South

When we went to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, for our end-of-summer trip, we visited Grayton Beach State Park for the first time. It was golden hour, and there was a rainstorm on the horizon, so I was able to capture some rather impressive photos on my not-so-new iPhone. We walked along a short trail and saw dunes, forests, and coastal dune lakes.

When we came upon a sign that warned of bears, I was surprised and couldn’t believe it to be true. But apparently there are black bears in the Florida Panhandle, and sightings are not uncommon. Bears live throughout the state of Florida, and the southern portion of the Panhandle is one of a few more concentrated areas of habitation. For fun, feel free to share any bear sighting stories you might have.

While we were enjoying our picnic lunch at Camp Helen State Park, a friendly park ranger stopped by for a chat. “Have you been to Eden Gardens State Park?” he asked. “It’s just up the road and well worth the trip. It’s the most photographed park in Florida.”

Intrigued, we decided to stop by. The clouds were almost gone, but we wanted to wait a little longer before going to the beach so the temperature could get back up to 85.

Eden Gardens was definitely worth the visit. It was gorgeous, quiet, and serene. The property features a historic home, built in the 1890s by William Henry Wesley. The Wesley family operated a saw mill and lumber company on the property until after World War I. They used Tucker Bayou, an offshoot of Choctawhatchee Bay (say that five times fast), to ship their goods.

The house was restored and gardens designed by Lois Maxon, who purchased the estate in 1963. She generously donated it to the state of Florida just a few years later.

Fun fact: The 1972 horror film “Frogs” was filmed at the estate and starred Ray Milland, Joan Van Ark, and Sam Elliot. At the time of the filming, there was concern among local residents that the exotic reptiles from South America that were used in the movie would make Eden Gardens their permanent home.

We returned to Santa Rosa Beach on the Florida Panhandle at the end of summer for a quick, three-day trip. The drive is only seven hours from Nashville, so it’s hard to pass up an opportunity to go. With young kids and Mr. Handsome’s busy work schedule, we are in the season of life of taking short, long weekend trips by car. We were able to score a discounted, low-season rate at a one-bedroom condo we had previously stayed at.

The weather was cloudy and cool on the first day, so we went exploring. After driving a short while, we stopped for a stroll at Camp Helen State Park in Panama City Beach.

There are various buildings on the property. The Lodge was built in the early 1930s by the Hicks family as a summer home. According to the Friends of Camp Helen website, the project cost $75,000 and included wooden beams from South America and granite from Spanish ships.

Due to the Great Depression and the death of her husband, Margaret Hicks was forced to find a way to generate an income. She build the Rainbow Cottages (photo at the top of the post) and began welcoming guests. The cottages are closed to the public, but you can look in the windows and imagine what it would have been like to stay there in the 1930s.

The park sits on Powell Lake and Philips Inlet and is located right off the Gulf. Our walk took us along a lovely path down to the beach. Most of it was stroller friendly, which was a win. Before the arrival of settlers, the area was inhabited by Native Americans.

The property was purchased by Avondale Mills around the end of World War II. It became Camp Helen, named after the wife of the founder’s son. The company used the camp as a vacation spot for its employees until 1987. What a nice employee perk that would have been! It became a state park in 1996.

The original water tower built by the Hicks family still stands today.

Six years ago, I posted my interview with Josh Enck from Sight & Sound Theatres. This year, I finally made it to a Sight & Sound production, and I was blown away. Mr. Handsome went as a child, but this was my first time.

As part of our trip to Branson with Mr. Handsome’s extended family, we saw “Jesus: Live on Stage.” We went in two groups so we didn’t have to take the toddlers. I did, however, take Littlest Buddy and was able to watch while he slept in his stroller. The production was just wonderful. The acting was top notch, and the backdrops were larger-than-life. And of course the highlight was the perfectly trained live animals. I highly recommend that everyone attend.

Have you been to a Sight & Sound show?

While we were in Branson, Missouri, this summer, we visited the Butterfly Palace. The indoor rain forest is home to hundreds of tropical butterflies, and we had a blast watching them fly around. Little Buddy was thrilled when a few landed on him to drink the nectar he was holding. Have you ever been to a butterfly garden?

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is to take evening walks along the beach. When we went to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, earlier this spring, we discovered that it’s possible to push a stroller along the part of the sand that is made flat by the tide. What a helpful discovery!

We were only in Santa Rosa Beach for three days, but we went walking every evening. We don’t usually let Little Buddy have sweets before bed because it affects his sleep, but we decided to let him live a little…we got peanut butter ice cream one night and ate it on the sand.

A little girl walked up to Little Buddy and asked to use his shovel, and we encouraged Little Buddy to give her a turn. He wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed. When we were leaving a short while later, he informed us that he wanted to leave the shovel for the little girl to play with. That was a difficult parenting moment because the shovel was from the condo and thus didn’t belong to us, so we couldn’t very well leave it. But we made sure to praise him for having such kind intentions. 

Have you visited Montgomery, Alabama? We made a quick visit earlier this year to see some of the historic sites. We both believe that it’s never too young to expose children to history. It had been five years since our first visit to Montgomery. During that trip in 2017, we visited Martin Luther King Jr.’s home and met his neighbor, Vera Harris. I posted photos to my blog on May 26th, 2017.

Montgomery was founded in 1819 by the unification of two villages, New Philadelphia and East Alabama. The connection point was Court Square.

We visited the Montgomery Bus Boycott sites, including the exact spot where Rosa Parks boarded the bus on December 1st, 1955.

Returning from her job as a seamstress at a local department store, Rosa Parks was asked to give up her seat because of the color of her skin, but she bravely refused.

The Bus Boycott began a few days later and continued for over a year, when public transportation was integrated by order of the U.S. Supreme Court.

For standing up against the unjust segregation on buses, Rosa Parks lost her job. She and her husband ended up resettling in Detroit to escape the unjust hostility that they faced following the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

I posted “Beach with 2 Kids: Part 1” at the beginning of June and then completely left you hanging. Sorry about that!

Littlest Buddy was a champ. He was in a great stage for traveling. Not at all mobile, but still old enough to enjoy the scenery. I schlepped his stroller down the stairs and across the sand every single time we went to the beach, but it worked perfect because it allowed him to nap. He napped most of the times we went to the pool, as well, but we took in the water twice (his first time swimming) and he really enjoyed it. His long-sleeved rash guard, flap hat, and natural baby sunscreen kept him from getting too much sun.

Little Buddy wore his long-sleeved rash guard most days, too. All three of his rash guards are bright (think highlighter colors), which is all I buy because it makes it significantly easier for me to keep track of him while we are around water. At the pool, Little Buddy really enjoyed the little squirt toy that he found in our condo. In the photo above, he can be seen attempting to transfer the pool water onto the rocks, which we gently stopped him from doing.

When we are in Florida, our hands-down favorite activity is eating fresh fish. We indulged every evening of our three-day trip.

On the first night, Daddy told Little Buddy, “We are taking you to a very special place that is one of Mommy and Daddy‘s favorite restaurants in the whole world. We’re going to eat tasty fish!” Little Buddy, who actually does like fish, responded, “I just had oatmeal, so I’m fine.” What a let down.

He ended up eating a few bites of our food but didn’t want a full kids’ meal, so we saved money that evening.

I will say that keeping kids busy at restaurants is no easy task. I really appreciate when the server provides crayons and paper. Even better are the restaurants that have disposable paper tablecloths. Little Buddy gets bored of coloring quickly, though, so I often bring little animals for him to play with.

About a week ago, I posted about our drive down to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. We slept decently well (considering having two small children) and woke up ready to enjoy the beach. Sadly, the the first day was overcast with only a little bit of sun, but we were still able to go to the beach and pool twice. Our schedule for the day was beach, pool, lunch, naps, beach, pool, walk, early dinner, walk on the beach, bedtime.

Little Buddy loved the water, perhaps a bit too much. The single red flag prevented him from full-out swimming, but he loved standing by the shore with Daddy and letting the waves hit his legs. There was also a purple flag due to jellyfish. Yuck!

He seems to like the salt water more and more each year. He didn’t really care much about playing in the sand, even though we brought his big plastic shovel and dump truck. He dug for a few minutes but was more interested in being a daredevil at the edge of the water. 

Little Buddy’s reaction to the pool was even more interesting. Last summer, all he wanted to do at pools was sit on the stairs and splash. This time, he was eager for Daddy to take him in, and he could actually touch the bottom of the 3-foot section. Mr. Handsome took the opportunity to start teaching water safety and basic swimming skills.

I’m not a fan of flotation devices for toddlers because I think it gives them a false sense of safety. I’ve heard too many stories of kids having a blast jumping into the deep end over and over while wearing floaties and then taking them off to get a snack, forgetting that they can’t swim, and jumping in and either drowning or almost drowning. So my plan is to avoid any flotation aids until our kids are able to swim. Little Buddy is so tall that I don’t think it will be long before he is able to. Mr. Handsome plans to start teaching him in our neighbors’ pool this summer.

What are your views on teaching kids to swim?