A Road Trip to Florida for Thanksgiving!

For the first time in weeks, I finally have a morning to sit down and write a recap blog. December with a toddler in preschool and all the holiday activities has been nuts. It’s so fun, though, but work has definitely been on the back burner.

Not only will I be writing and publishing this Thanksgiving recap blog today, but I’ll be publishing another one as well. If I had combined them like I usually do, I would have been mixing both holidays together and the post would have gone on forever. So I decided to separate them, and even then, they are both still long.

In this blog, I’ll be sharing our Thanksgiving dinners here in South Carolina and our road trip to celebrate Thanksgiving in Venice, Florida, with my husband’s mom.

After hitting publish and picking my son up from school this morning, we have a lot of fun baking plans for the afternoon.

The weather is always so strange here in South Carolina. It’s either freezing or warm. We got lucky with a perfect 65 degree day and had to stop out at Bush N Vine for a fun farm day in the sandbox and on the swings, then pick up some produce and seasoning for all the Thanksgiving baking coming up. I usually do something fun with him like this on the days he does not have school.

Of course he’s going to get that soft serve ice cream before we go! I got lucky with a toddler who only wants a few bites of something sweet and then is over it. Now, if it were a bag of chips, it would be gone in seconds.

On Saturday, we had plans to head over to my parents’ house to celebrate our Thanksgiving dinner. My mom loves Thanksgiving, so we wanted her to be able to celebrate with us before we took off for the week. My job was to bring homemade sourdough dinner rolls, my cranberry sauce, green beans, and the dessert.

Everything was delicious! I know people are so anti ham at Thanksgiving, but I love having both options. Plus, my mom makes it so good with pineapples and brown sugar sauce. We had the best menu with sweet potato casserole, sausage stuffing, homemade dinner rolls, mashed potatoes, corn, deviled eggs, gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, turkey, ham, and roasted carrots. I also enjoyed a glass of red blend from Fre non-alcoholic wines!

My husband always has his sweet treat night on Saturdays. He goes all week without any added sugars and then treats himself to something once on Saturday night. I had him pick out a recipe online, and he chose the Sally’s Baking chocolate peanut butter cheesecake bars. Luckily for me, I’m not a huge fan of cheesecake, so I was able to control myself with a small slice, but he said he loved it so much. My parents loved it too.

If I were to make it again, I’d like to do the center with some kind of peanut butter fudge filling. But if you’re a peanut butter, chocolate, and cheesecake fan, this recipe will definitely be your go to.

After dinner, we sat around watching college football, playing some games, and diving into dessert. My dessert? Well, pumpkin pie, decaf coffee, and a bunch of whipped topping, of course. My son likes pumpkin pie too, and only because his favorite singer, Danny Go, has an entire song dedicated to it.

We have loved doing coffee shop trips after church on Sunday mornings. We go to a super early service so we have the rest of the day to grab breakfast and run errands. We always do Sunday Costco and grocery runs together.

We finally tried Techno Cafe in Rock Hill, and it was so cool. A robot machine literally makes your coffee. And the coffee was 10/10.

I had a decaf peppermint mocha latte because my son also loves coffee and peppermint, so we split that, and the flavors were so good. I loved how it wasn’t overly sweet. My husband had a cappuccino and said it was one of the best he’s had. Plus, the place is decorated so cute inside. The owner’s wife has such a great touch for design, and it really shows.

Sunday was a busy day.

After our grocery runs, we stopped at the mall to pick up a few things, and of course we can’t go there without a Lego Store visit. We almost always get him a new Lego set to work on during the Eagles game. I love building these with him, and shockingly, for a three and a half year old, he’s really good at them too. I’m embarrassed to admit we’ve probably done over 50 Lego kits in the past year. I still need to get a photo of our Lego lane soon.

For dinner, we had roasted potatoes, and I’ve been making him beef seasoned with taco seasoning and cheese, then air frying it in a tortilla like a quesadilla. He loves it dipped in ketchup and sour cream. Finding things he likes is always a win for us.

I spent the rest of the night packing everything for our road trip to Florida!

We have been off the free range TV shows and the iPad for over three months now. We noticed how much it changed him and wanted him to be more present. Even though it makes it harder for us as parents to get things done, it has been an incredible game changer for his personality and his desire to learn, read, write, and use his imagination to truly play.

I got lucky because he likes to join in on the things I’m doing, like cooking, cleaning, putting things away, running errands, and even yard work, and somehow he thinks it’s fun. It doesn’t always make it easy for me, but I love that he’s not sitting in front of a screen, and I have so much less guilt. He used to watch his IPad every morning while eating breakfast, and now he just sits and practices drawing his letters with his marker book. It took a few days for him to detox the screens. Now, he doesn’t even ask for it.

The only screen time he gets is 30 minutes at night after his bath, when we sit and watch a little bit of Little Bear or Franklin. When we realized we were going to have to keep him entertained on the way to Florida for a nine hour drive, we were a little nervous. I stocked up on so many fidget toys, activities, coloring pads, and games for the trip. I kept a big box next to him filled with activities.

Shockingly, he did not get bored once. He loved being back there with his little travel desk, switching out toys, playing Legos, and coloring shells. I was so proud of him.

We do the same when we are in Church on Sundays. He sits there with his legos and workbooks and is so quiet and focused. I made a list on Amazon with all the things he’s been loving. We did a lot of trivia with him on vowels, simple math, and spelling. He’s so interested in learning, and I think his preschool teachers have done an incredible job with preparing him.

We stopped in Savannah, about three and a half hours from home, to grab lunch, get our feet moving, and for this pregnant lady to use the restroom. Traveling in a car while pregnant is hard enough, but add being a bathroom germaphobe and it’s even more challenging. I’m so picky about bathrooms and cannot do gas stations, but I will make an exception for Starbucks, so I had to limit my water intake on the drive. That never feels good when all you want to do is chug water.

Right now, my bladder cannot hold anything. If I drink water, I have to go. So a stop in Savannah it was. Plus, it’s one of my FAVORITE cities, and if we’re passing by, we’re stopping in.

The last time my son was in Savannah was two and a half years ago, when we went to Kyle’s mom’s house in Florida for his very first beach trip. He was barely walking and so little. This time, he was loving the city and running all over the place.

I think we need to add a weekend in Savannah with him to our bucket list soon, just not in the summer because the heat is brutal. I couldn’t get over how stunning the weather was in November in Savannah. I’m so used to exploring Savannah in the humidity. Although, we did do a Christmas trip there years ago. The weather was perfect then, but seeing the fall leaves this time made it prettier. Savannah was the very first place Kyle and I ever visited together. It’s a special place for us.

We chose to have lunch at Urban Deli, and it was one of the best decisions. I love a spot that can make a great sandwich and also has so many incredible side options to choose from. Oh, and coffee and dessert to go with it? Yes, please.

I knew it was going to be a good lunch when I saw my favorite kombucha ever. The Jala Berry from Dalai Sofia is usually only sold around the Charleston and other beachy coastal towns. I could probably find it in Charlotte at a few spots, but it’s definitely not a common kombucha, and it is so good. I love the jalapeño berry flavor and was so excited to grab one to enjoy while we were in Florida. I’ve mentioned this kombucha so many times throughout the years on my blog. I think the first time I tried it was in Sullivan’s Island.

For my sandwich, I ordered the prosciutto with pesto, mozzarella, arugula, and tomato with a balsamic glaze on a French roll. Kyle ordered the chicken avocado with deli sliced chicken, avocado mash, lettuce, tomato, and spicy honey mustard on toasted ciabatta. We had cucumber salad and kale salad for our sides.

My son ate most of my pesto bread and almost the entire plate of cucumbers. I’ve learned to just order food and let him pick apart my plate because he usually just wants to eat the bread anyway. Plus, we had yogurt pouches, applesauce pouches, his favorite cheese and crackers, and all kinds of snacks in the car. He was set.

The food was amazing. Like amazing amazing. I told Kyle we are stopping there again on our way back home (we did.) We are actually heading through Savannah in a few days for a work trip, and you better believe we are getting this to go.

And coffee was next on our list. We wanted to grab something to drink and walk around a few blocks to stretch our legs before the next three hour drive down to St. Augustine, Florida, where we decided to stay the night. I have always wanted to try Franklin’s, and since it was right around the block, we headed that way. Of course, my son was a little confused when he didn’t see an animated turtle serving coffee there. If you know, you know.

I love a cute coffee shop, and Savannah is filled with so many of them. I have a few Savannah travel guides on my blog if you’re ever headed that way.

We ordered whole milk cappuccinos, an almond croissant, and a banana muffin. The pastries weren’t anything to hype up, but the coffee was fantastic.

After four hours, we made it to St. Augustine. We checked into the hotel, changed clothes, and headed downtown. I cannot wait to plan a trip back and actually have the time to explore. It looked so cute.

When we mentioned that we were going to St. Augustine to my son’s music teacher at church on Sunday, she recommended a few spots, with the Columbia Restaurant being one of them. All she had to do was mention that they make huge chopped salads tableside, and I was convinced.

Thank goodness she told us to make a reservation, because when we got there on Monday night, a line wrapped around the building. We knew this restaurant was going to be good. The restaurant was established in 1905!

It was decorated beautifully for Christmas too. The entire town was.

Kyle and I planned on splitting the giant, famous “1905 Salad” and the Salmon Aurora, which was fresh Verlasso Patagonian salmon, seasoned, grilled, and topped with Argentine chimichurri, and served with yellow rice.

My son had the chicken fingers and fresh fruit, plus the warm bread that was served for the table. Even he ate every bite.

I had zero complaints, only praise. I honestly could not stop talking about how good the food was. We’ve had so many misses at restaurants in Charlotte lately, and it was so refreshing to have a meal where everything tasted amazing. The salmon was seasoned and cooked to perfection, I don’t know what they do to the rice but it was incredible, and that salad… I could have eaten ten bowls of it. If we go back to St. Augustine, we are going there again!

The second recommendation was Hyppo, for the little popsicle lover we have. They make fresh popsicles in house. He had the chocolate hazelnut, and I had the coconut pistachio. Both were so good, not too sweet, super refreshing, and I loved how thick and creamy they were instead of being more on the juice side.

We were up and packed early the next morning. We wanted to grab breakfast and then head back out on the road. Of course, we had to stop at the fountain first because my son brought his bag of coins to throw in.

Ever since we tossed coins into the fountain at SouthPark Mall, he has been obsessed with it and saves all of his coins. When I told him St. Augustine has a big fountain, he was so excited to toss his coins in. We had to make a special stop there before getting breakfast.

We had breakfast at Southern Grounds & Company. It had a cute patio to sit outside on, and the weather that morning could not have been more beautiful.

My son had pancakes and bacon, I had their fruit and granola yogurt parfait, and my husband had an omelet. The food was okay, but the whole milk cappuccino was excellent. I will give the pancakes a high rating, though, because those were really good and my toddler enjoyed them.

When I saw the map and route, I made a big mistake and opened my big mouth and suggested we go to Disney Springs.

We had lunch at Paddlefish since it was really the only place without a wait, but the food was great. I split a Caesar salad wrap and a salad with my husband, and my son had grilled chicken and french fries.

It was so crowded, and we added about two extra hours of traffic to our trip. Oops. You live and you learn. It was still cool for my son to see it, though. We had lunch there, grabbed coffee, and then hurried out before rush hour in Orlando.

We made it to Venice, Florida a little before five. We hit quite a bit of traffic and had several bathroom and breakfast stops along the way.

My mother in law made my Tuscan soup recipe, which I swear she always makes better because she uses sun dried tomatoes and adds peas. I’m going to start doing that. It was so good to be back there again. Her house is so cozy and welcoming, and my son was in his glory with the pool and all the toys she had ready for him.

We slept so well that night. We were all up around seven with our coffee and breakfast, and big plans to head to the beach.

My son asks to go to the beach every single day. I always ask him if he wants to have a birthday party, and he says no, he wants to go to the beach like he did last year for his birthday. I’m all for it. We did that last year in Kiawah and he had a blast!

The first photo was from two and a half years ago, his very first time on the beach. Gosh, I should not have blinked. Time goes by way too fast.

We spent the entire morning looking for shark teeth and seashells. Venice is the shark capital of the world, and you can find so many there.

We ended up with a bucket filled with shells, which I was happy about because my son loves using markers to color on them. It ended up being most of our entertainment during the car ride.

During our trip to Kiawah, we collected shells and painted them on the beach, then made the cutest picture frame with them. It’s such a great beach activity for kids, and the photo from the beach in the frame was so precious.

When we got back to the house around one, I made a charcuterie style snack plate for my son. This is his kind of meal. After an entire morning on the beach, he devoured it.

It had crackers, cheese, fruit, nuts, and he had his yogurt on the side.

Like most kids, he did not want to get out of the pool. He spent the next three hours playing in the water, and it was so relaxing sitting out there with a cup of coffee and watching him swim. I love that the pool has a lanai, so you don’t have to worry about gators or bugs, both equally scary. The weather was perfect too.

That night, we headed downtown Venice, Florida, for dinner at Made in Italy. Then we treated my son to a much deserved rocky road ice cream at Venice Creamery.

We had such a fun day on Thanksgiving. A lot of swimming in the pool for my toddler, watching football, kitchen fun with my mother in law, like this fruit turkey we made, and amazing food with friends and family.

On Friday morning, we headed out to grab coffee and do some shopping in the downtown area at a few small businesses. We found some really fun stocking stuffers and little toys for my son. We first stopped at Foxtail Coffee in Wellen Park to grab cappuccinos and let my son and my mother in law play on the playground.

The weather was wild for Florida. We went from the seventies to the fifties, and it felt so cold. I kind of loved it, though.

After all the shopping, we stopped at Mission Cafe for lunch. We shared the kale and almond butter smoothie and a turkey club.

My mother in law surprised us with tickets to see the Wonderland Circus in Sarasota. I wasn’t sure how my son would like it since he typically does not enjoy loud places, shows at Carowinds, or unfamiliar experiences, but I thankfully brought his headphones so the noise wasn’t overwhelming. He had the time of his life.

He was dancing, clapping, and could not believe the incredible talent right in front of him. Literally right before his eyes, since we were in the second row. It was so much fun, and all of the performers were unbelievably talented. His first time at the circus was one he’ll never forget.

And the best part about Thanksgiving? The leftovers for dinner…

We were on the road by 6 am on Saturday morning. We did not plan to make any overnight stops and wanted to get home before the post Thanksgiving Sunday traffic. We made the right move since we did not run into any traffic at all. I wish we could have stayed another week because we had so much fun.

We had such a smooth ride back home, especially with all the seashells this little one had to paint back there!

I wasn’t kidding when I said we were going to have lunch at Urban Deli again. This time, we also ordered (with everything we got last time) their carrot cake, quinoa salad, and whole milk cappuccinos. The food was just as good, and I grabbed a few of my favorite kombuchas to bring back home with me.

I had to slowly sip on this amazing cappuccino on the walk back to the car. I knew my husband was going to have to make so many stops on the way home…

We told our son we did not know how to get home, so he directed us with his map from St. Augustine for a good hour. He was so proud of himself when he felt like he saved the day. It’s funny how the little things excite them.

We made it home around 6 pm that night, and I could not have been more proud of my son for doing so amazing on that car ride. I know this next baby is probably going to give me a run for my money with how lucky we got with such a sweet and calm child right now. Isn’t that how it works? I know I was second child energy for my parents…

We were all exhausted after unpacking, so we did bath time, and I fell asleep while putting my toddler to bed. Luckily, I made it up in the morning just in time to get everyone ready for church.

And if you’d like to see what we’ve been up to since Thanksgiving, Christmas parades, the Polar Express, meeting Santa, and more, my next recap is now live!