Thursday, July 21, 2016

Jacksonville Mini Vacation

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Maybe because we are crazy or maybe because we think we know we can handle pretty much anything life throws at us, Justin and I decided to take a family overnight trip to Jacksonville a few weeks after Georgia was born.

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We loaded up the car with an unholy amount of stuff. We had to pack the Boppy, the traveling baby bed, the stroller, the cooler, etc.! The back on my car was seriously loaded down for one simple night of travel. We made plans to visit Jacksonville Beach and then spend the next day at the Jacksonville Zoo. We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center and got some free orange juice, stretched our legs for a minute, fed Georgia, and ate our lunch. We then headed straight on to Jacksonville Beach. The public pier was perfect for watching the people catch fish. Justin and Wyatt ran around at the water line while I sat in the shade under the pier with Georgia and fed her.

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We also got our second official family photo which worked out pretty well I think!

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That night we stayed at the Jacksonville Omni after I used the name-your-price tool on one of those travel sites. After we realized the Jacksonville Landing was just a block away we walked down and had supper. The weather was perfect, there was a live band, and the sunset was so beautiful.

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The next day we loaded up and toured the Jacksonville Zoo. We bought the value tickets which came with several experiences above and beyond just attending the zoo. One thing I didn’t know about were the animal feeding opportunities. Luckily Justin had cash so we were able to let Wyatt feed the birds and the giraffes for a few dollars each.

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The zoo also had its annual dinosaur exhibit. Justin made the mistake of joking with Wyatt about the dinosaurs eating him like on Jurassic World. As a result, Wy thought the animatronic dinosaurs with their recorded soundtracks were real. We took a while to convince him they weren’t and he ended up having fun.

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Towards the end of the day we were all very hot. Georgia got to ride in my ring sling to cool off (which made me hotter!) but it was fairly well-shaded so all was well. We walked about 5 miles that day and were all exhausted on the ride home but it was worth it! We will definitely go back soon!

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