Grayton Beach 2016

Grayton Beach, Florida

October 9th - 15th

 This year the Bowlin Family beach vacation started out a little crazy. The first week of October we all sat and watched Hurricane Matthew take aim at our destination- Hilton Head. As the Island was evacuated, we all prayed the storm would move quickly and leave minimal damage so we could still enjoy our weeklong vacation (not to be totally selfish...we also prayed for the safety of those actually living there, etc.) The day before our vacation was scheduled to start we all pretty much gave up hope that we'd be able to go to the beach because Hilton Head looked like it would take a direct hit from the slow moving storm.

Friday night we were at our neighbors house when we got a call from Brent's parents letting us know that they'd found another house outside of Destin, Florida. Almost a 500 mile swing in directions, but certainly enough to get us far away from the storm. 

For a lot of reasons (too boring to type) we decided to leave Saturday night to drive half-way to the beach. What we didn't anticipate was how far reaching the storm refugees would be staying. After a couple hours on the road we came to the realization that there wasn't a hotel room available ANYWHERE along our route. We made it to Atlanta around midnight and planned to assess the situation after stopping in a familiar hotel. We assumed in person they could tell us if finding a room anywhere would be truly impossible. Knowing we had options to either call in a last minute favor to friends, or grab coffee and keep going- we stopped.

Randomly the hotel we chose to ask had 1 "tiny" room available. It was absolutely the smallest room we've ever been in, but we took it. The elevator shaft took up the majority of our room, with just enough space for 1 queen size bed, a small arm chair and a desk in the corner. We ended up putting Mary Grace in the desk chair/arm chair combo and she slept great. Such a random night, but memories we will laugh about later!

 Sunday morning we loaded back up and headed towards Florida.

 Aside from the first couple pictures and last couple pictures- the rest of the trip is documented in random order...and sorry for the massive overload!

Dipping our toes for the first time-

Linley, Blair and Mary Grace

 First dinner out on the trip- Chiringo 

 The sunrises and sunsets did not disappoint! Although there is a lot to love about being on the Florida panhandle, the ability to see both sunrise and sunset over the beach is my favorite!

 Making our trip all the more interesting, a massive yacht arrived on our first morning.  

 This Florida native is in her happy place when she's on a beach!

 Mary Grace, Blair, Miller, and Linley

 Blair and Mary Grace spent the better part of one day working on their "catch and release" technique. Mary Grace still plans on being a marine biologist when she grows up and she really enjoyed educating her younger cousin!

 Miller kept saying he wanted to catch a bird for dinner. He tried all week, but (thankfully) was never successful!

 This girl worked on her muscles all week. She dug a hole like this almost every day.

 Our 1 attempt at watching a sunrise as a family didn't go as planned. There was a tiny cloud cover that prevented us from seeing it well. Ironically, every other morning on the trip I was out walking on the beach and there was never another morning with any clouds.

 We saw gorgeous sunsets though!

 Our kids were finally at ages where we could go hard all week. We were up early, out late and we never took naps. It was nice to finally be able to squeeze out every ounce of fun without any meltdowns, but on the last night it caught up to Miller. He fell sound asleep under the table at dinner.

 Mary Grace and Linley

 Mary Grace, Owen and Miller

 Blair, Linley and Mary Grace

 Miller and Owen

 Miller and Linley

 Miller is a total busy body at the beach. There is NO relaxing- he goes 100% the whole time. Thankfully with 14 other people around, he was usually able to find someone willing to throw the ball with him.

 Miller, Cole, Mary Grace, Blair and Owen

 Our house was located just west of a huge state park. It was so awesome to be able to walk a few minutes down the beach and be in a totally deserted area!

 Miller and Linley

 Blair, Mary Grace and Linley

 Dinner at The Bay with Mimzie and Pops. Our food was amazing and so was the atmosphere! 

 Mary Grace and Blair

 Mary Grace, Blair and Linley

 One day Brent and I decided to split up our kids and have a special couple of hours with them individually. Brent and Mary Grace rode bikes to the next town over and had Mexican and Ice Cream. Miller wanted some extra play time on the beach and then we walked to get ice cream.

 Our house was located right in the area of Grayton Beach with shops and restaurants. I thought surely they would have an ice cream shop when I suggested the special outing. Turns out, the only place to get ice cream within walking distance was the convince store.

 Miller didn't seem to mind!

 Miller and Owen

 Linley, Mary Grace and Blair

 Dinner at Grayton Seafood Co.

Mary Grace, Cole, Miller and Owen

 I took this picture of Mary Grace playing on the beach. It wasn't until much later when I realized I captured a bird flying through the shot.

 Miller and Owen

 All the cousins-

Owen (14), Cole (11), Mary Grace (9), Blair (6), Miller (4), Linley (4), Reed (2)

Just for fun, I had to look back at the past years of taking this picture. I can't believe how much they've all changed. *we missed one year taking it* I added the ages of the kids.

 6mo, 6mo, 2, 5, 7, and 10

1, 1, 3, 6, 8, and 11

 13, 10, 8, 5, 3, 3, 8mo.

 Brent and I had to get back to Charlotte for a wedding so we left the beach early. Our last sunset was the one we saw in our rearview mirror as we headed home.

 We made a quick stop at the Alabama welcome center to change into PJ's. Our football team was scheduled to play Alabama the next day, so we had to show a little hate for the state!

Despite the unusual and crazy start to the vacation, this year's beach trip was definitely one of the best ever. Our weather could not have been scripted more perfect and we enjoyed exploring a new beach! As always, cousin time is the best and we loved being with everyone!