West Palm Beach, FL

We had such a great time in Florida last week! 

I will say it was definitely different compared to vacations in the past. It was Ellie's first beach vacation and her first flight. Those firsts are enough to worry about without adding in all the restrictions and rules to follow during covid also.  But I'm not here to talk about covid, I'm here to say we had such a great time and it still felt like a vacation despite all the restictions. We had the most perfect weather I've ever had on a vacation. It did not rain not once and every day it was 95 degrees and sunny!

We've been going to Florida pretty much every year with my family since I was a baby. Growing up we had the privilage to stay at a condo my grandma owned in St. Augustine, Fl. Even though now we don't stay at the same place we used to in Florida, we still enjoy our trip every year. For the last few years we have been staying a Marriott Vacation Club and love it. 

The last two times we went to Florida we have stayed at the same condo, Marriott Ocean Point in West Palm Beach, Fl. I highly recommend this resort! They have great customer service and brought us up a highchair and pack n play for Ellie with no extra charge. On my birthday, my sister came down to the pool to wish me happy birthday and one of the managers happened to over hear her and sent me a small gift. He went out of his way to stop what he was doing to make my birthday special with some chocolates and a bottle of wine! 

We spent all day everyday either at the beach or at the pool! Ellie did suprisingly well for her first time at the beach. She ate a few handfuls of sand, but loved being held in the ocean and building sand castles. Well she at least liked filling the bucket with sand and nothing better than a ocean front pedicure with sand as the best exfoliator! 

Ellie really seemed to love the pool and thrived being in it! She learned incredibly quick how to swim with her puddle jumper! I was so nervous she was going to have a hard time because she wasn't used to wearing it but she never cried. She even jumped in a few times to my dad! We definitely had to have lots of toys to help keep her occupied but what she loved most was watching some of the older kids play in the pool. 

This girlie is always looking to grow up quicker. I swear we never stay in one stage very long. As soon as she learns how to do something, she is already on to the next problem to solve. Boy do we have our hands full. This fearless girl just runs straight into the water and doesn't come out until I make her lay down for a nap. 

We ate at so many great restaurants while down there. There were two restaurants that stood out to us the most! The first one we absolutely love is The Woods Jupiter! We went here 2 years ago for my birthday dinner and had such a great experience that we had to go again this year. This is Tiger Wood's flagship restaurant. They have incredible service and a beautiful atmosphere. Me and Anthony pride ourselves on being foodies, and between 6 of us all ordering different meal. No one had any complaints... we even ordered 4 desserts! *No judging.*

The other restaurant we couldn't say enough great things about was Lola's Seafood Eatery. The google reviews on this place were spot on! We went out looking for some great seafood options that we hadn't eaten at before and boy this place did not disappoint! When we walked in, there were 4 different customers waiting for take out and we had asked them what we should order off the menu. Every single one of them said "everything is amazing!” We laughed because usually restaurants are known for specific things they are great at. So each one of us ordered somehting different and wow it did not disappoint. I ordered the Bam Bam Shrimp and Anthony had the fish tacos, both meals were delicious! We will definitely be coming back here every year we are in West Palm Beach!

As far as flying goes, I would say she wasn't horrible. I pretty much read every blog anyone wrote on flying with a toddler before we left so I would be as prepared as possible. I read on what to pack in diaper bag, what she should wear, and what activities were great for flying with toddlers. The top activites were coloring books/stickers, ipad/tablet (no judging), and snacks on snacks on snacks! What I wasn't prepared for, was the fact that absolutely nothing was open in the airport and I was unable to bring milk or water for the baby to drink. So she did cry for "wa wa" and "bubba" and I was able to get water from the flight attendant but I couldn't do anything about the milk. We tried to use distraction instead.... 

I decided that 2 days before our flight, I needed to buy the baby a tablet so she could water a show. *insert eye roll emoji* So I ordered an Amazon Fire Tablet and it came the day before we left. Ellie is hardly ever interested in TV at home so what in the world made me think she would all of a sudden be excited to watch it then?! I guess you can guess how that went down on the plane. It pretty much was just a throwing toy instead of quiet entertainment. 

Wow being a mom is hard. We tried our best to pick a flight that she would do the best on. We chose a nonstop flight eventhough it wasn't typically an airline we like to fly with. I thought an 11:50 a.m. to 2:10 p.m. flight on the way down would be perfect for her nap but she had other plans. She did not nap until after we put her in the stroller to pick up the bags. Then she slept for an hour+ while we picked up the bags, got the rental car and checked into the hotel. So napping didn't happen on the way down but she did fall asleep the way back to Ohio. Our flight back was later in the afternoon so we kept her up past her naptime and she did end up falling asleep about an hour into the flight. 

I always laughed when people would say that putting sunscreen on a toddler is like wrestling an alligator... I didn't know how true that was until I had my own. That was pretty much what it felt like on the plane except I couldn't let her get down out of our lap or I would have never have gotten her back in it. 

As far as the rest of the trip went, we had a great time. Normally we would spend a few days shopping during rain or after dinners but with all of the restrictions we didn't do much other than go out to dinner. We also had absolutely no wiggle room weight wise for our bags on the airplane so it was probably best that we couldn't go shopping. Below are a few pictures from our trip!