Florida Bound!

Friday, June 14 we loaded up the Tahoe and started our vacation! We weren't due to check into the condo until Saturday, but we decided to leave Friday evening so the kids would sleep. We had reserved a room at a hotel in Dothan, AL so we could get a few good hours rest and wake up and then make the hour and a half trip to Panama City Saturday morning. I don't like traveling the day you are to check in-- you literally miss a whole day! My parents left an hour or so before we did. We cleaned all day, mowed the yard, played, napped, and finished packing. I cooked supper and after we ate, we put pajamas on the kids and got ready to leave. Adalyn was SO excited because she knows on long trips we will put the DVD players in for them to keep occupied. I bought them Peter Pan (one of my favorites as a child) and we started on our road trip. It was about 6:30 when we left. We had just gotten over the mountain when Landon asked for his milk. He was already whining so we took the opportunity to stop at a gas station and warm it up for him. Yes, he will not drink his milk cold! It has to be warm. ha. He will grow out of it, Adalyn did. Anyway, the milk did the trick and he settled down for a bit and watched the movie. I ended up having to take Peter Pan out because Adalyn was scared of "Tick Tock Croc". Ha ha I can't remember what I put in but Landon was still moaning and groaning at this point. By now it was dark and he was so so tired. The kids are in bed at 8:00 so he was ready to go to sleep. He would pull on his seat belt and say, "Out. Hold Me. Night Night. Bed." It was so sweet but I felt so bad for him because their was nothing I could do for him. He ended up finally dozing off and I thought whew- finally, he's out! 45 minutes later, he's up whining again. He continued to fall back asleep, but would jump (which woke him up) or when he would re-position, he would wake himself up. He was so uncomfortable. (I can't blame him, I wouldn't want to be in a car seat for hours on end either.) Sweet Adalyn fell asleep but her loud little brother woke her up. She would say, "Landon!!!" Ha ha. She would have slept the entire way. But she is so good- she just sat back and watched another movie until she fell asleep again. I was glad when we finally made it to Dothan and got into bed. We laid down at 1:30 and we were up by 6:30 thanks to a little boy who said, "Milk. Milk. Milk." My parents were at the same hotel so we called and woke them up. The kids were so excited to see them. Once we visited with them, we loaded the kids in the car and went to Hardees to get breakfast for all of us. We ate breakfast, packed the car again, and  we were beach bound! Landon was still so wore out from not really sleeping the entire trip the night before, he fell fast asleep and slept about an hour. Adalyn watched a movie. And then FINALLY, we made it! I was just as excited to be there as the kids were. We weren't expecting to get into the condo until around 3:00, so we made sure to pack a separate bag with our bathing suits and we hopped into the pool! Ahhh! I finally felt like I was on vacation! Traveling for hours on end with a 21 month old (as I discovered) was not very glamorous! Not long after we were in the pool, Christopher and Brandy showed up. Around 11:00, we learned our condo would be ready at 11:30! Wahoo! It's normally ready around 3:00 or so. We unloaded the cars and then made our way to the beach! My favorite place to be in the entire world. My dad has a huge tent we set up (we would not have survived on the beach without it!) got all of our chairs out, towels down, and beach toys out! Landon wasn't so sure about the sand at first, but quickly realized it was pretty cool. He plopped down and immediately started playing with some toys. This was his first trip to the beach so I had to capture his first time playing in the sand!

All that playing in the sand will wear a boy out!

He slept for at least 3 hours. He was still trying to catch up on his sleep.

Adalyn was tired, too! She napped with her brother. 

With the kids asleep, we took advantage of soaking up the sun. AHHHHHHH

When Adalyn did wake up, (she wakes up slow like her momma) she sat in the sand and just looked around. She is so sweet. 

It was late afternoon by the time we made it back to the room. Maybe around 4:00 or so. We took showers and got ready to head to dinner. We went to the Salty Water Dog (?) It's a pretty fancy place and it's the type of restaurant you go to that you stay for about 3 hours. (the wait, order food, then eat) We were waiting so long and I knew the kids were starving, I went over to Sonic and got them some chicken and french fries. When I got back, they were already sitting down. Landon asked for Ketchup so he could "wick it". They gobbled up their food. I only order jumbo shrimp, everything else sounded real fancy, like all these expensive fish name, etc. I'll just stick with what I know. :) Everyone said their food was delicious. So the 2.5-3 hours we were there, my kids went from my mom, dad, Christopher, Brandy and of course, to me and Adam. Over and over and over again. We made many trips outside to the front lawn to play so they wouldn't disturb others eating too bad. They had a huge fish tank which was beautiful so we looked at fish a lot, too. If we eat there again, our kids will not be with us. :) Thank you to my parents and Christopher and Brandy for keeping them entertained. Eating out with young kids is no joke! Whew! 

Here are a few pictures on our way to dinner. While we were at the restaurant, I didn't feel like pulling out my camera because I was too busy chasing my kiddos.

Sunday morning came and it was also Father's Day! We gave Adam his gifts before we left because I didn't want to load them up and bring to Florida. We gave him his card and then we gave my dad his gift. Each year I make Father's Day card off Shutterfly and personalize it with pictures. Such a great keepsake! The weather was perfect so we quickly changed into our bathing suits and made our way down to the beach! Oh, I need to add. We all woke up at 8:30! Even Landon! That's late for us considering he is up before or by 6:30 every day. 

We started at the pool first per Adalyn's request. We have a swimmer on our hands folks.

Next, we made our home on the beach and ate a Pop-Tart.

Adalyn and Landon both loved the ocean. The saltyness of it didn't phase them at all! 

We stayed on the beach for a few hours then headed back to the swimming pool. I always like to jump in and feel somewhat clean again. 

Here is Adalyn practicing her diving skills.

 Love my water babies

This girl is all about no floaties! We made her wear them in the deep end. It's so hard to tred water when you have a 3 year old trying to swim on top of you, too. 

We had a FULL day at the beach! (and pool!) My favorite kind of day. Both kids napped around 2 or more hours which was blissful. Swimming is the best way to tire my kids. And most kids for that matter. 

We headed back to the room and took showers and got dressed for dinner. We made pictures on the beach first then headed to Pier Park to The Back Porch for dinner. YUM! I will do another post with  our beach pictures and the fun we had shopping and riding rides at Pier Park. 

So here is the inside scoop on our first 2 days in Florida! I'll be blogging more about each day of vacation so keep checking back!