Well, I finally talked Kris into taking our first beach vacation! We actually went with the Harris family--Tremaine and LeKesha and their four kids. Tremaine owns a concrete company that does subcontract work for the company Kris works for. They have become good friends and are absolutely silly together. Tremaine calls Kris his "brother from another mother." They are constantly sending each other texts that just make Kris (and me) laugh out loud! Tremaine has a super sweet family. They decided they wanted to go to the beach too and told us about Panama City Beach where they had been before. So, we booked it. We didn't end up being in the same condo building, so we didn't spend a ton of time together. However, we got to travel together and go eat some evenings together. The rest of the time, we just got to hang out with just our family. So, we really did have a family vacation too!
We left last Wednesday afternoon and drove to Jackson, MS to spend the night to try to break up the nearly 12 hour trip. Thank goodness for DVD players.
The kids all took turns swapping cars to ride in. This helped pass the time as well. This time Dillon and Trey (the boys) were with us. Dillon is 10 and Trey is 4.
Then it was Alex and Tremere's turn. Alex is 11 and Tremere is 10.
These girls became fast friends and even made up their own handshake over the next few days.
We got up Thursday morning and took our time getting to Panama City Beach. When we got there, it was raining. We were a little bummed. The kids were itching to get in the water. The view from our room on the 3rd floor was awesome. The condo was so nice. It had 1 bedroom and 2 baths with bunk beds in the hallway area and a full kitchen. Perfect for us.
Since it was raining, we just decided to go get some dinner. We went to eat at Carabbas Italian Grill. We had never been to one before. It was okay. We had to wait a while, so the kids played around while we waited.
Friday morning as soon as the rain stopped, the kids were begging to get to the water. So we headed out.
Lincoln did not know what to think of the salty water. He didn't like it too much--at first.
Layton loved the sand. He spent most of his time playing in it. He was a bit scared of the water to walk into the waves himself. As long as we were holding him, though, he loved the waves!!!
After Hannah got over the salty water taste, she really loved playing in the waves (like her Momma). I thought this was so much fun too.
Kris covered Lincoln and Hannah in sand. He made Lincoln a mermaid to be silly.
Hannah he made into a muscle man. Ha!
After hitting the beach, the kids were begging to go to the pool. So that's what we did next. They love to swim.
Our condo was very near a great little shopping area called Pier Park. It had several good restuarants and lots of shops. Then, near it was an outdoor mall with even more shopping. It was a great location. We went to Pier Park for lunch and ate at a great pizza place and got shaved ice and smoothies. Kris stayed in with Layton so he could nap that afternoon and I took Hannah and Lincoln back to the pool.
More to come...
