St. Augustine

After leaving Memphis, we drove through Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, then we made it to Florida! We drove through Tallahassee, which is where I went to college for 2.5 years at Florida State University. I had not been back since leaving in 1999, so we took a drive through town and the campus. Tallahassee looked unfamiliar in a lot of ways, but the campus and neighborhood where I lived still looked the same as I remember. This was my freshman dorm, Salley Hall. It was kind of a dump when I lived there 24 years ago and has since then been  renovated.

We got to St. Augustine mid-afternoon and we stopped at Publix to get groceries. This is the grocery store that I went to growing up. They are all set up the same and everything was familiar. It was a nice feeling to go inside a Publix again.

This is the house we rented for a couple of weeks in St. Augustine. It was on Anastasia Island, about a mile from the Anastasia Island State park, that had beaches and other water activities. The house had a nice yard for the kids to play and it was in a great location, tucked away in a quieter neighborhood away from the noise, but close enough to the beach and other attractions.

Waiting for grandpa and grandma to arrive.

It had been a while since we saw my parents. My mom came to Jordan when Eliza was about 7 months old, but we had not seen my dad since Eliza was born. Thankfully we have Skype so the kids could see both sets of grandparents each weekend. The kids were excited to see them, and we spent the day relaxing and catching up.

The next day we went to the beach. The boys love swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand. Eliza is slowly warming up to the beach and enjoys playing in the sand. The beaches are unique here, with long sand dunes leading up to the water. It was a beautiful beach day.

The waves were rough and the boys loved it!

Beach bums...

Getting buried in the sand.

A pretty beach day :)

At the state park, they also rented kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards. Nathan and I took turns with the boys on the kayak. We even saw a few dolphins swimming around while we were out, it was neat to watch them swim around the inlet and jump through the water.

Afterwards, the lifeguard brought her dog down to the beachfront and Benjamin enjoyed throwing the ball around with him and playing in the water for a while. 

It was a fun day!