My Monday had the most wonderful start. Lots and lots of snuggles with Finn (he has been in such a cuddly mood in the mornings lately), a run with a friend (during which we literally tag teamed pushing her double stroller at the same time), a trip to Whole Foods and a big pot of homemade lentil soup (I’ll be sharing the recipe this week because it is a good one).
I’m now settled in for a long stretch of work on the computer. I have a lot to catch up on after a long weekend away, and in preparation for a teacher training weekend ahead.
Our weekend in Florida was nothing short of perfect. Fall at the beach is my absolute favorite season. The crowds are gone and the temperature/humidity is a good bit lower. It feels calming and peaceful. I have 10 photo highlights from our trip to share with you today.
We arrived on Thursday evening and came straight home to get Finn fed and in bed. Finn and I were up at sunset on Friday morning and what I saw when I looked outside took my breath away. Clear skies, gorgeous sunrise colors and steam rising off the ocean. It was 39 degrees on Friday morning!
Reunited. Finn still loves his Mema and loves to bring her books, turn around, back into her and say “up.” (Up is one of our favorite words right now and lap sitting is also a fave.)
I had not seen the ocean so calm and clear in many, many visits. I couldn’t stop staring at it all weekend.
While the weather was a little too chilly for swimming on this trip, Finn did PLENTY of running.
Friday evening sky. I loved the crescent moon over the orange horizon.
On Saturday my dad and I drove over to Whole Foods in Destin to do a shopping trip for my grandmother. She loves it when I go to places like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods to get her fun snack/food items. Finn was starting to lose patience with our shopping excursion until one of the bakery workers gave him this cookie. He was all smiles the rest of the trip.
The sun set on Saturday just as my Bulldogs pulled off a win over the Gators and we were sitting down for a family dinner. I snuck outside to snap a few photos because it was so stunning.
THESE COLORS!
As I mentioned in my last post, Sunday morning was a little rough! Finn was up at 4:30a thanks to the time change. We enjoyed lots of quality cuddle and playtime before he was ready to go down for a nap at 9:30a. I was all about the early nap because our flight home was at 1:30p and I knew I’d have a much happier baby on my hands if he napped. I snuck out for a five mile run while he slept and then did laundry and packed.
As we journeyed home my heart was simultaneously joyful and grateful as well as heavy. It’s always hard to leave my family. I cherish these visits for so many reasons. Luckily, we don’t have to wait long to see my mom again…she’s coming to spend the week of Thanksgiving with us in Charlotte. <3
I’d also like to share that we flew Allegiant from Concord to Destin/FWB for the second time in a few months. (We typically fly American due to schedule/miles/etc.) We are so fortunate to have the Allegiant option. Our round trip ticket was $150 with luggage fees. I’m serious. It’s going to make flying regularly so much more doable from a financial standpoint once I have to buy a separate seat for Finn.
I wanted to write about this in case you guys have access to Allegiant. They are growing/expanding their service a lot right now and while they are a “budget/no frills” airline, I’ve always felt safe and haven’t had any customer service disasters with them. The flight attendants are SO kind and it’s a very family-friendly airline. I might not recommend Allegiant for business travel due to their limited schedules BUT it’s amazing for family/leisure/vacation travel. Let me know if you have any questions about flying Allegiant.
And that wraps up the weekend. I hope that you guys have a great week and that those of you with babies/small children are surviving the time change!
What’s your favorite season at the beach?
How did your children do with the time change?
Have you flown Allegiant?
Hi Jen, I am not by any means a fan of 60 minutes but they did a credible story on Allegiant last year that you might want to look into before you consider flying it on a regular basis. After seeing it my husband and I decided that no matter the price difference we would not fly on Allegiant as we do not think it is a safe airline. To each his own but just wanted to make you aware of many safety issues they have had.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/allegiant-air-the-budget-airline-flying-under-the-radar/
Looks like you had a great trip to Florida!
flight attendant (not for allegiant) here. don’t be spooked by news about them, they’ve retired all their “mad dog” MD aircraft and Allegiant is a safe airline. random side note, their flight attendants are always home at the end of the day (this is very unusual for most of us) which is just a cool part of the company I think. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mcall.com/business/transportation/mc-biz-allegiant-safety-record-lvia-20190831-nvab3epnergm3buqoimaankjsa-story.html%3FoutputType%3Damp