Last week was a first for the Barlow family. No, not going to the beach but vacationing sans daddy. My girlfriend invited us over to New Smyrna Beach to stay for a couple nights. At first, my 1950′s housewife persona kicked in and I thought there was no way I could travel with the monsters by myself much less without Scott. But I quickly got over that after doing a few mental calculations. One, the kids had no camps. Two, Scott had to work. Three, beautiful, FREE accommodations with fantastic company. So, off we went. Above is where we stayed. The condo on the upper-left hand side of the picture. Not in the crazy, rumbling beach mobile.

We are Gulf Coast Floridians. What does that mean? We are used to calm, warm-watered beaches.  While the coolness of the Atlantic was enjoyed by all the waves were definitely the main attraction. Bring on the boogie board fun.

Because I had warned the kids that New Smyrna Beach held some seriously impressive shark bite stats much of the boogie boarding (Read: sitting, waiting and mom pulling) was done in very shallow water.

Gray’s best friend, Jay. These two have a full-blown bromance going on.

Personally, I am more of a country club pool kind of girl. I don’t much care for sand. But you can’t deny the children the beach especially when it makes them this happy. My selflessness continues to amaze me.

This little nugget is quite the charmer. Tennison was relentlessly mothering or perhaps smothering Baby O the entire two days. He graciously indulged her.

Three bottles of wine consumed, only two tantrums thrown, one minor car vomiting incident and zero shark bites. I would say those calculations add up to a successful beach trip. Thanks for having us, Christine and family.

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Written by Lea Barlow • Leave a comment