Beach Trip 2016

This year for the first time, we rented a beach house in Santa Rosa Beach (along 30A) for an entire week!  Justin and I had stayed with friends in this beachside neighborhood and really liked the location so I looked up prices after our beach trip last year.  When I discovered we could book a three bedroom house for slightly cheaper than it costs to stay for a long weekend in a hotel, we jumped at the opportunity!  The house we picked had three bedrooms with three queen beds and a set of bunk beds in the hallway.  This house was the only one in this neighborhood I could find with these sleeping arrangements – bunk beds in one bedroom is the norm.  A bonus for this house was its close location to the neighborhood pool (right beside it) and a manageable walk to the beach.

Our stay was from Saturday afternoon to the following Saturday morning.  It only took two and a half hours to get to Santa Rosa, which is in between Destin and Panama City Beach (closer to PCB but approximately a 20 minute drive to either place). Since it was late the day we arrived, we didn’t plan anything that evening other than unpacking and getting settled in for the week.  It was nice to not be in a rush driving over because it allowed me to finish packing and getting errands done that morning before we left.  I know before our trip next year, I’m going to look back on this post to see what we did and things we should do next year so I apologize for the (possibly boring) details. 

Bible story time with Gigi and Granddaddy

Sunday was our first full day at the beach.  Rain was threatening all day so we decided to eat  breakfast out that morning at the Donut Hole (yummy!).   When we arrived back at the house, we enjoyed a family devotional before heading to the pool.  The upside to an overcast day is that I didn’t worry too much about the kids burning, although we still do sunscreen. 

 The BEST breakfast place!

Couldn't wait to get some swimming in before the rain came:

After lunch at the house (chicken salad from Chicken Salad Chick and ham from Connie’s ham), we put the kids down for naps.  By mid afternoon, the weather improved so we decided to go to Pier Park for the night.  The kids had a great time riding the train, riding a few rides and checking out the pier (which you have to pay$3 per person to walk down now).

 At Pier Park:

 Enjoying the rides:

 After the kids rode some rides, we walked down the pier.  The kids loved it, but since it was really crowded we didn't stay long.

On Monday, a tropical storm came through the area so our only options were to stay indoors.  We decided to brave the outlets in Destin, but then again everyone else on vacation did too.  We arrived as soon as they opened and the crowds weren’t too bad but by mid afternoon, the parking lot was in gridlock.  It was one of the most frustrating things I have ever experienced.  It took us close to an hour to get out of the parking lot but we finally made it.  Whew.  Note to self – park in the back of the parking lot in the event of rain.  I’d rather hike out to the car and leave quickly rather than be parked close to the stores and sit for an hour to leave.

I was most concerned about our parents, who had the (tired) kids in their car.  We had chosen to go different directions in the parking lot and our route turned out to be the best one.  I don’t know why it made me laugh so hard, but when we got close to the light, Jordan held up traffic for the entire green light to let as many cars go through, trying to help my parents get as close to the exit as possible.  He blocked traffic, honked his horn and was waving/shouting at people to move until the light turned red again. I wouldn’t have had the courage to anger that many people for that long but I’m glad he did it!  We didn’t get them out all the way, but by that time the police had finally arrived on the scene and my mom called 5 minutes later to say they had finally gotten out.   We decided to eat tacos that evening at the house and recover from the exhausting day.

A couple funny pictures taken at the outlets:

Tuesday was our first beach day but we were very disappointed.  I was shocked when we got down there to see there was NO beach.  Literally, the water was coming up to the boardwalk stairs so people were piling their stuff up on the dunes to keep things dry.  Several beach goers were commenting how they had never seen it that way so I was relieved to hear that.  We only stayed a couple hours that morning and ended up spending the rest of the day at the pool.

 The ocean looked beautiful but it was full of sea lice (jellyfish larva).  Kate's hair was covered in them anytime she played near the water.  The undercurrent was too strong for swimming so no one was in the water that day.

 You can see in this picture how most of the sand was wet.

 Love this picture of Kate and Mason:

We all had fun that day despite the poor beach conditions.

Tuesday evening, Justin suggested we try Boondocks, a restaurant in Panama City.  It turned out to be delicious and the kids loved walking out on the docks and feeding the fish. 

 Hanging out on the dock.

Wednesday was the last day we were all together.  Uncle Jordan and Justin had to work the rest of the week and since Aunt Katie is so pregnant with Cooper, she and Camden went back too.  Dad and Uncle Jordan decided it was a good day to go golfing and the rest of us took the kids to the pool.  We swam all morning, ate lunch, took naps and swam the rest of the afternoon. 

We said goodbye to daddy Wednesday afternoon and then went to dinner that night at Shades, a family friendly restaurant on 30A, near the Donut Hole.  It had a game room for the kids so they instantly loved it.  Everything I tried was delicious and it was a place a definitely want to go to again.  After dinner, before Uncle Jordan, Aunt Katie and Camden got on the road, we drove to Rosemary beach so we could take a couple pictures on the beach.  Something that should have taken less than 5 minutes turned into an event but we managed to get some cute pictures of the silly munchkins.

Thursday was a very quiet, relaxing day.  We decided to give the beach another try and it was gorgeous!  The waves were calm, the beach was back to normal and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  Perfect!

Playing so sweetly together. 

 Toes in the sand.  

Thursday afternoon, we went back to Destin to shop in a couple stores we had missed earlier in the week.  There wasn’t nearly the crowd that afternoon and we enjoyed a nice evening.  Before heading back, we went to the Crab Trap for dinner (one of my favorites)!

 We all love the jungle gym at the Crab Trap!

Friday was our last full day.  We decided to live it up at the beach and pool that day and soak up the last day of fun in the sun. 

 Another perfect beach day!

While we were at the beach that morning, there was an unwelcome guest that I saw not once, but twice!  A shark - approximately five feet long.  We had heard some rumors on the beach that one had been spotted so we purposely stayed in shallower water.  Dad and I had the kids out in the water (waist deep) for about 45 minutes or so when I first saw it cruising by. I’m guessing it was a nurse shark (which are harmless but I’m not exactly a shark expert) but nevertheless, it was unnerving.  We quickly got out of the water and I told the kids to play in the sand for a little while.  We probably stayed out of the water for close to an hour before I decided to brave the water again.  We played with the kids and that’s when I saw the shark cruising back by, going in the opposite direction.  Two encounters in one day were enough for me so we packed it up and headed to the pool.  Eeek.

 "Apparently there's a (little) shark in the water- ?"

"Saw the shark. Lived to tell.  Not swimming anytime soon."

That evening, we did some exploring and ended up in Seacrest Beach for dinner at Pizza by the Sea.  It was a cute bistro and we walked around the other stores and let the kids shop in the gift shops and eat ice cream and snow cones.  It was the perfect ending to a great week!

 Sharing ice cream with Granddaddy.

Saturday morning was spent packing up the car.  We all woke up early (who sleeps in with two small kids) and got on the road earlier than expected – 9:00am!  Thankfully there wasn’t much traffic on the road at the time and we made it back home by 11:30am.  I loved getting back early on Saturday so I still had the rest of the day and Sunday to get chores done and get ready to go to work on Monday. 

All packed!

It was a wonderful week and I can’t thank my parents enough for everything!  Until next year!