Mom had told me about our vacation to Saint George Island in July, and as the reports of Hurricane Irma and Jose began to roll in, I began wondering if my mother was prepared to cancel what would seem to be an impossible vacation to the beach.

Hannah: Hey are you keeping an eye on the storm? Looks like it might hit Florida…

Mom: No worries! We can change our reservation up to seven days if we need to.

H: I don’t know. The storm looks pretty big. Someone said it was as wide as the state.

M: Yes! Biggest we’ve seen I think. A lot of people are driving north. We might have a time getting water. Maybe postpone till Thanksgiving? If your schedule allows…

H: Probably not.

M: It’s fine! The point is to have family time with all six of us – bonding! Plus it’ll be fun!

H: Fun? I heard the storm was going to wipe out Disney.

M: Where’s your sense of adventure? It’ll be a Jones Journey!

SIDENOTE: My parents send out a newsletter once a month called The Jones Journey. For a long time, any family adventure has also been called the Jones Journey, no matter what kind of mishaps we find ourselves in… The phrase, “Well, it’s a Jones Journey!” gets thrown around a lot as if this is somehow a “cover-all” in case of emergency and impending loss of sanity.

So despite all thoughts of getting stranded on flooded roads and no drinkable water, we headed down to Saint George Island, FL, for five days of sun and fun and sailing and wifi. The six of us piled into my parents mini van and passed out for the six hour drive. As if Chesh and I haven’t been in cars for long enough already… Before we knew it, we could see the ocean.

We pulled into our little condo on the beach, a place we’ve stayed at every trip to Good Ole Saint George. The apartment is raised up with balconies facing the beach and overlooking the dunes. My parents like being right on the water, but also like having access to a pool, making these condos the perfect place for a Jones Family Journey.

I have to say, it was weird being at the beach when it was warm…. usually we go during October or even January, when the crowds are next to none, and there’s no chance of sunburn. I’ve never felt the need to swim in the ocean since I’ve always been more of a pool girl anyways. It was a good weird though. The sand was warm and the breeze felt great (as opposed to nippy). We found shells, crabs, geckos, and way to many moon-jellies floating in the water for my taste. It only took one to brush across my toes before I made the conscious decision to walk on the sand rather than in the shallows.

Dad pulled out his brand-spanking-new sailboat that someone GAVE him, and he sailed that thing every second he had. Like a kid in a candy shop, it was so cool to see him sail around. He ended up taking Chesh and I out on it, and we chased down a pod of dolphins that gave us quite a show; surfacing and jumping all around the boat. It’s always been my dad’s dream to own a sailboat, and even though I didn’t understand half the stuff he was talking about, hearing him go on and on explaining how the sail worked and the rudder, it was special.

We had AMAZING weather for the trip, and got some gorgeous sunsets out of it too. What do you think? Aren’t those just beautiful?

Since a family vacation is never complete without a family photo, my mom asked me to take a few. Unfortunately I think my mother is the only one in the family who actually likes family photos. It took a lot of propping on barrels, power boxes, windshields, and handrails to finally get the right one.

All in all, we had a pretty great family vacation. Yeah sure we got on each others nerves a couple times, and I might have gotten a few more freckles, and Chesh and I ended up binging the beginning of Death Note, but who cares!? It’s a Jones Journey! And I suppose a Reinhard Chronicle now, too.