Panama City Florida

Last week we headed down to Florida to go to the gulf.  This was my first time in Florida and I was pretty excited about the trip.  Ben took a week off of work so we could have a family vacation and spend some time together as a family but things never turn out quite like you would like.

Monday morning we woke up early and started our journey to Panama City.  Well as we got closer and closer to Panama City the sky kept getting darker and darker and soon it was down pouring on us.  It was raining so hard it was getting hard to see the road so we pulled over and then it happened...  Our van decided it didn't want to run anymore.  You could feel the car jump and then the check engine light came on and then it started flashing.  We were about 15 minutes from Panama City and so we decided to just keep driving and get there before our van quit working altogether.  It was a long 15 minutes but we made it.

We got checked into our hotel and instead of going to the beach we had to look up mechanics because our van needed to be fixed right then.  Ben found a mechanic who could fix our van right then so we were vanless for the rest of the night.  Thankfully there were a bunch of things to entertain the kids right around our hotel so we started walking down the road.  We went to dinner at Chili's.

After dinner we went to Toys R' Us and let the kids walk around and play with all the fun toys.  Tanner was quite excited about the dogs and cats that made noises and then started shaking.  He couldn't take his eyes off of them and even laughed at them.  

Then we went to Petsmart and looked at all their animals.  Tanner tried catching all the fish and for some reason they didn't have lids on their fish tanks so my children thought it would be fine to put their hands inside the fish tanks.  We didn't hang around the fish tanks too long.

And then we found... HEAVEN!!!  AKA:  Coldstone Creamery!  I didn't think they had Coldstone in the east but man was I okay to be wrong, just this once.

Benson is definitely my child and can never  get enough of sweets.  When he saw Ben's ice cream just sitting at the table with no one around to eat it, well you know what is going to happen.  I certain little boy who LOVES ice cream will just help himself.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was the kids bedtime.  We got them into bed and prayed that Benson wouldn't fall out of the bed {yes he is still in a crib}.  About 2:30 a.m. I heard a thud and then a little boy named Benson started crying because, yes he had fallen out of bed, which meant he spent the rest of the night in bed with me and Ben.  Lucky us!

The next morning we called the mechanic and thank goodness the van was fixed.  Ben went and picked it up and we got ready to go to the beach!  Everyone was excited to spend some time in the ocean and playing on the sand.

It was fun to drive downtown and I really wish our van hadn't broken down because I would have loved to walk around downtown and visit all the little shops and feel like a tourist.  But I should know by now that things never go as you plan them.  I snapped this picture as we drove by wishing our van hadn't broke so we could have discovered what was inside this upside down building.  Oh well!  To the BEACH!!!

The beach was BEAUTIFUL!!!  The sand was white and the water was so clear.  Ben would take the kids way out into the ocean with him and they saw all kinds of marine life.  He even claimed that they saw a baby shark...  I don't know if he really did but it is a cool story!

As soon as we let Reese and Benson out of the car they took off towards the beach.  They had been looking forward to this all week long.

Benson was in heaven!  He had never seen so much sand in all of his life and he was content to sit on the beach all day long and dig in the sand and build sandcastles and then smash them.

Benson wasn't a huge fan of the water.  He wasn't sure what to think about the water coming in and then going back out.  When the water would recede he lost his balance.  I think it would make his dizzy but he was still so happy.  He finally warmed up to the ocean by the time we were ready to go home and he did not want to leave.

Reese had no fear of the water.  She waded clear out with Ben into the deep and those two could have stayed out there all day long.

Tanner hated the ocean!  As soon as I put his feet in the water he started screaming.

So he was my buddy and we hung out on the beach under the umbrella for the rest of the day.  Oh and Tanner ate the sand all day long.  Gross!

We had so much fun at the beach!  I wish we could have spent more time there, but eventually it was time to go home.  Ben realized as we were packing up that he hadn't put any sunscreen on and then I finally took a good look at him...  He was bright red and he was miserable for the rest of the week.  Poor guy!

We had such a good time though and it was very hard convincing Reese and Benson that we needed to go.  They would have stayed there all day long if we would have let them.  But all good things have to eventually come to an end and we had a long drive ahead of us.  The kids slept for about half the car ride home, it was kind of nice.

Good-bye Panama City, we hope we get to see you again soon!  Next time though, can our car not break down?  Thanks!  Oh, and yes Reese did wear her visor the ENTIRE trip!