We left Friday morning around 3:30am or so. It is about a 10.5 hour drive to Panama City Beach from our house and we had high hopes of driving all day and arriving early afternoon. Last year, we weren't quite as brave and had driven 6-7 hours the first day and that was all the kids could handle. But, after a rough first hour listening to Kendra cry...we had woken her up at home and explained that it was still dark outside and she was going to get to finish sleeping in the truck...and she took that to mean that she'd get to lie down with her blanket and actually sleep comfortably in the truck when what I'd really meant was that she would get to remain buckled up in her carseat and sleep that way. She REALLY wanted out of those "buckles". But she did give in after a bit and slept a while. After that small episode, we never heard another argument, complaint, or whine out of either child for the entire ride. I was amazed at how good they did. They must've just been super excited to get to the ocean!
These are the first two pictures I took. What is sweeter than 2 sleeping kiddos?
We rented a condo on the beach for Saturday Aug 1st thru Saturday Aug 8th but were anxious to begin our vacation so when we decided to go down a day early, we got a 1 night reservation at SandPiper Beach Resort. It reminded me more of a motel and our room was nothing to be excited about but we weren't there too much and they did have some pretty cool swimming pools, a playground on the beach with slides and swings, a lazy river, and the mini-golf you see below. We knew ahead of time that they had the mini-golf and Gabe was so excited we had to bring his own putter!! What we didn't know is that the SandPiper has some strange rules where you must check out by 10 am...which is the same time the pools open, the mini-golf opens, etc. So we had one upset 3 year old when no one would let him golf Saturday morning before we checked out. He was ready to golf as soon as he woke up!! We ended up working out a late checkout of 11 am so that we could golf for a little bit before we left. Whew! We almost had a really BAD start to our week! Heath was ready to kick himself for not throwing in a golf ball of our own and then we'd have just snuck in and played a couple of holes but he searched the truck high and low and couldn't find a golf ball anywhere!
Here is Gabe enjoying the golf and Kendra posing on one of the obstacles.
We had time to squeeze in a quick picture before leaving for the "good condo" as well.
So next we headed to Aqua, the "good condo". I haven't yet mentioned that we had several traveling companions to Florida this year. Heath's entire immediate family made the trip as well as another cousin/spouse, friend/spouse, friend spouse. So there were 20 of us altogether staying in the same building but each having our own condo to ourselves. We didn't spend oodles of time with anyone individually but it was really fun to have all of the extra people around when we went to the pools or the beach. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins! And it was nice to have someone different to chat with, and help watch the kids!
Also, to give you some background, my kids really hadn't been swimming this year yet. We'd been to holiday world and played in our own little family pools no deeper than 2 feet deep or whatever. And last year Kendra didn't really enjoy much about Florida at all. She wasn't real keen on swimming until the end of the week there (probably because she was tired most of the time and just so little) and she pretty much HATED the beach/ocean. This year, we were in for a whole different story THANK HEAVENS!!
When we started the week, Gabe really needed to have a floatie on at all times and by the end of the week, he was jumping in off the side, putting his face in and swimming to us with only the arm floaties on. He'd take a breath and keep on swimming. I was quite impressed. I'm sure it helped to have his two older cousins there that are both really good swimmers for their young ages (4 and 6) to give him some extra confidence. And Kendra loved the water this year as well. She was always giggling and smiling when she was in the water and she'd just kick and maneuver anywhere she wanted to go. She was jumping in off the side with her ring on as well. They LOVED the water!
Do it again Dad...
This evening, we'd went across the street to a restaurant where they were doing Family Karaoke. My four year old niece Alyssa was super sweet and got up and sung her preschool song "Furry Furry Squirrel". The kids all got out on the dance floor and watched all of the action up close. That is one of the nice things of going down to Florida this time of year. I guess since schools are about to start up, the crowds aren't bad at all and you can generally get in to eat where ever and whenever you want.
The camel outside the restaurant...
This was Wednesday morning I believe. The only day it really stormed during daylight hours and it caused the pools to be shut down all morning. We got to see this "water spout" I think is what you call it. Of course by the time I decided it was picture worthy, and then my camera was all fogged up from the humidity, I barely got a picture of it...but it was pretty neat to see!
With me being 7 months pregnant, we didn't do a whole lot except for swimming and eating. We'd thought about taking the kids to the aquarium or the zoo but it was hot enough during the days that I didn't feel like attempting anything that would require much outdoor walking for fear that I'd swell up and be miserable. And we'd taken the kids to the St. Louis zoo earlier in the year so it wasn't really necessary.
So this night, just the four of us went to a restaurant called Sharky's. If you're ever in Panama City, I'd recommend it...one of my favorite meals of the week! And before we'd even put in our drink orders, we had a guy come to our table and make balloon art for the kids. Gabe got a blue sword and Kendra got a pink doggie.
Gabe is at the age where he generally doesn't want his picture taken and if you are taking his picture he'll normally look away or stick his tongue out...but I thought this was a cute picture in the car. He had his sunglasses on his head and the headphones on for his dvd player. Too cute for a 3 year old!
This was one of my favorite poses of the week. As you can tell from the lighting, we often had to swim in the morning, go in for a nap, swim after nap, go eat dinner, and then swim AGAIN in the evening!! Man did we sleep good though after all that sun and swimming!
This was just a shot of the kids starting to mellow out back in the condo...and my lovely two year old daughter who refuses to wear clothes, pajamas, etc on a regular basis. Hopefully it is just a phase but the child instantly asks to have her clothes off the minute you enter the indoor world.
7 families + 6 kids gathering at the pool meant lots of pool side snacking.
This was another fun night out to eat with just the four of us. We went to Hooke's. It is out where the park all of the fishing boats and the weather was beautiful so we got to eat outside where we could watch all of the boats. Lots of the restaurants do special things for the kids so this restaurant gave the kids pirate hats which Kendra wore sideways...always has to do things herself...
We did make one trip to get a new toy of some sort since we weren't spending any money doing any other excursions or anything. We didn't spend $15 total but the kids were so excited to have their new toys...Kendra picked a baby doll and Gabe picked a golf club you can play on the beach.
Guess you can also play with the new golf club in the condo :)
Kendra still wasn't real excited to be on the actual beach most days but this day she was all about playing in the sand so the kids got the buckets out and dug holes and poured water in.
There's that tongue again!
On the last night of our trip, we made a trip to the arcades and race track. I can assure you this is the last time Kendra will sit on the sidelines and just watch. Next time Daddy will have to take both kids or else Mommy will have to take one of them. She really thought she should get a turn right after Gabe. And she MIGHT have been big enough to be a passenger...but it was a close call.
And we almost forgot but we did finally remember to get one family picture taken.
So we made the trip back home on Saturday, August 8th and the kids did equally wonderful on the trip home. I was so proud of them for being such good travelers. And now we have another year to wait for the next vacation...hard to think what life will be like by then with another little one added to our family by then!
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