Last week I was on hiatus in Weeki Wachee, Florida. My {active and lively!} grandparents live on the water there and we drove down to visit for the boys’ spring break. We don’t vacation often {for the past few years we’ve done the staycation thing} but we were itching for warmer weather after winter’s gloom. Plus, we were offered free lodging and promised home cooked meals. Thanks Gigi and Great Grandpa!

Here’s a little instagram recap of our week away.

GOOD FRIDAY – Travel day. 18 hours in the car with three kids isn’t exactly my idea of heaven but it was worth it. I think Everett described it best. “We drove a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, verrrrrrrrry long time and then it was summer.”

SATURDAY – Mabrey turned 1! She absolutely loved it when everyone sang “Happy Birthday.” I’ve always been an emotional mess on my kids’ first birthdays. Okay, every birthday but especially the first ones. I feel like “we made it!” To celebrate, we took Mabrey on her first boat ride in the river then watched the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico. Teary + smiley = me.

SUNDAY – Easter. Somehow the Easter bunny knew we were in Florida. The kids had fun searching for and then emptying their Easter baskets. We spent the day at my aunt’s house. The kids had a grand time swimming and splashing around. My grandpa served up his famous fried grouper {which he caught himself in the Gulf} and hush puppies. Not your typical Easter dinner but, hello, YUM.

MONDAY – My two younger sisters made an appearance! Just in time for a more traditional Easter meal which included Gigi’s homemade spinach balls. The recipe is coming, I promise. We kayaked on the river and put together a scavenger hunt for the boys that ended with a treasure/snack. Then they asked to do it all over again.

TUESDAY – We dragged Easter out a little longer and painted eggs. In the afternoon, I gave HH the day off {hehe} and we headed to a little beach with the boys and my sisters. Mabrey stayed back at the house with my grandparents for her nap.

WEDNESDAY – My sisters left {boo} and per Everett’s birthday request, HH, the boys and I hit up Legoland. My grandparents babysat Mabrey for the day. I was relieved of my diapering, bottling, baby-on-the-hip duties but was really missing that girl by the end of the day. We loved Legoland – especially Miniland USA. So many little Lego details! I prefer Legoland over Disney. It’s smaller and less overwhelming. It’s definitely family oriented. All four of us were able to go on 95% of the rides together so we didn’t have to split up, me taking one boy to one ride and HH taking the other boy to another ride. Everett had to get his face painted. {He never misses an opportunity to dress up, accessorize or make believe.} Of course, he picked the most expensive, least attractive design. Of course.

THURSDAY – Rain day. We spent the day reading {my faves were The Honest Life, Domino’s Small Spaces special edition and Dwell’s Renovate Today special edition} and in between sprinkles Everett learned to ride his two wheeler. In the evening, we took the boys to see Oz The Great and Powerful. Going to the movie theater is a rare occurrence for us. We all liked the movie but Everett was a little scared of the wicked witch. Even after his frightening face painting the day before – go figure!

FRIDAY – Our last day in Florida. I did a few loads of laundry to make packing/unpacking easier. We went on another boat ride. Just as we were heading back to the house, three manatee came right up to our boat! We took my grandparents out for dinner as a thank-you-for-letting-us-make-your-house-loud-and-messy-for-a-week gesture.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY – Travel days. On the way home, we split up the drive. We stayed in Tennessee overnight. Mabrey thought it was fun that we were all sleeping in the same room and proceeded to play peekaboo. Sunday was Everett’s birthday and he was such a good sport about spending it in the car. He turned 5 and will start kindergarten next fall. Ahhhhh! All my babies are achieving these huge milestones on different age appropriate paths and I’m trying hard to savor each and every one.

Our little vacation was just the refresher we needed. It was so nice not to have the laptop as a distraction and just focus on my family. I think I should go offline more often but maybe for shorter periods of time. It makes me a better mom and blogger!

I’ll leave you with the funniest picture from the entire week that had me howling…

Criminals.

Were you on vacation last week too? Any vacations in the works? Do you have the same online/offline struggle?

images: Dana Miller via instagram