I love sharing our travels, but over the years, I’ve never really posted about our many visits to family around Florida. I always feel like we don’t “do enough” to write a post. We usually spend our time with family and friends enjoying a meal or bringing the kids to play at local parks or someone’s house. However, now that our kids are all getting a little older, we are entering a phase where it’s easier to get out on bigger adventures! Our Thanksgiving trip to Atlantic Beach was the perfect example of that. We visited from a Monday to a Friday and had two full days (excluding Thanksgiving) and two half days. We packed a lot into that time, yet it still felt restful and rejuvenating and we had lots of quality time catching up with our families!

The month of November just so happens to be Kids Free month in Jacksonville. I believe Kids Free November is something that happens every year, or at least has been happening for the last several years. This saved us some money on entry tickets for our kids because for each paid adult entry, we were able to get a free child’s entry. Kids 2 and under are free, so we were able to take all of our kids at no cost!

I am so very blessed to have family living in the beautiful, nature-filled community of Atlantic Beach, Florida. With more than 20 public beach access points, it’s very easy to visit the beach for the day or even for just a few hours. Atlantic Beach has several nature preserves for hiking and biking and multiple playgrounds for kids to enjoy. It’s also close to Beaches Town Center, which offers excellent dining and shopping options.

Beach

One of the first activities we like to do after arriving is, no surprise, enjoy the beach. Our kids love to swim in the ocean and play in the sand. And of course, we all love the sunshine and salty air! We also love to ride our bikes along the shady streets in the area.

Jacksonville Zoo

Our second day started with a family trip to the Jacksonville Zoo. I am a bit ashamed to admit that in 16 years of traveling to the area, this was my first visit to the Zoo. It’s an excellent zoo and we had fun seeing animals from all over the world. My only complaint would be that the zoo’s layout (see the map here) is such that you have to walk all the way to the end and back as opposed to making a loop. This makes it tough to make it to all of the zoo areas with little kids, especially if you are working around a nap time. I would suggest that they make a walkway either across the train tracks, or through the education campus to make it easier for families to see the whole zoo.

We saw the African animals, South American animals, primates, and Florida animals, but did not make it to the land of Asia or the children’s play area. We arrived shortly after the zoo opened at 9 and stayed until around 1 after eating lunch at the Palm Plaza Cafe near the jaguars. To see the whole zoo, I think you’d need to plan to stay until at least 3 (and that is without doing any of the total experience activities). It’s definitely a full day event! We are a very active family, but were all wiped out after our day at the zoo!

General Admission tickets are $29.95 for adults and $24.95 for kids age 3-12 (discounts available for seniors, military, teachers, and City of Jacksonville employees). Total experience tickets, which include train and carousel rides, animal feedings, and admission to the 4D theater, are $39.95 for adults and $32.95 for kids. You can purchase tickets online to avoid long lines.

Trivia Night at Green Room Brewing

After our busy day at the zoo, we took some time to relax and ride bikes before eating dinner and getting ready for our adults only trivia night! Green Room Brewing is Jacksonville Beach’s first microbrewery. With over 24 taps, it is also dog-friendly and allows you to bring your own food (or even have it delivered). The brewery has games and hosts events like Fast Jax trivia night at 7:30 Tuesdays. Our team won and more importantly, we had a great time together. In case you’re thinking about going, the trivia isn’t too hard and it moves fairly quickly. The company hosts trivia nights all over Jacksonville – check here to find a date and location that works for you!

Jacksonville Museum of Science and History

On Wednesday morning, we took the kids downtown to the Jacksonville Museum of Science and History. We arrived just after the museum opened at 10 am and made our way to the exhibits on the first and second floor (see the map here). The regular exhibits include: Health In Motion (nutrition and exercise), Atlantic Tails (Florida coastal creatures), JEA Powerplay (energy and electricity), the Florida Naturalist’s Center (North Florida wildlife), and Currents of Time (Jacksonville history). Most of these were great for kids with plenty of interactive elements.

My boys particularly liked playing and building in the Powerplay exhibit. The history exhibit was entirely too long for my kids (age 3, 5, and 7), but I personally would enjoy returning to learn more about the region’s history. Our favorite part of the museum was the traveling Mission: Astronaut exhibit. My space-loving boys particularly enjoyed practicing tasks while wearing astronaut gloves, learning to train like an astronaut, and using their critical thinking and math skills to decide what to bring aboard the spaceship. The Kidspace was underwhelming to me, but a good place for them to run around before getting back in the car. Unfortunately we did not have time to visit the Science Theater or Planetarium as we were again working around my three-year-old’s naptime, but we will have to check it out on our next visit.

Adult admission to MOSH is $24 and admission for kids age 3-12 is $18. Tickets can be purchased online or at the front desk.

Tony’s Turkey Trot

One of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is running a family turkey trot before the big meal. Atlantic Beach has a great turkey trot that has been running for 10 years now! Tony’s Turkey Trot for Brain Injury Awareness offers a 5K race at 8 am and a 1 mile fun run at 9:30 am, both starting in front of the One Ocean hotel. Proceeds support care for survivors of traumatic brain injury. We went for a run on our own, cheered for the 5K runners, and did the 1 mile fun run with our boys, but after participating in the event, I will do both distances next time. It’s a worthy cause, fun atmosphere, and great, healthy way to start Thanksgiving day!

Christmas Made in the South

Finally, on Friday, the girls in the family attended Christmas Made in the South at the Convention Center in downtown Jacksonville. I’ve always stayed away from Black Friday, but I really enjoyed this shopping experience and was able to find unique gifts for almost everyone in my family. All of the vendors are artisans selling their handcrafted art, photography, gourmet food, jewelry, and clothing. Tickets are $8 each for adults, kids 12 and under are free. Tickets are good for the entire weekend if you want to return on multiple days!

I’ve always loved the holidays, but there is truly a new level of joy in them when you’re celebrating with children. We had a wonderful week and made so many memories! Where do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Do you have any favorite Thanksgiving traditions? I’d love to hear in the comments!