Traveling to Florida as a Fam to meet complete Strangers

Some may say we are crazy, but we spent five days in St Augustine, Florida with strangers that have now become lifelong friends. 

This vacation + these “strangers” were two of the best things that have happened to our family in a long while. Let’s be honest, they weren’t complete strangers, they were more like acquaintances instead.

Ella had Mr Fuson as her classroom aide in first grade and loved him so much that she was beyond excited to have his wife for second. Mr Fuson moved up with her and became the aide in Wendi’s classroom and boy are they a pair! Seriously some of the most amazing people we have met.

I was sad to learn that they were retiring and moving to St Augustine where they spent their summers teaching surfing camp. My other two kids won’t get the opportunity to have these two as teachers, but I think becoming friends isn’t so bad.

When we left on the last day of school, I told Wendi we would be visiting + I promised Ella I would take her to Florida in a few years. Well, it ended up happening a little quicker and I’m so glad it did. Last year we decided that instead of giving gifts for Christmas from now on, we would be doing family vacation.

To me this means so much more not only to Dustin and I as parents, but it is so much more memorable for our kids. They are still talking about all the things we did in Florida. Even Jack and Khloe keep asking when we are going back to “Durk and Wendi’s house!”

When we got to Florida, we certainly didn’t start off on the right foot. The shuttle we booked forgot to pick us up and we were left scrambling to find a ride for the 45 minute drive from Jacksonville to St Augustine.

We finally found a shuttle service that was available and off we went! When we first arrived at Durk and Wendi’s house, we couldn’t check into our Airbnb yet so Wendi says, “Who’s ready to go to the beach? Go get your suits on!” The kids squealed and ran down the hall to get ready.

They welcomed us + all of our crap into their home with open arms. They fed my kids breakfast and drove our family to the beach and we couldn’t be more grateful for these two. They are amazing people!

They have the funnest relationship and never take life seriously. We are already planning our trip to visit again!

I did not plan a thing for this trip. We knew we wanted to learn how to surf + that was it. We bummed on the beach, learned to surf, went to a concert, fished, went on a canoe ride, got ice cream, played Paddle Tennis, ate good food, but what meant the most of all, we did these things with great people who are no longer strangers, but family!