On the beach
We are so thrilled and thankful that we got to go to the beach this year with Gege and Papa! It's definitely one of my favorite places to go and we had such a great time!!
The drive down was great for me and Nick because the kids rode with Gege and Papa, so we were able to just talk or listen to music without attending to our little one's needs.
(Thanks G & P!)
After an 8 hour drive (with multiple potty stops and a lunch stop) we arrived at the beautiful Coral Reef Condominiums in Panama City Beach, FL. We really love that condo...everything is so nice with 2 pools, a workout room (which didn't get used this time, but still...) and lots of beautiful, white, sandy beach.
Our room was nice, it had 2 bedrooms, a huge kitchen and a nice den area. The kids were so excited when we got there and had fun looking out over the balcony. It's always so exciting to feel the ocean breeze and smell that salty air for the first time! Everyone slept relatively well; Nick took the pull out sofa (alone for the first 2 nights, but the last 2 were Rachel once and Bradley once); I shared a bed with "tornado Trenty" and Rachel and Bradley shared a bed. Rachel and Brad had a little trouble settling down the first night (even though it was WAY past bedtime) and kept giggling and talking. Trent was so tired, but he was not used to sleeping with me, so it took him a few minutes to get used to me and not having a crib enclosing him. I called him "Tornado Trenty" because he literally rolled from one edge of the bed to the other. He was fast too...I was so worried that he was going to roll off the bed, so the 2nd night, I pushed his side up against the wall so I didn't have to worry about him hitting the floor. He did, however, hit the wall several times each night. It was always loud and would wake me up, but he didn't seem to notice.
Trent LOVED the beach this year! He thought the sand was literally a huge sandbox. He would run and fall down (on purpose) and get up and do it again. He would even put his head down in it like an ostrich and rub his head through the sand. It was funny to watch! There wasn't one day where Trent didn't get at least 2 baths to get off all the sand off. Rachel and Bradley enjoyed playing in the sand, but preferred playing at the pool. The beach was very pretty and clear of seaweed except for one day. Gege and Papa took the kids to buy souvenirs one day and they all got some really awesome stuff (yea, right!). :) We all went to play putt putt one morning at the Pirate's Cove Golf course. Putt Putt was lots of fun! Bradley was most serious about it. He would get very aggravated when Trent would touch or move his ball. Trent loved it for about half the holes, then he abandoned his putter and would just run around with his ball.
We ate some really good food while we were there, including Boondock's, which is a great little seafood place. But my favorite was all the leftover ribs, pork, chicken and beans that Joe and Deborah brought from the 4th. That was DEE-LISH!!
I also managed to pick the windiest day to take family pictures outside. (I think I did the same thing last year.) It was very hard to keep us girl's hair out of our faces in time to take a picture. Trent wasn't very cooperative this year either, so that made it a little more difficult to get any pictures of him...by himself or with his siblings. Oh well, maybe next year.
We had an AWESOME time while we were there and sure did enjoy the break from our usual routine! There's not many prettier places than the beach and it was nice getting to relax, read, get some sun, swim and enjoy family time. Thank you Joe and Deborah for such a wonderful time! Love y'all!
Nick and his 3 little loves
