This summer, as we were planning where we’d go during fall break, the kids said they really wanted to go to the ocean. In October we made that happen, and while the beach lifestyle isn’t really Tony or my’s cup of tea, we thoroughly enjoyed getting to see the kids experience the wondrous power of the ocean for the first time.

We were originally booked for 4 days at an ocean-side condo near Daytona. While our condo wasn’t going to overlook the ocean, it was still going to essentially be in our backyard. Unfortunately, hurricane Milton had other plans. Two weeks prior to departure, the timeshare folks emailed letting us know that the property we were booked at had sustained enough hurricane damage that they were closing down for repairs.

So at that point we had flights to Jacksonville and a rental car booked, but no place to stay. Fortunately Tony took quick action and was able to secure the very last rooms available at the timeshare property in St. Augustine, an hour north of Daytona.

While St. Augustine wouldn’t have been at the top of our dream vacation list, it turned out to be great. The community has a long, rich history and it also located right on the ocean. (The resort was not – but it was only a 25 minute drive away.) The weather was great – typically in the 70’s and there was plenty to do, but also not so much that we walked away feeling like we hadn’t had enough time.

During our time in St. Augustine we visited the ocean every day. Sometimes it was to play in the waves (Tony and the kids, not me … the water was already too chilly!) and the sand. Sometimes we simply walked the beaches looking for shells and other discoveries. The kids had an opportunity to see the differences between high and low tide and jump in “big” waves.

One of the other big requests from the boys prior to our trip was to eat sushi. While Leo had tried sushi before, Alex had not, but he’d been preparing himself for months – watching Youtube videos and teaching himself how to eat pretty fluidly with chopsticks. The boys poured over the menu and ordered a wide variety so they could try lots of options. They loved it!