JENN KEY: Grayton Beach

The Griswalds packed up and visited Grayton Beach over the winter break. It was by far one of our best vacations ever! Very quiet and peaceful. It actually wasn't planned until the last minute as we were having the floors sanded and restained and we HAD to go out of town!!! At least that's my story! We stayed at the cabins at Grayton Beach State Park. They were a little small and there wasn't a TV OR A BATHTUB!!!!! but overall it proved to make our large family very happy. We were thankful to get Ben home to the bathtub for sure! The beach was absolutely deserted. There were people down the beach towards Seaside but at Grayton we were all alone. So nice.

We cooked several times at night.

Ben continued his diet of chocolate milk and goldfish. We're so happy he's added a new food group. If you look closely, there's a box of raisins in his goldfish bowl. Nice.

At night there were no electronics, only markers and crayons! It was kind of nice not having a TV. Sure, the kids still watched the iPad and laptop and our phones (HA!) but we did have to make an effort to turn those on instead of Mickey's Clubhouse blaring all day long.

For entertainment we had a talented musician playing harmonica for us. When he wasn't performing music, he used the water hose as a snake charmer.

This is not a tantrum. This is sheer joy and happiness from a 2 year old! Oh, and a couple of extra pounds of beautiful white sand in a Pampers diaper.

It rained one day and we headed into San Destin to the Barnes and Noble. Always a fun place on a dreary day. We couldn't find the local library! We probably couldn't find it because there wasn't a Starbuck's attached!

Mode of transportation at Grayton Beach!

Lillee did an awesome job riding her bike. The only incident on the entire trip was a HUGE bike wreck. Bax and I ran right on top of Lills. We all tumbled over and her. Her knee was a bloody mess for the last 5 miles of the ride. She was a trooper.

We ran into a Griffin celebrity and her fashionista friends at Seaside. We rode down to April's house just in time for Ben to watch the palm trees get cut. Fun activities at every turn. Ms. April even brought Lillee's birthday present to the beach. So sweet. She gave us some yummy restaurants to eat at and some terrific places to shop. We love Lillypads!