We decided to head south this year for the Taller family vacation. We rented a condo just south of Daytona Beach in an area called Ponce Inlet. 
After 2 days of driving, these kids were very excited to get on the beach. This was the view from the 4th floor balcony
Yay! Beach! The kids loved to jump in the waves
This was the building we stayed in. As you can see, nothing but sand between us and the ocean.
Maybe we could have used something in the way of shade on that first full day on the beach. Not only were the kids whooped, we were all a little sunburned. Evie and I were the worst as we had the chills and fevers. Annalise has the Taller skin and has turned into the Coppertone baby again with her fantastic tan lines.
Since we were only 1 hour north of Cape Canaveral, we journeyed down to Kennedy Space Center. We arrived just 4 days after the Space Shuttle made it's final landing. So close. It was a really hot day and we thought that maybe we would be out of the sun a little. Not so much.
In the rocket garden, you could look into an Apollo Capsule. No amount of astronaut ice cream could make me want to spend a week in that tin can.
Some people were pretty excited to be at Kennedy space center. Some people were hot and tired and cranky. Just try to guess which category the girls fall into.
This is not a functioning space shuttle. In fact, I don't even think that it is as big as the real space shuttle. The one at the Smithsonian seemed much bigger. But, you could go inside this one and check things out. The switches and buttons probably weren't functional. Next to the shuttle was a shuttle take off simulator. It was pretty cool in that they shake the heck out of you to make you think you are going into space.
We boarded a nice air conditioned tour bus to go to some of the other sites on the Kennedy Space Center Campus. Did I mention it was air conditioned and we didn't have to walk? I think that may have been the best part of the day for the kids.
Here is the vechile assembly building. Simply put, this is where they put the space shuttle together with the rockets to send it into space. Interesting fact, they cart the space shuttle, and other rockets, down a gravel road. At the time this building was being built, officials considered making a channel to float rockets to the launch pad.
We are admiring the view of both Shuttle launch pads. The closest you can get to the launch site when the shuttle is taking off is 3 miles. The only thing that gets closer are the gators.
Here's the shuttle launch site. NASA is disassembling the launch tower. What comes next? we'll have to wait and see.
We also looked over a Saturn rocket. It was huge! We checked out all the pieces and got all excited about the moon landing. After this, we walked back to get our NASA authorized Christmas ornament and we met an astronaut. A woman who had been on the shuttle 4 times. I almost cried.
The next day, the girls just wanted to hang out. After spending some time at the beach in the morning, we spent the afternoon making jewelry with some of the shells that we found on the beach.
That evening, we took the recommendation of a "local" and hit a seafood resturaunt. Annalise loved to eat the clams. Actually, I think she only ate them because it was the only way we would let her keep a shell.
Evie did not care for clams or shrimp, but she did like scallops, hush puppies and smoked fish dip.
What is a vacation without ice cream???
Perhaps it was a little too cold for Jim.
We played a round of mini golf. Jim and Evie both hit holes in one. We saw lots of lizzards too. We celebrated the great golf game with a couple of Frozen Cokes.
Back at the beach, Annalise covered herself in sand after making this sand castle village with Evie.
Our girls on the Atlantic
When the tide was out, these tide pools would form on our beach. Lots of fish would get stuck in there. We also saw some crabs.
Of course, we had to write our names in the sand.
I love how Annalise writes her name. She's growing up so fast.
Annalise attempted to boogie board, but didn't get far. She did a great job bobbing around in the waves. She always wanted to be out where the water was up to her neck. If a big wave came, Jim would lift her up and over it and she thought that was pretty fun. Jim thought it was a workout.
Annalise burried Jim in the sand
The girls even played together pretty well on this trip. They didn't have much of a choice as there weren't too many other people around on our beach.
One morning, we took a nature hike down near the lighthouse by the condo. We thought all the big spiders were pretty cool.
We hiked to the top of the lookout tower to get a better look of the jungle we just walked through.
Then we headed over to the Ponce De Leon lighthouse. It was restored in 1998 and marked as a National Historic Site. It was built in the late 1880's
Of course, we climbed all 208 steps to the top. It was a beautiful day and we could see for miles. Annalise said she could see the Great Lakes.
Then we took the long walk down. The steps were much steeper going down than going up.
All that wave jumping and lighthouse climbing wore these kids out! They actually asked to go to bed on the last night.
Before we knew it, we had packed the car and headed back north where the humidity wasn't so thick. On the advice of Aunt Becky, we stopped in Georgia for some peaches. And yes, they were the best peaches we have tasted since we picked a bushel up from the Coleman orchard. I do think that the decor at this fruit stand did enhance the entire experience.
It was a long drive north with 2 kids with small bladders. I think we probably had to stop 400 times. In between those stops, Annalise kept us entertained.
And this is kind of exciting too. Evie learned to crochet! Now I have someone to share my craftyness with.
After 2 days of driving, these kids were very excited to get on the beach. This was the view from the 4th floor balcony
Yay! Beach! The kids loved to jump in the waves
This was the building we stayed in. As you can see, nothing but sand between us and the ocean.
Maybe we could have used something in the way of shade on that first full day on the beach. Not only were the kids whooped, we were all a little sunburned. Evie and I were the worst as we had the chills and fevers. Annalise has the Taller skin and has turned into the Coppertone baby again with her fantastic tan lines. 
Since we were only 1 hour north of Cape Canaveral, we journeyed down to Kennedy Space Center. We arrived just 4 days after the Space Shuttle made it's final landing. So close. It was a really hot day and we thought that maybe we would be out of the sun a little. Not so much.
In the rocket garden, you could look into an Apollo Capsule. No amount of astronaut ice cream could make me want to spend a week in that tin can.
Some people were pretty excited to be at Kennedy space center. Some people were hot and tired and cranky. Just try to guess which category the girls fall into.
This is not a functioning space shuttle. In fact, I don't even think that it is as big as the real space shuttle. The one at the Smithsonian seemed much bigger. But, you could go inside this one and check things out. The switches and buttons probably weren't functional. Next to the shuttle was a shuttle take off simulator. It was pretty cool in that they shake the heck out of you to make you think you are going into space.
We boarded a nice air conditioned tour bus to go to some of the other sites on the Kennedy Space Center Campus. Did I mention it was air conditioned and we didn't have to walk? I think that may have been the best part of the day for the kids.
Here is the vechile assembly building. Simply put, this is where they put the space shuttle together with the rockets to send it into space. Interesting fact, they cart the space shuttle, and other rockets, down a gravel road. At the time this building was being built, officials considered making a channel to float rockets to the launch pad.
We are admiring the view of both Shuttle launch pads. The closest you can get to the launch site when the shuttle is taking off is 3 miles. The only thing that gets closer are the gators.
Here's the shuttle launch site. NASA is disassembling the launch tower. What comes next? we'll have to wait and see.
We also looked over a Saturn rocket. It was huge! We checked out all the pieces and got all excited about the moon landing. After this, we walked back to get our NASA authorized Christmas ornament and we met an astronaut. A woman who had been on the shuttle 4 times. I almost cried. 
The next day, the girls just wanted to hang out. After spending some time at the beach in the morning, we spent the afternoon making jewelry with some of the shells that we found on the beach.
That evening, we took the recommendation of a "local" and hit a seafood resturaunt. Annalise loved to eat the clams. Actually, I think she only ate them because it was the only way we would let her keep a shell.
Evie did not care for clams or shrimp, but she did like scallops, hush puppies and smoked fish dip.
What is a vacation without ice cream???
Perhaps it was a little too cold for Jim.
We played a round of mini golf. Jim and Evie both hit holes in one. We saw lots of lizzards too. We celebrated the great golf game with a couple of Frozen Cokes.
Back at the beach, Annalise covered herself in sand after making this sand castle village with Evie.
Our girls on the Atlantic
When the tide was out, these tide pools would form on our beach. Lots of fish would get stuck in there. We also saw some crabs.
Of course, we had to write our names in the sand.
I love how Annalise writes her name. She's growing up so fast.
Annalise attempted to boogie board, but didn't get far. She did a great job bobbing around in the waves. She always wanted to be out where the water was up to her neck. If a big wave came, Jim would lift her up and over it and she thought that was pretty fun. Jim thought it was a workout.
Annalise burried Jim in the sand
The girls even played together pretty well on this trip. They didn't have much of a choice as there weren't too many other people around on our beach.
One morning, we took a nature hike down near the lighthouse by the condo. We thought all the big spiders were pretty cool. 
We hiked to the top of the lookout tower to get a better look of the jungle we just walked through.
Then we headed over to the Ponce De Leon lighthouse. It was restored in 1998 and marked as a National Historic Site. It was built in the late 1880's
Of course, we climbed all 208 steps to the top. It was a beautiful day and we could see for miles. Annalise said she could see the Great Lakes.
Then we took the long walk down. The steps were much steeper going down than going up.
All that wave jumping and lighthouse climbing wore these kids out! They actually asked to go to bed on the last night. 
Before we knew it, we had packed the car and headed back north where the humidity wasn't so thick. On the advice of Aunt Becky, we stopped in Georgia for some peaches. And yes, they were the best peaches we have tasted since we picked a bushel up from the Coleman orchard. I do think that the decor at this fruit stand did enhance the entire experience.
It was a long drive north with 2 kids with small bladders. I think we probably had to stop 400 times. In between those stops, Annalise kept us entertained.
And this is kind of exciting too. Evie learned to crochet! Now I have someone to share my craftyness with.
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