Shell Island

Since the town of Panama City was infused with college partiers, we had to find a spot of beach that was a bit more serene. St. Andrew's State Park delivered. It was a great spot for families. And really anyone that didn't want to get in on the party scene. This is where we spent the bulk of our time. The pictures really say it all. Chris was our castle engineer that week. We also took a fairy from the state park to Shell Island. It's totally uninhibited and was a great place to find some shells.

First day on the beach and castle #1...




Shell Island...

St. Patrick's Day

We decided to go out for a late lunch. We'd been on the beach that morning and had a blast. We thought that we were going to go to Pineapple Willy's, but St. Patricks day + college kids on spring break does not equal a good family environment. After we went to Margaritaville for lunch we found a great little German bar and restaurant down the street in Pier Park. We sat on the patio, drank green beer,let the kids play with their new toys - balls-, and we listened to the live band. It was a great afternoon!

You never know...

Okay, so Chris and I decided to take the kids to a restaurant near the beach last night for dinner. We made the mistake of taking Front Beach Road which is where all of the teenagers and young twenties are...bumper to bumper traffic...Girls swaying all over the road while trying to walk, guys screaming and yelling at the girls, it was a scene right out of every cliche Spring Break movie that you have ever seen. EXCEPT, we have our kids in the backseat. Grace asks, "Where are all of these kids going?" Caden said, "Probably to a party." I think that he nailed that one right on the head. Chris and I were cracking up!!! This picture is from us walking back to the car after dinner. It was sprinkling and Caden was mad that the bottom of his jeans were getting wet. You can see that he is holding them up so that they stay dry. HA!!

Driving to Panama City, Florida...

We left our house on Saturday at 7:09am (I know the exact time because I was hoping that we would have already been gone by then). Chris had borrowed an adapter for the car that allowed him to hook up the wii to the tv in his Tahoe (thanks Kevin for letting us borrow)!! The kids were so excited to play and it was a great distractor. It took us about 14 hours to get here. Only 12 1/2 hours of drive time, but we stopped for lunch, dinner, and at a lot of different rest areas and signs to take the kids pictures. I can't express to you effectively how GREAT the kids did in the car. They were tired at the end (we all were), but they hung in there and we are now ready to have a great week!!!
Caden in the car with the Wii..

Grace was really concentrating...


I forgot to talk about the drive...it rained almost the WHOLE way to Florida. We got pictures of the kids by the signs in Missippi and Florida. It was raining too hard to stop in Alabama and we figured that the one in Louisiana wasn't worth the stop - ha!! This pic of the kids in front of the Mississippi sign is in Vicksburg. I drove across the bridge in the background. I drove across a lot of bridges this trip that I was not expecting. I was white knuckled the whole way!!
The rest area in Florida had a tribute to the Blue Angels. We had to have a picture of it!!

Sadie, Sadie, Pretty Lady...

It was one year ago today that we sent Sadie to doggie heaven...she was the best dog ever and we miss her terribly...We still have her ashes in a box...someday we'll be able to celebrate her and spread her ashes...she was the one that the kids could tug on her ears, sit on her, and she would never blink an eye...our "find" from Mr. Dunlap. We miss you!

The Letter Gg by Caden...

My personal favorite is the stinky gorilla with his fumes :)

Vegas, Baby!!!

We decided to take an adults only trip to Vegas this year. My parents, two of my brothers, Ann, and my uncle Charlie from Omaha all met in Vegas this year. The guys went to the NASCAR race on Sunday, and the girls decided to walk the strip and go shopping. It was a lot of fun to have us all together and hanging out :) My body is still trying to recover from all the late nights. We stayed at the Mirage.

My brother Mike and I posing at the casino...
Mike, Amy, Chris and I went for Italian food on Sunday night. We found a fun t-shirt shop and couldn't stop laughing at some of these shirts :)