Daytrip to Daytona Beach and Orlando

Living in Florida, we have made a promise to ourselves to go see the destinations around us. Florida (especially Jacksonville) is so close to many other states. For instance, 45 minutes north of us is the Georgia border. I have always had an itch to travel and to explore different places. Living here we are so close to many different attractions that we can make it a day trip. Earlier this week we decided that we wanted to take a day trip down to Daytona Beach. We left yesterday morning with a lunch packed and headed out.

the pretty drive to Daytona Beach

driving along the beach

Gavin eating his sandwich in the truck bed

We have been on an IZZE kick lately

Lily slept during our picnic

 

Gavin took this picture. haha. He wouldn't put my camera down for a long time. He was snapping away at the beach, us, and the truck. We forgot to bring his toy camera, so he stole mine. 

 

We took a scenic route to Daytona, which is about an hour and a half South of us. In Daytona Beach you can drive your car on the beach. It was awesome! We drove along the beach and found a nice spot to sit and each lunch. We sat in the back of the truck while we ate our sandwiches and relaxed by the ocean. The sky was blue and the sun was really strong. It felt so warm, and it was so nice to feel the sun since it has been pretty cold here lately.

After our lunch, we drove to downtown Daytona Beach where we walked out on the pier and along the boardwalk. We didn't do any of the attractions, but we had a good time seeing the ferris wheel, roller coaster, and rides along the boardwalk.

We had planned to drive to the Daytona Speedway and were thinking about doing a tour. We started getting close to the speedway, when we saw the stands and they were full of people! As we got closer we could hear the race cars and we saw how crowded it was. The parking lots were overflowing. We didn't realize it was the Daytona 24 yesterday. When we realized that going to the speedway wasn't an option we decided that it would be fun to go to Orlando to spend some time at Downtown Disney. Orlando was only about 45 minutes away and Gavin was asleep, so it worked out great.

As we were approaching Downtown Disney and the parks, it was super crowded and we started to wonder if it was a good idea or not. Parking was crazy and everyone was fighting for a spot. However, we got SO lucky because a car pulled out in the very front row and we were able to grab it really quick. So we ended up getting the best parking spot in the lot. We told Gavin that he could pick out something from the Disney store for $10. We were determined to only spend $20 in that store. haha. So Gavin got Disney Jr. puzzles and Lily got a Minnie Mouse rattle. We walked around Downtown Disney for a while and enjoyed that atmosphere and the live music that was playing.

Last on the agenda we went to Chili's for dinner. Jayden had won a Chili's gift card from work, so we only had to pay for a little bit of the dinner. The best part about this all is that we only had to pay for gas and the $20 dollars in the Disney store. Our goal for these day trips are to do them as cheap as possible, since we are trying to be really frugal with our money right now. So I think we did pretty good for the day.

Gavin was really excited about this balloon penguin that he got from Chili's

Lily with her Minnie Mouse rattle

 Gavin and Lily were both really good the whole day and in the car. Lily was in her carseat pretty much the whole day. We held her while we were at dinner and you could tell she just wanted to be held. We felt bad that we had a long drive back and that she had to go back in the car seat. She was pretty fussy for about 30 minutes but then fell back asleep. When we got home she had so much energy! It was so fun to watch her. She was going crazy, trying to jump with her legs and wanting to only stand up on her legs. Then after she got her energy out she fell deep asleep and slept 8 hours.