A Great Beginning to our 9th trip to the beach

Wow, it's truly amazing that for 1000 miles of driving, it could go as smooth as it does each year! I tell myself before each trip 'this may be the last year we can do this.' We pack Grandpa's suburban to the brim and then some! Yes, it is very obvious where we are heading by the outside looks of the vehicle. We have a two person kayak strapped to the top; a small trailer attached to the back (at least it's not on wheels, it's really just an 2x6ft extension)with beach chairs and toys; and several other bags tucked in places you couldn’t even imagine! Oh, and I must add there are six of us packed into the Suburban, too (Grandma and Grandpa Mathews, Seth, Me, and the three kids Myles, Elliott and Dane). Dane was a little fussy at 7pm Thursday evening when we first got to Grandparents and headed out, but that was about it till the end of the trip! The only resistance Dane had was each time he was placed in the car seat after each time he got out! But that was eased with a chocolate chip cookie or some other trip! And of course he let us know right away when he filled his pants! Elliott went to sleep in the car (finally) at about 9pm and slept until 8am the next day! And she was even out in between driver changes and potty stops! Myles, on the other hand, enjoyed driving through Atlanta at 2am and playing his DSI all night! He did take a few cat naps here and there! Dane enjoyed the same sleeping patterns as Elliott, actually, he slept about 15 of the 19 hours in the car! We left Indiana around 7 pm and got to Ft Myers Beach around 2 pm the next day! And as soon as we piled out of the car, Elliott exclaims ‘Ft Myers Beach, I love you!’ It was priceless! We quickly unpacked the car, put our swim suits on, applied generous portions of sunscreen and headed down to the pool! Myles immediately headed to the deep end with goggles on and jumped in! Elliott put on her bubble and goggles and jumped in happily, too! You’d never know these kids spent the last several hours in a car. Dane readily went into the pool, too! He loved splashing (thank goodness). I know Dane loves baths, but this was his first trip into the pool and he lOVED it! We went out to the beach for a little while, Dane immediately crawled in the sand and loved it, too. He even embraced the ocean with open arms! Then after an afternoon of beach fun, we headed in for dinner.
Elliott was anxious for ice cream, so we went out for ice cream. Even though we did see a ‘scary’ pirate, and Elliott no l onger wanted ice cream! She instead opted for Skittles on the pier! Then it was back to the condo and early to bed! We were all exhausted!