Friday
We arrived in town Thursday evening so Friday was our first full day in Florida. I kicked things off with a morning Jazzercise class with my mom and sister while the guys hung out with the kids. My mom and sister attend the same Jazzercise studio regularly so it felt like a treat to be able to take a class with them. Plus, I love Jazzercise and think it’s one of the most fun workouts out there!
After class, we drove back to my parents’ place for breakfast with the gang and then my niece was ready for a nap so we took the boys out to the beach to run around for a bit while Callie slept and my dad headed off to the airport to pick up my Aunt Barbara.
(Can you tell Chase’s obsession with his cousin continues?)
Jacksonville Beach was filled with tide pools on Friday which is a dream for the boys since they can splash around in water away from the crashing waves and search for shells and sea creatures. We saw lots of tiny fish and Ryan even found two crabs for the boys to check out!
(Still obsessed with the boys’ Bitty Brah drawstring beach hats!)
We made our way back to my parents’ place for a late lunch and showers and everyone was a little shocked when an incredibly loud wooshing engine noise reverberated through my parents’ place. The Sea and Sky Air Show took place this weekend at the beach and Friday was a practice day for the aircrafts involved in the show. We knew the Blue Angels would be practicing at 3 p.m. so we were ready to hear their loud engines around then and didn’t realize a U.S. Airforce F-35 fighter jet would be flying around before the Blue Angels made their debut. It was so loud and unbelievably cool to watch!
We were all captivated by the F-35 jet and the Blue Angels and my dad and Aunt Barbara joined us when they arrived back from the airport to catch the tail end of the practice session.
We spent the rest of Friday hanging out at my parents’ place and catching up with my Aunt Barbara over dinner and an ice cream sundae buffet for dessert.
Saturday
Ryan and I kicked off Saturday morning with an early-morning solo walk with Sadie before Chase and Ryder were up (well, Chase woke up while we were walking) and loved easing into the morning with a long beach walk!
We arrived back at my parents’ place to find Chase reading stories with my mom and then once everyone was dressed, we headed over to my sister and Ross’ place for brunch! They prepared a wonderful spread of French pancakes, fruit salad and a veggie frittata and we had no problem polishing everything off!
We spent most of the morning at Leslie and Ross’ and then headed back over to my parents’ place for Ryder’s nap and some beach time with Chase as we watched the Sea & Air Show. Some of my parents’ friends invited our whole gang over to their place to watch the Blue Angels from their 10th floor condo on the beach and we loved watching the show from a different vantage point.
It’s impossible not to be completely in awe of the skill of the pilots and the proximity of the jets to each other during the show. It’s equal parts terrifying and impressive!
The rest of our Saturday evening looked a lot like Friday evening. We spent time together at my parents’ place, picked up pizza for dinne and hung out as a family. We were all pretty exhausted by the end of the day!
We spent a little bit of time with my family on Sunday morning before saying our goodbyes and hitting the road for Charlotte. Most of our Sunday was spent in the car and we arrived home with two boys and a dog who were ready for some time outside. We also arrived home to find a bunch of the furniture I ordered for our screened in porch waiting for us, so we put some of that together, though the leg of one chair is broken so I have some followup I need to do with Amazon about everything.
On the plus side, the furniture came in giant boxes that served as the ultimate kid entertainment on Sunday!
We all crashed hard on Sunday evening and now I’m getting ready for the week ahead. Chase doesn’t have school today but the rest of the week looks relatively normal with the exception of our wedding anniversary on Wednesday (nine years – woohoo!) and Halloween! I am looking forward to celebrating our anniversary with Ryan and also cannot wait to see the boys in their costumes and join our friends for some trick-or-treating fun!
I hope you all have a great week ahead!
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Your pictures from the air show are incredible! We’ve lived in Jacksonville for 2 years and I haven’t been brave enough to brave the traffic/crowds to go. One of these times!
It’s so amazing! If the traffic intimidates you, I’d come on Friday for the practice! There weren’t nearly as many people and the show was almost the same!
what an amazing trip! how do you handle “Scary” or “spooky” on halloween with such little ones? I have yet to take my daughter (Chases age) out because she is sensative and im worried the houses, people might be too scary.
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We’ve always gone with friends so Chase is trick or treating with other kids his age & I think that helps him feel brave and excited! Also, if a house looks spooky or certain decorations intimidate him, we just skip that one. I also keep my eye out for creepy costumes to warn him or distract him while they go by!
Big boxes! The best entertainment! It’s such a score every time we order a large package. Last time we got a big box, we turned it into a time machine and traveled back to the land of the dinosaurs.
So cute!! I always love seeing what their imaginations morph a big box into!!
This is a random question but do you know what your sister uses for Callie’s hair? My little girl’s hair is fine like hers and I have trouble finding anything except harsh rubber bands to hold her hair without it falling out or her pulling it out. Callie’s little bow clip looks like it’s doing the job!
I will ask & report back!
Thank you!
Heard back and these are the hair ties she loves: http://bit.ly/2NnMEfL Leslie said they’re really gentle on her hair and work well! As for the bows, she uses Ruyaa clips (clipped onto the hairtie) and also gets them on Amazon: http://bit.ly/2pp9H1C Hope this helps!!
Thanks so much, this is really helpful!
Callie is so freaking cute!
Hey Julie! You posted a while back about some restaurants you visited in Jax beach. My in laws live nearby in Atlantic Beach and we like trying new places when we visit. I can’t seem to find that post though! Can you help? You mentioned a pizza place and donuts if memory serves….
We love V Pizza!! Here’s their website: https://www.vpizza.com/ And the doughtnuts we love are from Mini Bar Donuts: https://minibardonuts.com/
Thanks so much!