A few years back, a younger version of Mr. and Mrs. Ball took a vacation to Florida. They were 19 and 20 with not much cash in their pockets, a questionable car, and one thing in mind- a little real life break. Pensacola Beach was the destination and we’ve been reminiscing on that trip ever since.

This year, 17 years later, we decided to take our now family of 5 on a little trip back to the same little slice of heaven. Pensacola Beach is a magical little gem. It’s right on the gulf, there are tons of little shops, restaurants, and fun for families.

Greyson enjoyed dancing on the tables at Shaggy’s Restaurant right on the water. There were a few gems like this that had toys and sand for the kids to play on while waiting for a table or food, or during dinner. The boys even had to take home a shirt and let us know it was their favorite restaurant.

The beaches are just BEAUTIFUL, and the hotel we stayed at was steps away from the water. The Holiday Inn Resort Pensacola Beach has a lovely pool and lazy river. There’s a great outdoor bar area for the grown ups of the group. There are outdoor games and all kinds of stuff for kids to do at the pool as well.

These babies just loved the pool area. We spent a lot of our time here.

The bar area had outdoor games for the kids, and it was a great little sunny spot to sit!

We took a day trip to the Naval base in Pensacola. There’s a free Museum with hundreds of planes, as well as a lighthouse museum. Checking out the old planes was pretty great for my aviation loving husband, and I had fun climbing the light with the big boys. We even got to see some blue angels fly over our car, which was amazing.

We would love to get back to this area again, as we all had a blast this spring break spending some relaxing family time together. We highlight reccomend Pensacola Beach as well as this Holiday Inn Resort!