I think traveling is SO important. Memories made on vacations (no matter how small they are) are priceless to me and I want my children to experience as much as possible. A mini-goal of mine for Brittlynn is to try to go somewhere with her once a month. In February we went to Jacksonville, in March we went to Casey and Jordan’s wedding. For April we had planned to go visit some friends up in Atlanta…but it just didn’t work out. Schedule’s couldn’t match up so I called my dad about going to see them for a weekend but we couldn’t match our schedules either! We knew at some point we wanted to take the kids to Satellite Beach for a weekend. It’s where I was born and most of my family is from. It’s also where Zach and I got married so it’s SUPER special to us 🙂 Dad said July worked better for him (I know, you can tell where I get my scheduling from…they didn’t have a free weekend either!) so I figured we’d flip-flop things and go down to Satellite Beach for the weekend.
This is a drive we used to make OFTEN. Mom lived in Melbourne (which is like the town right next to Satellite Beach) and we drove down there regularly to visit her when we had Kye (as you can tell from his Places Kye Has Traveled list!). It’s only a four hour drive from Valdosta. Which isn’t bad at all, unless you have a nursing baby. Since Britt is on the 4 hour schedule I had to feed her at the house then hop in the car and leave and we couldn’t possibly make it down there before she would have to eat again. The best way to do it is to leave at the start of nap time then stop in St Augustine (halfway point) when it’s time for her to eat. Nurse her, then get back in the car and go the rest of the way. The St. Augustine Outlet’s are the PERFECT stopping point because they have a Motherhood Maternity Store and they welcome nursing moms!
We debated about when to leave and decided to leave at 1. Kye is too old to sleep in the car so he skipped his nap, but Britt’s schedule comes first! She slept a little bit but was mostly miserable the entire way. One of the reasons we bought my car is that is has bucket seats in the back so I can sit on the floor if needed. Well I sat on the floor a LOT on this trip. Not fun! I was thankful for the break to nurse…while Britt ate, the boys went shoe shopping for Kye!
(the closest I will ever come to the Time magazine cover hahaha, I just loved how her little hands were while she was nursing)
This was our first time traveling to the Melbourne area and having to book a hotel. Omg. EXPENSIVE. Since it’s all beach area, the prices are no joke. I found the cheapest place I could and it was still $79 a night. It was called The Dolphin Inn..and it was an experience. But it was a super large room AND they let us bring the dogs for free so it worked for us! We got there right at dinner time so I put Britt down for a mininap while the boys went hunting for food. But first I REMEMBERED to take our hotel room picture! (I actually took this the next day but hey I took it!)
The only thing they could find was McDonald’s but it worked!
Perfect sized sink for Britt’s bath!
Like I said, Satellite Beach is VERY special to Zach and I. We want our children to feel connected to the area as well so little trips like this will for sure be happening more in the future. The important stops to us were the beach, Longdoggers but most importantly BAGEL WORLD. When I lived in the area my freshman year of high school we would ride our bikes down to Bagel World every Saturday morning and pig out on yummy breakfast bagels. I looooove them. We included Bagel World in our wedding weekend and seriously I could eat it every single day. I was pumped to get up Saturday morning and go to one of my absolute favorite places on earth 😉
The owner there is BEYOND nice and ALWAYS hooks us up with tons of free food (how he makes money I have no idea?!?!) Kye saw the ice cream and the owner gave him some. At 7:15 am. Awesome breakfast!
MY LOVE!!!
Cheddar Cheese bagel, toasted with peanut butter, bacon, egg and cheese
My mouth is watering RIGHT NOW!!!!
Kye got a bagel too but the ice cream kinda ruled the breakfast!
Britt enjoyed her bagel later 😉
What!What!
After breakfast we headed back to the hotel so Brittlynn could get her 9:00 nap. The hotel was pretty awesome. Like when I checked in the lady was chain smoking and told me about 15 times not to leave our door open with the air on. Yes, the room had a little window ac unit. At the beach! It was nice and toasty for sure. You get what you pay for but aside from everything be old and worn, it really did work well for us. The room was HUGE. With a full sized fridge. Totally dog friendly like I said. Across the street from the beach. On A1A so it was mega easy to get to everything we wanted to do. AND they had a dock on the water and tons of things to do outside. Perfect for entertaining a preschooler while his sister was sleeping!
garden art?
Our room so I know which one to request next time
Zach put Britt down for her nap and I headed out with Kye to explore the dock and water
View from the dock
Love this face!
We were down there a few minutes when this nice couple came down to fish. Seriously, it worked out SO perfectly. They had four boys who are all grown now and you could tell they felt a connection to Kye. The husband, Mr Richard, was so so good with him and wanted to teach him all about fishing.
Letting Kye pet his catch!
I told him over and over again that I didn’t want to mess up his fishing but he kept saying he enjoyed Kye and I could tell he really did miss having kids this age. Kye had a BLAST fishing! He hasn’t been since his first time over a year ago with my dad so it was great!
Mr. Richard told Kye to watch the bopper thing and when it went under is when he should reel it in!
reeling it in
the catch
A STINGRAY!!!
Mr Richard talked to us about how the stinger can hurt you and to never touch it, and we talked about how this one was different than the ones we touched at the Zoo because they didn’t have stingers.
Touching it!
Proud of his catch
(these pictures of Mr Richard make me think I should start giving out “you’ve been featured on my blog!” card to people haha)
Letting him go
Another catch!
So proud 🙂
Not only did Kye get to catch a fish, a sting ray and pet the sting ray but then we saw a dolphin! He was hunting some food and we even saw him catch a fish!!!
Fighting for his breakfast
The 45 min or so of us fishing was the highlight of the weekend. It was SO awesome!!! I’m so glad we stayed at that hotel and met Mr. Richard! We talk allllll the time about how Kye caught a sting ray and how we watched a dolphin. Such a neat experience. I felt guilty that Zach was in the room with Britt and missing it all so we walked back to get him (and the monitor). On our way we saw some other “wild life” that lived at the hotel!
Back for more fishing fun!
Mr. Richard let Zach and Kye catch some fish for him to use as bait
He thought the lures were super cool
Reeling one in with Daddy!
Their catch 🙂
Later that afternoon they also caught a puffer fish but I missed that as I was with Brittlynn. After Britt woke up from her nap we headed to the beach…that’s up next!
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#1 – That bagel sounds absolutely disgusting. :)#2 – I totally love you. It's a "bobber". Not a "bopper".
That was so sweet of Mr Richard! I love meeting such friendly people on vacations, it renews my faith in humanity haha. Also your comment about handing out 'you've been featured' cards cracked me up because I have thought about that very thing as well! I know there's a website I've seen commercials for where you can print like a thousand cards for super cheep… it's an interesting idea, but I think if someone handed me one of their cards I'd be a little freaked out 😉
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Hahahaha, ditto on the disgusting bagel!! Peanut butter and bacon??? Maybe I just don't know what I'm missing out on 😉
I can't stop laughing at Bopper. Don't hate me but we don't like bagel world 🙁 🙁 TECHNICALLY… didn't you get married in Cocoa? AND if Greg's parents will ever stop renting their house we will have to go down with ya'll!! PS We sold the golf cart I can't wait to show you the picture.
OH! And we stayed at Daytona Beach Hilton, 11th floor in an AWESOME room for $79 a night. But it was a wed-thurs night 🙂 If you don't count the parking (!!!)
Hi Emily,I've been reading your blog for a couple of months now, and I truly get so much information from you that I apply to my own family. Thank so much for sharing your stories wih all of us! We are a military family, so we are always traveling all off the place. I have a 17 month old daughter, and I'm trying to figure out the hotel room situation…what are we going to do when se goes to bed at 7:30? I would live to hear about how you guys set up the room and what all yor arrangements are :)Thanks again!!!!
Rachael_Copponex hey i never claim to know crap about fishing 😉 i'm an indoor type girl (duh!) HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE BAGEL WORLD?!?!?!?!?! that pic of macy with all the money is hilarious…poor girl. you sold her golf cart!
@Rmullican2509 bopper…bobber…it's pretty close right?!?! i'm impressed i was even THAT close 😉