Soul Rest | St. George Island, Florida

Why do I feel like I can breath better here? Why is it when we start driving away that I feel this insane pull to be placed right back on that sand? Why does every sunrise take my breath away and instinctually make me praise the Lord?

How can I breath better and my breath be taken away all at the same time???

When those answers appear to me I will let you know, too!

This has been a vacation that my soul needed. Our entire family needed! My only responsibilities were making food for my family and making sure we all had sunscreen on - that was it! My brain needed a breather and my body needed the rest - my soul was there praising the Lord and soaking it all in to prepare for this next and final quarter of 2022. It’s been an incredible and exhausting year so far. But, more on that in another blog post!

Let’s talk sunsets, sand and adventures!

Every morning I woke up between 6:00am and 6:30am. I would first make coffee, then open all the curtains, sit at the table and read, peering over the pages of my Bible waiting on the orange glow to start creeping up over the edge of the earth. I almost posted a photo from every single sunrise I witnessed! They were all just spectacular and completely different.

Our first few days were chilly but the water was perfectly clear and the waves were so gentle. The kids didn’t seem to mind the temperature of the water at all! While standing on the beach RyAnne looked into the sky to find a pair of Bald Eagles! They were stunning just gliding through the air in their domain enjoying the views just like us.

After enjoying the sand and surf a few days, we decided to head to Eastpoint, Fl to go to the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve and Nature Center. It’s just over the bridge from St. George Island. There we enjoyed the exhibits and nature trails. The kids loved how hands on they could be at the Nature Center. They explored the tanks filled with life, put their hands on loads of dead things in jars, held 600 year old pottery from the islands, learned about sea life and peered through microscopes. We all somehow grew hungry after this and made our way to downtown Aplalachicola to The Owl Cafe that overlooks the beautiful bay. Olivia grabbed my camera off the table and took a few snaps of me.

Another gorgeous sunrise and we headed back to the beach to find our beach neighbors fishing lines bent over with a massive fish tugging their line. If my research is correct, say hello to the bull shark (or a blacktip or maybe it was a lemon - I dunno!) that we were all swimming with! They pulled in several that day and the day before along with an eight foot long hammer head shark too! I’ve never seen a shark this large let along it be on the beach in front of me. What an awesome sight it was! It was fascinating to watch this family. They would hop in their kayak with a baited hook, paddle just over the sand bar and drop the line in the water, paddle back and wait. It didn’t take too long before all six of their young boys and some help from one of their momma’s, were cranking in the sharks!

That night we headed to The Blue Parrot for our fair share of seafood: Snow Crab Legs that needed NO butter and popped right out of their hard shells, crab cakes, hush puppies, cheese grits, Gulf shrimps. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. The views are also spectacular. We watched the dolphins frolic while we indulged and yet there was another gorgeous, show stopping sunset for us. Delish dinner and entertainment, I give it 5 Stars!

The only photo I have all of the kids together are of them getting Rocco ready to jump in the pool without his floaty. Our big boy decided he wanted to learn to swim! Now that he’s tall enough to stand in the shallow end he has enough courage to take off the floats. With the help and encouragement of his big sisters, he lifted his feet off the ground and dove under the water. He did so good!! He even attempted to swim in the deep end too!!!

We ended up extending our stay on St. Georgia Island by five extra days in a different house and that still wasn’t enough. Two days before our trip came to an end, Olivia said, “I’m sad to leave this place but I miss my friends. Can we just put our house and our friends here?” It has become our favorite place to make memories in the sand! And, yes, it’s very hard to leave but I agree with Olivia, I miss my people too!

The Robbins Mini Fall Festival 2022 | Social Circle, Ga.

On Saturday, I asked Trey, my husband, if he would mind if I hosted a Mini Fall Festival in our backyard the upcoming week. . .and, he said he didn’t mind! So by Tuesday, we were in full planning mode and by Friday we were in our backyard having a blast with loads of our friends and their sweet children!

I am so very proud of our babes for all of their help with making our backyard magical for our friends! RyAnne prepared caramel apple dip and pumpkin spice cream cheese iced cookies. Rocco and RyAnne made sure we had plenty of firewood and Olivia and Rocco cleaned up the backyard. RyAnne helped me design and set up the photo booth. She did get pretty stressed when she realized how long her treats were taking to finish. Although everything was done well before everyone arrived, she was in a tizzy. Deep breaths, a little pep talk and after she finished making her last dish, finished loading the dish washer and cleaning up the countertops, she turned and asked me, “Momma, how would you like the house straightened up before everyone arrives?” Oh my sweet baby girl!!! The teamwork I got to see our babes put forth the day of our festival - they served their family and friends really well!

All week long the kids have been telling Trey and I how excited they were for our fall festival. And I have been too! Since I was a little girl I have dreamed of filling our home/backyard with dear friends and enjoying all things fall!

My friend, Jessica, came over and helped me set up tables and decor while our kids played in the yard. And, my friend Carmen, brought over all the yard games. God painted the trees with shades of yellow and orange and gave us the most glorious fall weather! It was such perfection and yet so simple too.

So, the thing I was the most excited about, was the donuts on a rope! I was seriously so excited for our littles to get to play this! They all loved it and it was so adorable to see their littles faces when they realized just how funny it was! Some of them were literally running circles around their donut while trying to take a bite. This got them giggling!!

Putting on a Mini Fall Festival may seem like a duanting task. But, don’t let the name of the event fool you! This was a beautiful group effort! I served hot dogs, apple cider and made a s’mores tray. We built a fire and asked all our friends to bring a side dish. We borrowed yard games and asked friends to help us. We got our children involved. Several of our friends stayed after the event was over and helped us clean up the yard and bring in dishes. We didn’t do any of this on our own. That is what made this so special!

In Genesis 2:18, it reads, “The Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone...” God created us to live in community. And, Jesus showed us how! He shows us in Luke how when we widen the invitation, the house will be full!! My backyard was FULL and so is my heart!!

Y’all friendship hasn’t always come easy for me. I’ve always looked at the ladies that have known each other since middle school and are now grown with children, still doing life together and thought, “I want that SO bad!” I’ve always thought I wouldn’t get to experience that because I moved too much when I was young, never staying in one place long enough to have those types of friendships and that it was too late for me to get to establish that in my life now that I’m in my late 30’s. That is a LIE.

It was a lie I told myself and it may be a lie that you have told yourself too. It’s not too late! But, also, let me just warn you. . .it’s work. Friendship is work. Beautiful work - but still, it’s a team effort that not one person can do on their own. You will have to make sacrifices and you will have to go out of your way even at the most inconvenient times. This is what Jesus did over and over with His never ending, never giving up love He has for us.

The Lord has truly answered my prayers! He had a greater plan for me than I did. He is showing me what it means to live in community. To allow others to show up for me in my times of need and to do the same for them in their times of need.

Before we went to bed, I asked Olivia what her favorite part of the Mini Fall Festival was, with a huge smile on her face she replied, “Having all my friends over and the campfire!” It’s like my sweet girl has read all the books I’ve been reading!! Find Your People and Get Out of Your Head by Jenny Allen or Just Open the Door by Jen Schmidt, or the video study Table Talks with Bianca Olthoff!

So, is this a new tradition? Should I go ahead and put The Robbins Mini Fall Festival on the books for next year??? I’m down if you are Mr. Robbins! ;)

P.S. Check out that last photo of my sweet Rocco Koi trying to chomp his donut!!! He cracks me up!!!

LONG BAYOU | ST. PETERSBURG, FL

During this adventure we parked our home on the Long Bayou in St. Pete! The bayou is loaded with mullet. These silly fish like to find a current that will help them pick up speed and launch themselves straight out of the water. It’s so fun to watch! We did a little fishing but didn’t catch anything. We just took in the views! We sat outside on our patio a good bit and took the kids to the pool! I wanted to rent a kayak so bad but we kept missing the time frames. Hopefully I can get on the water soon!

The Lord has taken such good care of us along our journey. We’ve had a few things stop working on our camper - THANKFULLY the A/C is still pumping just fine or we would die! lol The first thing to go out was our hitch jack. This is the part that is attached to the front of the camper and moves the camper up and down. It allows you to put the hitch on and off and allows you to level out the camper from front to back once you get to your site and you’re ready to set up for the night. We have had to hand crank that thing in the Florida heat - death! It’s death!!!! Also, we have LED lights under our camper that have gone out too. Once we got back from doing laundry one day, we noticed water pouring out of the side of our fresh water tank that we have never used. It seems as though one thing after another is breaking on our house on wheels.

One evening we were driving to our camper and saw a truck that said RV Repair on the back. We stopped and rolled down our windows and asked the guy if he had time to check things out for us - we needed to get this camper back up and running for the remainder of our journey!! Thankfully Neil drove over to help us out and started repairing all the things! He got our lights under the camper working, the front jack working too and then started on the water pump! He needed to order the parts for our water pump and said he would meet us at our next camp site to finish up the repairs. Thank you Lord for sending us Neil and blessing him with alllll the camper knowledge!!!

God is so good! He continually puts all the people in our lives and we are so thankful for His continual provision!

Can’t wait for the next adventure!

The Red Coconut | Fort Myers, Florida

Welcome to “Old Florida” as everyone kept putting it! As soon as we arrived at The Red Coconut we immediately took off to the beach! The powdery white sandy beach with palm trees right on it! Yes! This is my favorite kinda view! I’m so used to seeing beaches with sand dunes and sea grass that I get super excited when I see palm trees on the beach. When I was little I used to draw beaches with coconut trees on them all the time! This was my go to thing to draw. At that time in my life I had not been to the beach. I actually didn’t go to the beach for the first time until I was 15 years old and that was to Cumberland Island, Ga. 

While in the water we found the biggest, live, conch shells we’ve ever seen in nature and sand dollars, too. The kids were able to find lots of beautiful empty shells that are now decor in our camper. 

I didn’t take many photographs or videos during our stay in Fr. Myers but I did manage to spend lots of time in my Tommy Bahama beach chair with the water touching my toes. It was a very relaxing place!

We have been to tons of beaches during our exploration of Florida and this was the first beach that allowed dogs! Hazel got to experience the sand and the ocean! She wouldn’t go in the water at all but loved bird watching!

Can’t wait until the next exploration!!

Chokoloskee Island | Everglades, Florida

The Everglades!!

I can’t even handle how beautiful these sights were!! I really wish I could have gotten better photographs of it all but, we had our camper attached to us and couldn’t just pull over, as it’s a single lane road with no hazard lane. Ugh, I was so upset but - memories!! I got those and a few videos. We did pull off at a rest stop and saw over 40 alligators! And they weren’t little ones!

We stayed on Chokoloskee Island in the Everglades. Our campsite was the nicest we have stayed at! We had our own fishing dock. And, we fished for over 12 hours!!! It was so much fun! Trey and I both really love fishing. When we first got married, we would go fishing all the time. It was cheap and fun for just the two of us! Once we had our babies and life got too busy, it was one of those things that just fell by the way side. So, thankful Trey and I were able to do this!!

The very first bite I got, vibrated my line! It snapped the bait right off my line and took off with it! The pull of it was intense and then SNAP!!! My line popped so fast! Oh man, I was so bummed. I didn’t care if I pulled that thing off shore, I just wish I could have seen it! It had to have been huge! We were guessing it may have been a snook. We could see them across from our dock feeding. Shew-weee! Such a fun experience!

We had a few more bites and snapped off lines before we finally pulled in our first fish. Trey caught a sea catfish. They are so gorgeous!! Their fins are incredible and they really look like they could take off and fly!

Next up was . . .drumroll please. . .a barracuda!!!! Whoa! As Trey was reeling in his line, it snapped his bait and then popped his line with his razor sharp teeth. Our shoulders sank as that fish disappeared into the water under our dock. Oh, we were so bummed!! And, then, we heard it behind us flailing around with his lure still in its mouth. I ran to the camper and grabbed the kids tiny nets. I was able to get down to the water and wedge the barracuda in both of the nets and pull it to the shore. My goodness! We almost lost him!

After dinner, right before the sun dipped down, Trey and the kids and I went back out for some more! I was able to snag a good sized catfish!

This is one of my fave locations! I really loved that we were right on the water. Waking up at 6:00am I would have my quiet time, coffee and then head out to fish and spend time with Trey before the kids got up and watch the dolphins - This was the best!!!

Can’t wait until the next adventure!