I remember less than two weeks ago being in these moments, excited and terrified of our first family road trip to Florida.  My parents tried to take us on a beach vacation to Florida when we were little, and we all got super sick from this crazy awful stomach bug, so once we got there, we turned around and drove home.  It was absolutely miserable, and we’ve never been back since.  The only thing I remember from Destin is the pavement, yikes!  Thankfully, the PondFam5 attempt was a success!

On to these pics, I think I should be a professional packer for little girls… is there such a thing!?!  I always line up what the girls are wearing each day and then put all three outfits (one for each girl) in a big ziploc bag.  That way, when we get there, I don’t have to worry about a thing.  Oftentimes, I’ll label the bag, but now that I have the hang of it, I usually remember what I have planned for each day, and if they want to wear something different, no big deal, just grab a different bag!  If we change clothes out and about, I’ll just grab a ziploc and everyone has a fresh outfit ready for on the go!  I do this with swimming suits and pjs too!  When we get to our destination, I line shoes up, and let them mix and match.  They are pretty self-sufficient with a little guidance. 

We had driven 8 hours in the days leading up to our Florida trip, so we were all a little car sick.  The middle picture above is in central Texas.  Texas is so diverse and beautiful!  Right as we came down this hill, I saw on Instagram that my cousin found a sea horse in the ocean in Destin, where we were headed (she lives in Texas too, and it was so exciting that we were going to be there by chance at the same time).  I showed the girls this picture, and we all got a renewed energy to start our trip to the beach the next day.  And just in case you were wondering, the sea horse was still alive, so she put the little guy back in the ocean.  I’ve never seen a wild sea horse or heard of anyone finding one at the beach.  We couldn’t wait to get there!