beach: day 5

#tunertrip14

our last day in florida.

we went on a bike ride,

shopped for souvenirs,

made it out to the beach for family pictures,

picked up a few orders of some famous fried pickles,

watched the royals clench another victory

and went out for a few beers once the girls were down.

 a good day.

 

a great ending to an amazing family vacation.

beach: day 4

#turnertrip14

we had a busy day.

we packed a picnic lunch

and made our way to deer lake state park

where the sand dunes and (almost)

private beach awaited.

after nap we headed back out to the seaside park.

and then out to dinner

at the great southern café.

it. was. good.

this was our only meal out,

since we have a full kitchen and nine people.

we have found its way easier (and cheaper) to eat at home

but it was nice to get some fresh seafood.

since we promised madeline some ice cream,

we topped off dinner with a few scoops at the local ice cream shop,

twinkle lights and all.

restaurant on the right, ice cream shop on the left

very cute.





beach: day 2 & 3

#turnertrip14

 

we've had lazy mornings,

beach afternoons

and adult nights watching sports.

(go chiefs and royals!) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we even managed to leave

mimi and papa in charge while the

three girls napped one afternoon

and had a few cold ones

on the seaside "strip."

 

 

 

 

 



beach: day 1

#turnertrip14

mimi, papa, uncle brian, aunt jaime,

madeline, eden, ronnie, brette and myself

 made it to seaside, florida.

its so pretty and

so relaxing.

 

we rented a house so

every family has their own bedroom

and their own bathroom.

the girls can nap or play

and we have the space for both.

here is the house we rented,

rightfully named amazing grace

and its right across the street from the ocean.

 

 

here is day one in photos.

a little sun, a little rain

and a whole lot of cuteness.

 

 

 

 

 

ronnie and i managed to escape for a little walk around

the town while brette napped.

its such a cute community.

you can walk or bike anywhere,

the houses all have white picket fences

and every store and restaurant is local.

i love it.

 

 

 

 

 

the barn house

would you like more detail about the new home 

ronnie and i will be living in for

(most likely) the next twenty years?

i have a wonderful "meant to be" feeling

about this house.

the one i will lovingly refer to as the barn house. 

you probably can't tell from the pictures because of all those trees,

but the front it shaped like a barn.

and for those of you that have read this blog 

from the beginning,

you might remember back in 2011

ronnie and i were seriously considering selling

our house because we found a house that we both loved.

in fact, that's when ronnie bought the "for sale by owner" sign

that we finally used this summer.

only took us three years. 

i actually wrote about the barn house twice.

first, here, when ronnie was in love with it.

and then, here, when i was in love with it.

we didn't buy it back then

because it wasn't the right time for us.

but believe me when i say that i was super disappointed about it.

we would still drive by it every once in awhile

and i would always say-

we should have bought the barn house!

so imagine my surprise when ronnie and brette were out 

for a drive and called me at work to let me know the

barn house had a for rent sign in its yard.

um, say what?!

i was so excited.

we weren't having that much luck on our house hunt

and i was worried that we might end up living with my parents

or renting something until next spring when the real estate market

was back in full swing.

i immediately called the rental company and asked

if they owners would be interested in selling.

they got back to us the next day to say - yes!

apparently the previous owners were transferred suddenly to colorado

for work and didn't have enough time to sell it and since

they had friends that did rentals they were just going to try that.

fortunately for us, the owners had moved out the end of july and 

the place had never been rented,

so its been vacant for about two months.

it made the buying process easier because

we could rush it without forcing its owners out in a short amount of time.

in fact, the whole thing only took a few weeks. 

i am finally getting my barn house!

we close on it tomorrow and will start the renovations.

we plan on putting in new floors, taking down the popcorn ceilings,

painting the trim and all the walls. 

we will continue to live with my parents until

the floors and ceilings are done 

because that would be a mess to have brette in.

hopefully soon i will be sharing our renovation progress.

i can't wait.