Beach Bound

Finally, nearly nine years after our return to the Lone Star State, we headed back to the sunny beaches of Florida. That beloved state was the first home for the Fab Four before adding darling Arlo, our only true Texan. Prior to this trip, Rob and I enjoyed a week away sans kids at the same beach to celebrate our anniversary. My search consisted of one requirement being that it was secluded compared to some of the beaches we frequented while residents of Florida. I discovered Navarre Beach which is squeezed between Pensacola and Destin. It was a perfect destination for us, and we could hardly wait to take the crew! Their happiness and excitement brought tears to my eyes. One of the great joys of parenting is seeing your kids experience something so lovely for the first time. 

My favorite photo from our time there....

We departed home on a Friday afternoon post our morning at school. Rob packed up Gus the Bus, our new (to us) Expedition, and we were on our way! A note on Gus: we finally upgraded our vehicle in late summer due to the fact that Trusty Rusty had really been limping along for the past few years. It would really honor him if I wrote a post about his life with us, a job for another day. He served us well for many years, but an even more trusty vehicle with an abundant amount of space is quite nice.

Back to the ride. I'd like to know why kids are so hungry seconds after they are in the car. In no time at all, we were at Dairy Queen stuffing our faces with delicious, greasy food. 

Our destination for night number one was a hotel in West Monroe. The girls, who had been watching Duck Dynasty with their super cool dad, were pleased to know that the headquarters were nearby. Our stay here was probably the worst decision of the whole trip. We had seven people to a six-person room which meant this mama was in between Arlo and Owen in a queen bed. This sleeping situation might have been tolerable had multiple people had not been recovering from some sort of illness. Charlotte had a panic attack when she realized I had packed the sound machine in a different bag and was tucked in nice and tight in Gus. Rob described our experience as sleeping in a zoo with a ridiculous amount of coughing, nose whistling, snoring and sleep talking. Alongside the zoo was what sounded like a drag racing strip ALL NIGHT LONG. He eventually gave in to laughter, the best medicine for all the sickness among the Valentine crew. Look! We were so happy before bed! You would have never guessed the next eight hours would be so awful!

Day two we were headed straight into Mississippi. Quickly informing the children that there were only two "Ps" in Mississippi, our fearless leader drove onto the "rollercoaster bridge" over the wide, wide river. The kids soon figured out the first of many dad jokes on the trip to mean that they could only have two potty breaks in Mississippi. I do not like potty humor, but he was just SO funny. I let it slide.  

Early afternoon was the perfect arrival time to check into our home away from home, a mere four houses from wide open beach where the closest person was too far away to hear you yell. Perfect for five excited children!  Our Texas baby was immediately accustomed to the sand and sea. 

After a quick visit to be coated in sand, we hit up Publix, our favorite grocery store of all time. We shopped like our family was twice the size with two carts. I almost collapsed right on the floor when I even imagined what the total would be. I told Rob I couldn't even look. Our plan was to eat at the house the majority of the time, so we had to stock up like a hurricane was imminent. 

A good night's sleep came and went, the sun had risen, and I had my pumpkin spice latte in hand while watching Rob and his five ducklings make their way to the beach to catch some breakfast. Sadly, they caught nothing, and we were stuck with cereal. Little did they know that the relentless casting would soon pay off. 

The rest of the week was devoted to hours of:

-digging holes large and small

These holes were deep enough to break your leg, and were worked on all while singing a made up  "dig, dig the pit" song. I still get it stuck in my head sometimes. Arlo looked like a little beach gopher     hiding out until I called his name and he would pop his head up and smile at me. We also took plenty of slo-mo videos of kids jumping into the holes and disappearing.

-learning to boogie board

 

The house had some boogie boards we could use and by the end of the week the kids had purchased their own. Owen even tested his out on the floor of the gift shop. I had ZERO intention of getting in because it was chilly with the wind, but my sunglasses fell off and I dove to rescue them. End of that story, I found them and had a blast with the kids in the ocean. Jumping over waves was exhilarating and honestly, being pummeled by them brought some good belly laughs and provided plenty of video footage. 

-marveling at creatures flying above and scurrying along the beach

 

We also saw a shark, manta rays, dolphins, a "pack of fish," too many jellyfish to count and some sand fleas which were adorably called "sand flies." This beach is near an air force base, so we also saw the Blue Angels and a helicopter fly over. 

- attempting to stay warm

Apparently, the massive dip in rental price correlates with dip in temperature! I find great value in maintaining warmth, but knowing the beach would be almost empty AND that we could pay half the prices was enough to convince me to go in October.  Owen on the other hand would have spent every penny he could ever make to be there in July.  We did our best to keep him warm. In fact, all minus the head fisherman enjoyed multiple cups of hot chocolate while staring at the sea. If the sun wasn't shining and the wind picked up, he and I were popsicles. Arlo was quite chilly on the first morning at 7am and Rob was trying to warm him up. And sweet Charlotte, that girl has purchased an absurd number of hoodies, but they sure came in handy on this trip!

-braving the ocean

In my younger days I wouldn't say I was fearless, but I certainly had less fear than I do now. Rob was super fun dad and swam to the sandbar with multiple kids and guided them through all those jellyfish! What is a group of jellyfish called? I think it's called a swarm. If so, that is an accurate description as they were swarmed on their way out and back!

-just enjoying being together

We flagged down the only person that walked past us one of the days and had him snap a picture of our family. I'm pretty sure that a fishing pole started bouncing around right after the picture was taken. We laughed looking at this one saying we could be an advertisement for Huk fishing company. 

- enjoying the sunset each night

It's funny that our last beach trip was with a four-year-old, two-year-old, and two babies. Oh my goodness, how stressful, haha! In comparison, this trip was a breeze. 

These people are my favorite people.

Sea World Texas style

Living in the Sunshine State, we grew accustomed to having Disney & Sea World at our fingertips. We actually spent more time at Disney pre-children but Sea World became a fast favorite when we were Robby & Lauren + 2. Once we twins arrived we basically only left the house if necessary....kind of like the current quarantine ; ) 

Sea World was just perfect though, small & within 15 minutes from the house. I have dreamy memories of Robby coming out of his office at 4 & saying "Let's head over to Sea World & catch the last Shamu show of the day!" We would grab snacks for the girlies, hop in the car and were there in no time at all! Shamu was always waiting for us along with the "rollie coastie" as Charlotte sweetly said. It was no surprise that I would feel great sadness over losing the around the corner entertainment once we moved back to Dallas & hoped that we could eventually take the whole crew back. Since a drive to Orlando was out of the question, Sea World San Antonio was the next best option & my birthday was the perfect opportunity for a fun filled day! It's funny how dreamy memories can be misleading....we had a lovely time but it was far from perfect! It included some rogue (disobedient) Orcas & me coming a little too close to punching a woman in the face in the lunch line.

We thought a slight drizzly forecast for the morning would keep people away but it did not. Humidity was on par for mid May in Texas which actually reminded me of Florida.  First stop was the PERFECT "rollie coastie" for our first time rider, Darling Arlo.  Owen & Anson had PTSD after we made them ride a mini roller coaster at Oktoberfest one year so they were a little reluctant to ride Super Grover's Box Car Derby, sounds incredibly intimidating right?

The best part about the rides is if you have a vertically challenged rider, mama or daddy get to ride along. Guess who accompanied Arlo? None other than yours truly, his favorite person in the world. I didn't mind riding next to him the 10 times we rode over the course of the day. He was so proud to be a big kid! 

I loved that the boys' car they liked best was called the "buddy buggy," perfect for twinkies. 

Another highlight of the day was riding Atlantis! We were shocked that Arlo, at age three, was actually tall enough to ride. It went up, then backward, then forward ending with a 100 foot drop & getting soaked. It might not have been the best idea but he did, twice! First go around, I rode with all the kids & he really liked it so when we were up for round two, Robby rode with a few kids then the rest of us took the next boat with Arlo as my assigned buddy. Once we started clicking up the ramp, he panicked & began screaming that he didn't want to ride & definitely didn't want to go backward. The people in front of us looked back probably thinking that they would call CPS when they disembarked. I wanted to yell in defense, "He already rode it once & was begging to go again!" I felt awful, but by the time we got to the final drop (10 seconds later) he was squealing with delight & afterward said it was his favorite ride ever. We were proud of the kids for trying something so daunting! Here they are looking at it upon arrival to the park.

 

 I took this next picture with our drone ; ) Just kidding, I found it online & just had to include to show how steep it really was.

Rides have always been extremely fun & it doesn't seem like too long ago that I would ride nearly everything. My how the times have changed! I was thankful for the man pictured below as he promised to ride with Eloise on Sea Swinger....the name says it all. It was swinging & spinning simultaneously up 3-4 stories high. Goodness sakes, I felt nauseous watching! Charlotte decided against riding last minute & then when she got the guts to ride, the ride was being tested after not working properly. Bummer for her...maybe next time! I consoled her by saying that I never like being the first rider after a "service the engine" visit from personnel.

All said and done, she loved it but as soon as she was locked in, she was REALLY nervous!

The girlies also rode their first real roller coaster that felt like they were on jet skis. They claimed it was the BEST!

Partway through the day, everyone was depleted & starving. Why do they have to eat so frequently?! We probably should have started finding a place earlier because by the time we had food, some had lost their marbles. This guy recovered quickly after a blast of sugar.

Inside the place where we were ordering food, there were some large school groups of kids in maybe 5th & 6th grade. Robby & the boys went to get those sugar drinks while the girls stayed with me. I think I was hot, hungry & a little grumpy because as one of the lady chaperones let more and more students cut in line just ahead of us, my blood began to boil. I tried to keep my cool but oh my. I finally said, "Are you kidding? How many more people are you going to let in line? I have five little kids I need to feed & you are holding me up!" She stared back at me & responded in a nasty way. I couldn't believe it was happening. I despise conflict & NEVER lay into strangers! All her students were looking at me along with my daughters. I felt ridiculous & incredibly rude. Once we got closer to the check out, I approached her & apologized. I said it was my birthday & I really just wanted to eat. Ha! We all got our food & it wasn't really that big of a deal. Before she walked away, she tapped my arm and said she really hoped I had a wonderful rest of my birthday. I guess she wasn't that bad after all ; )

After some greasy theme park food, we were doing all right again!

There was another tense moment when it was time to board a brand new ride called Riptide Rescue. It spun but I figured I would survive. I got in line with the big boys and when it was time to get on, they let Anson on but not Owen! They are just about an inch apart in height & I guess Anson barely made the cut. I was so sad for Owen & mad at the guy working as I thought, "C'mon man, you can see they are clearly twins!" Anson had a great time though and we talked about the importance of keeping his celebrating to a minimum.

All leading up to our trip, we talked up the Shamu show. It was magical in Orlando & boy was I excited to experience it with the whole crew. It used to bring me to tears & this time it nearly did the same for different reasons. Here are the troopers happily waiting for the show to start. 

This next photo just about sums it up. No Orcas showing their skills! They decided to do their own thing & every time the music came to an exciting part.....NOTHING! It was a little humorous as the show went along.  It was so bad that the employees came to dump buckets of water on those in the Splash Zone since the whales would not participate. Ha! After the show, we made a beeline for the exit. Hungry again, Chuy's was the next stop.  

Chuy's was just down the road & a strawberry margarita was awaiting the birthday girl's arrival. It was perfect after a long, hot day! We scarfed down ten bowls of chips & salsa then Elo's tummy ache began.  We ate as quickly as we could hoping to make it "home" before she felt any worse. Following the kids meal comes our crew's favorite part....orange push pops. We have a favorite video of Arlo at around 18 months battling it out with me when I tried to take his push pop away. Since Eloise was feeling crummy, we took them to-go along with her dinner. 

Robby got her up to our room for a quick bath & helped her into bed while I took the other four kids to the pool area to eat those long awaited push pops! We had played at the pool the day prior & it was super family friendly but the nightlife was a bit different. There were a number of nicely dressed people sitting poolside looking over the Riverwalk, a few swimming and ZERO children. I felt we had no choice though so I opened the bag to divvy up dessert. After our drive and our mad dash to the pool, they turned out to be a little melted...surprise, surprise! It was nothing short of disastrous with melted push pop not only coating the boys faces & hands but all over the table, dripping through the slats onto their legs. Charlotte & I couldn't stop giggling and all the shenanigans attracted more attention than I was expecting. I thought about tossing the boys into the pool to rinse off before heading upstairs but decided against it. I cleaned up the best I could then we scurried to our room in hopes to avoid any further shaming. 

Everybody got showered and sweet Eloise, who continually apologized for feeling sick on my birthday, was feeling a bit better. She ended up eating a burger & fries in bed while we watched a silly, family sitcom. It took us back to the days of Family Matters & Full House with the laugh track. I had my sidekick Arlo snuggled up with me. It must have been a cozy spot because he was looking like this pretty soon after the snuggle fest began... PERFECT end to the day.

After a good night's sleep, Texas shaped waffles dripping in syrup were in order before our trek home. Owen kept his Sea World key chain in his hand all morning. Again, those souvenirs times five kids meant that key chains were an economical purchase!

After breakfast we finished packing up then hauled everything down to the lobby, while valet went to get our car.  There were round metal tables that all three boys were treating as drums....it was time to go! I had been on the couch with my bag when the car arrived. We got all our belongings into the car, five kids buckled & I hopped into the front seat. My heart dropped when I realized my pillow (that I can't sleep without) was missing! I ran back in & lo and behold, there was a man on the couch asleep ON MY PILLOW! I couldn't help but laugh a bit as I tried to talk myself through how I should go about getting my pillow back.  I decided to tap him on the arm. He look surprised to see me & more surprised that he was on my pillow. It was great.

The ride home was complete with a stop at Collin Street Bakery, a bit of whining & a podcast about insects. I'd say it wasn't too bad! We were quite thankful  to sneak away for a few nights and enjoy time with just the seven of us. They are my favorite people. 

The Valentines take on San Antonio

As I begin writing this, we are on week four of quarantine during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Our children will most certainly remember the news reports they have seen & heard, the abrupt end to dining out, playgrounds, grocery store runs, school, etc. I hope they will also note that it is when Mom finally got it together & caught up on the blog! 

As we have spent countless hours as a family playing Skip Bo, racing in the backyard & exploring the woods near our house, we are just relishing in who they are at their current ages. We have watched old videos, looked through pictures & read blog posts from their itty bitty years. It has served as a reminder that time passes quickly & my brain can only retain a certain amount of information and I must record it as soon as possible so as not to leave out something important or hilarious. Life just seems to be in a strange holding pattern at the moment. So while in holding, let's travel back in time 11 months ago....

It was my birthday wish last year to spend a long weekend away as a family. San Antonio was the chosen destination & it was delightful!  Growing up, our family took a number of trips to San Antonio & surrounding cities & if my memories serve me right, we had so much fun. As parents of five children, the understanding of what our parents may have experienced on those dreamy (to an 8 year old) trips is clear as day! We had some tense moments as expected but the enjoyable moments outweighed the stress. 

Here we are, the iconic Texan photo...

This trip had been a long time coming. When I was pregnant with the twins, my mom stocked up the buckaroo bookshelf with all things cowboy. One favorite book is called Hello Texas and we have read it a million times. Here are the pages Arlo read in preparation for our adventure....

Prior to our trip we did a little shopping. Every boy needs a new cap for vacation right? They found these at Target & just couldn't pass them up. I actually forced them to pass them up one trip but on round two they made a bee-line for them in the store, placed them on their little heads & I couldn't resist. Anson's is a shark eating a slice of pizza & says "Snack Attack" which is just perfect for the bottomless pit that he is.  Owen chose the classic Batman, always has.  Nearly one year later & the hats are still gigantic, haha! 

While San Antonio was our final destination, we made a stop on the way at Homestead Heritage in Waco. To quote their website, "Homestead Heritage is an agrarian- and craft-based intentional Christian community. Its literature stresses simplicity, sustainability, self-sufficiency, cooperation, service and quality craftmanship." Bob & Jeannine had first taken the girls there then my mom & I ended up at the restaurant there by accident while headed to the Hill Country for a girls' weekend. We (me + my Valentine girlies) were really looking forward to bringing Valentine boys along. They were certainly not disappointed by all that there was to explore!

The blacksmith was a hit with our crew. We watched a couple men work then got to visit with one for a bit prior to going in the gift shop. For some reason, we bought an iron nail for each boy that was crafted on site.  It was such a fantastic idea to buy nails for two 6 year olds and a 3 year old, right? They were confiscated quickly into the car ride south & I hid them so well when we got home that I haven't seen them in months. Anyway, Arlo kept calling him "Mr. Smith" after we left saying "Mr. Smith made me that nail." Oh my, it made us giggle. Check out how sharp that nail is that Owen is holding!

It was a beautiful day despite being a little toasty. We walked through gardens, along the pasture & to the rest of the crafting areas where we were able to observe the grinding of wheat, basket making, wood working, and weaving/spinning of fabric. We loved it.

There were some stables & pens with animals and all enjoyed seeing the calf in this one.

We scarfed down a DELICIOUS lunch where the only complaint (by Owen) was that the peanut butter & jam sandwich had an entire jar's worth of jam on it. It was comical to watch the globs just plop onto the plate with his disgusted face. Our bellies were full & we were back on I-35 listening to a little Texas Country music which is what you do on a road trip 'round here.

San Antonio couldn't come fast enough with a car full of our favorite children.  Robby was the driver, I was the navigator and apparently there are two hotels by the same name in nearby locations. The streets were super busy & I led him down multiple one way streets to arrive in the valet line at the hotel where we did NOT have a reservation.  I had all the kids unbuckled & we were about to disembark the vehicle when the kind parking attendant confirmed that we did not in fact have a reservation there & gave us the address for the other hotel. We re-buckled, 2 in boosters, 3 in five point harnesses with me climbing through the car. Thankfully, our actual hotel was not too far away & they welcomed us with smiles. I think some people have genuine smiles when they look at a larger family, others fake smile with concern in their eyes. We saw a bit of both on this trip.

The kids were enamored by the idea of staying in a hotel. Charlotte at four years old called it a Hotelf which means that we still call it that. We unloaded the massive amount of things we brought for a four day trip & headed up to our room. The people at the front desk were AMAZING and hooked us up with a room at the end of the hall that had a stairwell separating us from the nearest neighbor. We had a couple big beds, a fold out couch & a pop up bed for baby bear Arlo. We thought he might be jealous of everyone else's sleeping spots but he loved his! Anywhere that is right next to me (his favorite person) is fine by him! The entire trip he called the hotel "the sleeping museum."

Now comes the fun part. They got hungrier by the second & we decided to venture out for some dinner. I made a poor assumption that if you are on the Riverwalk, there are ample restaurants at your doorstep. I was wrong. Those we found had 1 hour wait times, it was SO stressful! Mommy & Daddy were in great moods ; ) We finally got a table at a Mexican place where we were quite underdressed. We didn't care though due to the fact that people were starving. As we walked to our table, Eloise stepped on the back of Owen's flip flops & ripped the strap right off.  That got him all riled up. Once we sat down, it was so loud between the talking and music we had to scream to the kids to get their attention. It was unbearable so we left & headed back "home." This picture was taken before the search started. I did not take a photo of the argument we got into on this bridge 30 minutes later, ha!

We had some snacks available so yogurt & peanut butter crackers were enjoyed as Robby came up with plan B. Surprisingly, there was a restaurant just next door called Mexican Manhattan that had enough open seating for a wedding reception. The staff welcomed us & we were seated along the river. It was perfect & slightly annoying yet funny that we took quite the adventure to not eat then ended up within yelling distance of our room at the hotelf.  Margaritas were enjoyed by those over 21 even though it looks like these three got ahold of one when we weren't paying attention. 

The take away from that night was to make a reservation, so we did & dining from there on out was easy peasy lemon squeezy as Eloise used to say.  Speaking of dining & our little dimpled Eloise....the kids were amazed at the breakfast buffet. The Texas shaped waffles with whipped cream, syrup and M&Ms on top were quite the treat to sky rocket our glucose levels!

After tummies were full, we ventured out to see the sites. We went straight to the Alamo. The lesson on how a cannon works might have been the highlight of the morning.  Charlotte had read a biography about Davy Crockett and loved seeing some of what she had read about. 

Anson found his name on the History of Texas Timeline outside the Alamo. Anson Jones, the fifth & final President of the Republic of Texas. Yes, that was a factor in choosing his name. We of course had to stop at the gift shop & I finally realized why I had a million key chains from vacation. Other than postcards they are one of the most affordable things there. The girls actually chose key chains as their souvenir, yea! Owen had his eye on (pun intended) a miniature telescope. He chose to move on down the road & look for other things but when it came down to it, that is ALL he wanted so he & I took a detour & went back to get it for him. He was extremely excited & proud to have something that looked so official. 

We came across the neatest park in the middle of the city. When we arrived, there were multiple school groups but they soon cleared out & we nearly had the place to ourselves! 

It was full of these beautiful mosaic animals that the kids loved climbing on.

The kids ran like crazy & by the time we were ready for lunch, little Arlo's legs could walk no more. Thankfully, his dad is always up for offering a ride when he says "Dada, can I ride up on top?" Little Arley was overjoyed to see that the trash man comes to San Antonio too! It's the simple things.

That afternoon, we hit up the pool at the "sleeping museum" even though I found the water a wee bit chilly. Kudos to Robby who played & welcomed being splashed by the foursome. Little bit stayed close to his mama & the sunshine. 

Since we goofed on dining out our first night, we were rock stars the next. We made a reservation at The Rainforest Cafe & told the kids we had a surprise dinner after a lengthy walk. It did not disappoint although Arlo was not quite sure about those unpredictable animals! He was giving Rainforest Cafe two thumbs up by the time he had Lava Mud in his mouth. It was the perfect mix of chocolate pudding & Oreo crumbles but watch out for those gummy worms! A certain Valentine child got a little heimlich action at the Orlando location back in the day due to those slippery suckers. Clue- she is the tallest one.

The Riverwalk is so lovely AND a tad stressful with a multitude of children in tow. I was talking to a lady who had been running & stopped to take a break. She said she had been running that path for six years and had never seen anyone fall in. We were nearly certain that one of ours would take an accidental dive!  When we took the picture of the twins in front of the restaurant, Arlo wandered off & stood along the water for what felt like 3 full minutes of panic. His grin was pretty cute when he realized we were looking for him...stinker.  In the end, all swimming was saved for the pool.

Since it was birthday eve for me, my people were more generous with their smiles : )  Plus, they were excited. It was not only birthday eve but adventures at Sea World were just one sleep away!