Vacation Part 2: Daytona

On Monday we were supposed to check out of our Condo in Orlando by 11 but couldn't check in at Daytona until late afternoon so we decided to kill some time in Orlando before the drive to Daytona. When we took Kenley to San Diego a couple years ago I wanted to do build a bear so bad but decided to wait until she was old enough to do it herself. My sister really wanted to do it with her kids too so we thought this would be a perfect time. It is SO neat!! If you have a little one and have not done this yet you should....it is worth the money. And pretty reasonably priced too! First they pick out their bear. And then get to work the machine to stuff it........


And then they hold the heart and .......

Kiss it so it is always loved, pat it on your back so it always has your back....

Hold it tight so it is always warm

And then get to put it inside the bear before they stitch it up.

Giving it a hug to make sure it is just perfect!

Then take it and give it a bath!

And for the best part.....pick out clothes!!! They have so many cute outfits to choose from. We let Kenley get a few outfits for her bear. One outfit has twinkle toe sketchers to match hers. So cute! But both of the girls chose a Disney princess outfit to dress their bear in there. Emma chose Ariel and Kenley chose Cinderella.

And after you pick out the clothes you make a birth certificate for your bear and name it. It was so much fun. I am glad we got to do it together. After we finished up at the build a bear we drove into Daytona!!! It is an AMAZING beach!! Probably my favorite beach (in the US).

Our first morning at the beach. There is so much room here for the kids to run and play. The water was so clear, the waves were beautiful and it was just AMAZING!! I can't wait to go back. ....I will also warn you now there are a lot of pictures. I couldn't narrow them down so I just put all the ones I like on here. :)



My parents went to Daytona Beach last summer with some friends and had dinner at Vince Carters...they loved it and wanted to go back. So we all headed there.

Kenley and Emma outside the restaurant with their purses

The food was wonderful and so was the dessert. Kenley even got her own apple crisp. She was so happy!


View of the beach from my parents balcony.




Best friends playing in the sand.






Love my sweet girl!

I mentioned before how awesome the waves were here. In Destin we always take the boogie boards but the waves aren't much- here the waves are so big that you can actually surf. Andy wanted to do it so bad so he, mike and dad all gave it a try.

Dad heading out to get a wave

Andy paddling in to get one

Here he goes

Dad paddling to get one

Andy about to stand up....

And he got it!!

Kenley surfing on Pahpaw's board

3 monkeys on a surf board

Our surfer dudes!! They only did it for an hour but I think they were all pretty sore after about 30 minutes. They found a new respect for the strength it takes to be a surfer.

There was a guy building a sand castle on the beach in front of us and he let Maddox and Kenley help some. This was his finished product!

They also had a great pool here. It was basically a play ground inside a kiddie pool. Kenley had a blast going down the slide and turning all of the different water sprinklers on. Even Maddox went down the slide.

Kenley coming down the slide for the 500th time. :)

Out at dinner one night. Look how big she is getting!! She looks like a little girl now and not a baby.


After dinner we went to the Ponce Inlet lighthouse. It was BEAUTIFUL!!!

Nana and Pahpaw with their babies in front of the lighthouse.


We climbed all 203 steps to get to the top. Kenley even walked up a little over 1/2 by herself. She is such a trooper!

But it was worth it for this view!!!!






The lens

Our last beach day







Andy rented a boogie board to have some fun on the waves with Kenley. I don't know if you can tell but she is on his back in this picture riding the waves.


Giving it a try by herself

There she goes! She is not scared of anything. Such a dare devil

Picture of my sweet girls!!! They are too precious!

Time to load up and go home. :( Kenley loved getting to pull her own suitcase. Nana got each of them their own suitcase; the girls have Minnie Mouse and Maddox has Cars. They are cute!

Again we had some time to kill. We had to check out early in Daytona but our flight wasn't scheduled to leave Orlando until 4 so we went to the Daytona mall. They have a train that runs around the mall and the girls spotted it first thing. So we had no choice but to ride it. :)

Daddy & Aunt Amby rode with the kids


There was extra room on the train so they let me and mom jump on too! :)

Headed to the airport after a WONDERFUL vacation!

Checking in at the airport. She really does love having her car seat in her stroller. :)

Showing off her new minnie mouse backpack she got.

After we got through security a storm rolled in, the power actually cut out for a second at the airport so our flight got delayed. It wasn't too bad. We found ways to entertain the kids. Lots of cookies & snacks.....

They put Nana's make up on each other....



They played doctor and had deep conversations :).........

Fought taking a nap.....

and snuggled!!!!!

Eventually we made it on to the plane and had a great flight home. We had such a wonderful time, as always! We are so thankful to my parents for taking us on amazing vacations every year. So blessed to have them!!! Thanks mom and dad for a wonderful vacation we had a blast and we love you!!!!!

(If you haven't seen Vacation Part 1: Orlando click here or keep going back to the older posts. It has all of our pictures from Orlando and Disney)