The Hutchinson Family: Seacrest-Departure Day & a visit to Gramma's

What a great trip! We had perfect weather and really enjoyed our first visit to Seacrest (near Seaside, FL). We had heard it was a perfect place for families and now we know why. The whole area is picture perfect – I told Kevin it was like Utopia! The home we stayed in was super nice and Seacrest has a 12,000 sq foot pool…yes – that is HUGE! It was a very short walk from the house and we made a trip there every day. The stairs in the pool were very deep and wide, so we spent a lot of time playing on them. Riley was even going under on her own and coming up with a smile. They really both did great in the water. We joined the Jordan family (Scott, Angie, Jack, Josh and Jacob) for their week at the beach, so Angie and the boys had already scoped out the best playgrounds and the best spot at the pool. We went to the park both mornings, went to the beach one afternoon, went to the pool every day, took a few walks on their new tricycles and went to the play in the water fountain. We were busy, but yet still had some time to relax and rest. It was central time, but we weren’t really there long enough to worry about adjusting, so it was early mornings and early evenings. The Jordan boys are working on manners (yes ma’am, no sir, thank you, etc.) so it was refreshing to hear these young boys with such good manners. They were all well behaved and played well together. You would think 4 adults and 5 children under 5 would be a bit chaotic, but it was actually a very relaxing vacation. To someone without children it was probably their worst nightmare, but for us, it was fantastic. We have officially turned the corner to having some relaxation on vacation! We didn’t think that was possible until they were much older, so it was a very nice surprise. Yay!!! We ate some great pizza the first night and then we had date night on Thursday while Scott & Angie stayed home and then we switched on Friday night. We had a nice evening and even ran into one of my friends from college – Jennifer Foster and her husband Matthew – at the Red Bar. I had always heard of The Red Bar, but had never been there, so we decided to check it out for dinner. It was packed and we had a short wait, but the food was good and it was so nice to have an adults-only night out. Saturday we had a safe trip home and it was really uneventful except for a few exchanges between Kevin and me on our way out of town. It might have had something to do with the gas light being on and not a gas station in sight, but outside of that it was a delightful ride home. We were so proud of how well the kids did. They watched more movies than any children should be allowed to watch in one day, but they were happy so we were happy…and would you believe that when we walked in the door they went straight to their chairs and said “movie”! I guess they could watch them forever!

After church and naps we went to see Gramma (or Maw-Mee as Ryan says it). Her back has been giving her bad trouble, so we took her a few meals and helped do some things around the house. We picked some tomatoes and green peppers and Ryan bit right into it and ate the entire tomato. He doesn’t get that love from me! They watched some of a movie with Gramma so she could stay off her feet. They enjoyed playing with her and playing with the new purse Gramma sewed for Riley. It has a drawstring and came full of goodies! Ryan got a small bag with goodies as well so he was not left out. We are home now and the kiddos went straight to bed without a fuss at all. Looking forward to a busy week…back to reality…and counting down the days until we return to the Seaside/Seacrest area!