The Great Road Trip Days 6-8: St. Augustine

We left for St. Augustine Wednesday afternoon and got there with just enough time for dinner and some swimming before bed.  We hit the city full force on Thursday and Friday, though.

We started Thursday with a trolley tour and jumped off about three quarters of the way through to explore the old part of the city (inside the city gate):

We got off at the old fort, but decided not to tour. Benji did love the hill.

In front of the Castillo

In front of the old city gates

After exploring the main street through old town, we jumped back on the trolley and headed to the chocolate factory.  The next tour was sold out, so we grabbed tickets for the last tour of the day and killed time nearby by touring a winery and distillery.  The kids were less than thrilled, but the chocolate tour was awesome and made up for it.  They both say this was the highlight of the trip for them:

I think they mostly liked that the tour included chocolate tastings throughout

By the time we finished the chocolate tour, we were all worn out and headed home to clean-up before dinner.

We had another big day Friday, starting with celebrating Benji's birthday in the morning and followed by doing the activities he chose - the old jail and the oldest store - and the activities the adults chose- the fountain of youth and the gator farm:

Oldest Jail:

Benji and I offered to be the volunteers in the birdcage

Oldest Store:

Benji was chosen to demonstrate the coffee grinder

Fountain of Youth:

Archeological dig

Pulley system

Watchtower at the Fountain of Youth

At the top of the watchtower

Benji wanted to run all the way to the end of the landing pier

You can see the giant cross at the mission from here

Gator Farm:

Benji's favorite part was the playground

We went out for a nice dinner for our last evening of vacation and then walked the old plaza and arts district. The kids found a cannon:

We took off early Saturday morning to start making our way home, but we all really enjoyed this trip.

Happy 7th Birthday, Benji!

I decided it would be too much to put all of the St. Augustine pictures into one post, so I decided to break out the pictures from Benji's birthday morning.  He was disappointed not to be spending it at home, so we tried to go all out to make it feel special even in the hotel:

We set up the night before after the kids (finally!) feel asleep

Benji was happy to find birthday bear when he woke up

Looking through the birthday book we made him

Garfield!

Abby made him this awesome card featuring birthday bear

Happy boy

This present got the biggest reaction. Want to guess what it is?

Yup - new Blue Henries

Love this picture

Benji "introducing" his Blue Henries to each other

Streamer curtain

He even liked the birthday button, which I thought was a little doubtful.

birthday cupcake at dinner

All in all, a great birthday!

Road Trip Days #4-6: West Palm Beach

We spent a significant amount of time at the beach on Singer Island both full days we were in West Palm:

Collecting shells

Abby is growing so fast right now, we bought this suit the week before our trip and it already doesn't fit

This may be my favorite picture from the trip -- Abby with a protective arm around Benji as he faces the waves

They both love playing in the surf

Grandpa Steve up on the beach

Daddy lifting Benji over the waves

Grandpa Steve got in the water for a little while -- he certainly does not look almost 70!

Grandpa Steve gave Benji a drone plane as an early birthday present, and he was so excited!:

We spent most of our time the third day trying to fly it:

Abby, concentrating on the directions

I love the identical puzzled expressions

Benji walking Bear back from the park

Throughout the trip, I was trying to capture a good picture of the kids with Grandpa Steve to put in his frame.  Only sort of successfully:

Great smiles with just the kids

But then Benji's attention wandered

With Blue Henry as a hat

On to St. Augustine in next week's posts!