We are in Florida! So excited to be here. Yesterday, we slowly made our way from Charlotte to Palm Coast, which is a little town an hour south of Jacksonville. We’re staying with my in-laws for a few nights, and then we’re on our way to Miami for the big football game (and the even bigger tailgate!).

I really love Charlotte, but I have to say – I’m a Florida woman, through and through.  Born and raised!

There’s nothing like Florida sunsets, after all.

And nothing like Florida beaches!  I was SUCH a beach bum as a kiddo, and I’m working hard on converting Henry.

Poor kiddo gets scared by the crashing waves! And then he ends up stumbling around the loosely packed sand, grumbling and mad because he’s hot, itchy, and freaked out. I knew he’d have fun if he only got closer to the water and actually cooled off.  He loves the pool, splash playgrounds, and the hose – I guess he’s just a little too little to love the beach.  However, he adores smashing sand castles, so the Husband made a path of castles all the way to the shoreline, and sure enough – Henry was so intent on smashing each and every one that he didn’t realize how close he was getting to the surf!  BEACH BREADCRUMBS, I tell you!  And when he finally wised up and realized the water was licking his feet, he was brave enough to reach up and ‘ask’ me to carry him in. It didn’t turn into complete beach adoration, but we’re getting closer!

I went on a run, too.  It was hot. SO HOT.

If I had a dollar for every time I wrote, “When am I going to learn NOT to go running in the middle of the day in the middle of the summer in Florida?” well… I could practically afford that Half Ironman race entry. 😉 In all seriousness, I don’t know why I haven’t wised up to the fact that running in 90 temps with 90% humidity is a horrible idea. I wanted to go 6 miles and barely survived 3.

I also squeezed in a few laps (or, um, what felt like a million) at the community pool.

Amazingly, I got back to the house before Henry woke up from a ridiculously long nap AND still had time to shower, lay on the couch, and stare mindlessly at the ceiling.  Best workout ever, right?

But the highlight of the day was going to St. Augustine for dinner. The town holds a special place in our hearts, as it was the place we went for our first date and where we went for our engagement weekend.

The Husband suggested this really fun restaurant right on the water. He said, “I KNOW Henry will love this!”and was he right! Henry has become seriously obsessed with birds, and this place is a seagull hot spot.

Why is it a bird magnet?  Well, there are little cubbies under the windows, and you can open them up and throw bread down to MILLIONS of catfish.  Birds sit on the railing and wait to snag crumbs, too.

The waitress brought us a ton of bread, and Henry spent the entire meal stuffing balls of dough into the cubby and watching the fish go nuts.

We ended the evening with a stroll around our special town…

And now – I’m ready to DROP! So much vacation fun in one day. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the weekend brings us…