St. Augustine and Deland Mini Vaca

Earlier this week, Mike and I randomly decided that we needed to take a mini vacation together. Volleyball has been in full swing since August and Michael and I haven't been able to see Daddy much so this was the perfect idea that would allow us to have some fun and relax too as a family :) Of course, St. Augustine was the first place that came out of our mouths. We absolutely LOVE this lil old city and can't seem to stay away. Michael has become a fan as well.

So on Saturday morning, we got up, ate and packed. If Michael is on our room while I'm getting ready, he wants to watch me blow dry my hair. I don't know why he is so fascinated but he watches intently every time :) Mike thought it was super cute so he ran downstairs, grabbed the camera and took this pic below :)

We timed the 2 hour car ride around Michael's nap so he ate lunch before we left, at about 11. Mike had stopped at Starbucks earlier in the morning but of course, once we got into St. Augustine, we hit up our fav spot again! You can tell from the pic below that he had just woke up :) He is a great lil traveler!

After getting our coffee, we decided to stroll around town. We split a large pretzel from one of the shops in the lil shopping district and found Daddy a St. Augustine shirt. We then made our way to the Fort. The last time we were in town, we weren't able to make it to the Fort for several reasons, 1 being the crazy HOT and humid weather and also that Michael was sick, running a fever so we had to get him home, then to the hospital :( However, this trip, we got to explore the entire place.

We took some pictures before heading in. The view is just beautiful and Michael ran around for awhile, eventually meeting up with a new friend... a big dog! He was excited until the dog got close :) He isn't a big animal fan quite yet.

After Michael ran from the puppy, we made our way into the Fort. We took the stroller but let Michael walk in by himself. He was holding my hand most of the way but then decided he was going to walk on his own, so he let go :( Daddy got a picture of it.

Once inside, the place belonged to Michael. He was all over the little rooms! He really enjoys exploring new places.

He found the rope that blocks off the center grassy area and became occupied with that for awhile. Once he grabbed it, he looked back at us like, am I allowed?? We giggled at him at began to take pictures so he knew it was okay for him to play with it :)

We couldn't leave without going on top of the Fort. Talk about some amazing views of the city and river! We were able to get a nice individual to take a picture for us while we were exploring up there. It was windy and a lil chilly too!

Daddy put Michael down and off he went once he saw the cannons!

The funniest thing though was that Michael was captivated by the coquina shell ground and walls. Now if Mike were typing this post, he would throw a history lesson into this so I guess I will do it for him :) Fact: Coquina actually absorbs the cannon balls rather than exploding into pieces like stone does.


We spent a good hour at the Fort and then decided it was time to eat! Daddy threw Michael on his shoulders and we headed out :)


Views from the top of the Fort :)

Mike had seen a restaurant on a guide that he wanted to try and thought it was down the road so we walked... and walked... and walked... no restaurant! Later we found out that it was outside the town :) We ended up eating at Harry's, a seafood place that we have been to before but love! Michael got his very own kids meal... Mahi Mahi and mashed potatoes :) He ate most of it! The kid has a crazy appetite because he also drank an entire cup of milk too!

Dinner was fantastic and super filling! Can't go wrong with Harry's :) The Gators were playing Arkansas so we hit up a local bar in town to watch the remainder of the game. Close one but the Gators won, thank the lord! Because it was getting late, we decided to head out to the beach where our hotel was. We didn't get to bed as early as we wanted because our reservation got screwed up but we eventually got a new hotel and hit the sack around 9:)

The following morning, we grabbed some breakfast, bundled up and walked a few blocks to the beach. It was in the 50's and the wind was blowing 15-20 mph! Talk about cold... well at least for us Floridians :)

A nice lil old couple was kind enough to take a family picture for us :)
Daddy took some shots of Michael roaming the beach.



We wish we could have taken his shoes off but the sand was freezing so we left his shoes on but Daddy got some fantastic pictures, which we will frame :)

We weren't quite ready to head home yet and it was still early, 10 am or so. I asked Mike if he would want to see Stetson University in DeLand, a school I went to my freshman year of college. I've always really enjoyed the little town and thought Mike would as well, and it wasn't too far out of our way. He said yes, so off we went!

When we got into town, we drove around the campus and then went to MainStreet Grille for lunch. It is a neat restaurant and has beautiful fountains. As we were leaving, Daddy and Michael were enjoying the view so I snapped a few pics :) We walked around town to the coffee joint, Boston Coffee. We got back to the car, strapped our lil man in, toured the school a little more and hit the road :)

It was a great weekend with the fam and we are looking forward to another one hopefully soon. Plan is to spend a day at Disney for Mike's birthday in November :) Only a few more weeks of Volleyball are left so we will have more time to spend together, at least until January because then baseball begins!