head home. It was a fun, busy week at the beach. Maybe next time we'll actually go to the beach more than we did this time. :) HA!