Mitchell Madness: March 2011

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Day 7 - Saturday...Coming Home:(

Saturday morning, we woke up around 5 to get ready to come home with a goal to leave by 7. We showered, fed the kids breakfast, and finished packing up the car. It was an early start, but we knew we had a long day ahead of us. Just like I was worried I would forget to pack something, I did a few extra checks to make sure we didn't leave anything at the beach house. I must have done a pretty good job, because nothing was forgotten! It was dark when we left, but you could still hear the ocean. I was sad, but also anxious to get the drive over with. The kids did a much better job on the way there than on the way home. Pretty much, one of them was crying at all times. As soon as I had one calmed down, the other would start in. I spent most of my trip turned around trying to appease cranky kids. Macie kept wanting to hold my hand. She played with my ring and kept calling it a sandcastle. I thought that was too sweet and funny. She would say, "You have a sandcastle. It's pretty. Daddy bought you this?". We stopped and ate lunch in the same town we ate lunch in on the way down. We picked Shoneys because it was easy. Surprisingly, it was really good and everyone left satisfied! Our last stop was at Don Panchos for dinner. Yummy Mexican food! We made it home by 8:00. We were all exhausted and were in bed as soon as we got home! The weather in Florida was in the 70s and when we came home it was cold and there was snow! Overall, we had a wonderful trip and we plan to go back in two years. Cape San Blas is an amazing place. Here are some of my favorite moments from the trip:

The beach - It was only 300 steps from our house, the sand was soft, we pretty much had it to ourselves, we found awesome shells, saw jellyfish, and dolphins.

Zoo World - Even though I was skeptical at first, it was an amazing place. Feeding the giraffe out of my hand was one of the coolest experiences! When we were at the bird and reptile show, Macie was so cute. She was so into it and when the lady brought out a small opossum and lizard, Macie said, "I want one". I love you little girl...but NO!

Watching Macie and Gavin experience the beach and ocean for the first time. Gavin cracked us up when he dipped his pap into the ocean water over and over and sucked it off.

Taking a walk along the beach just Brian and I. It reminded us of our honeymoon.

Have a week away from all of life's stresses and distractions!

Day 6 - Friday

Friday was our last full day in Florida and we planned to spend it at the beach. We enjoyed our last day to the fullest. We played in the sand, took walks looking for shells, and I spent more time sitting in my beach chair by the water. Brian let me come back to the beach while the kids were napping. He also took a nap to rest up for the drive the next day. My sisters and I sat a little too close to the water at first and it was splashing in our faces. We were laughing so hard we could barely get up! We saw some dolphins again. A bit later I went back and got Brian and the kids. I was glad that we saw a bunch of dolphins again so that Brian could see them. Macie didn't really know what we were pointing at, but the dolphins were swimming back and forth right in front of us. Right before we packed up and headed to the beach house, Brian and I took one final walk alone on the beach. It is always nice to have a few minutes alone. Once we were back at the house, we all bathed and I started packing our stuff. For dinner, dad grilled brauts and I used up the rest of the potatoes to make wedges. I loved eating out on the deck every night and I can't wait until it's warm enough to do it at home. After the kids were in bed, Brian and I loaded as much stuff in the car as we could. We ended the night watching the first half of the UK game. We were all getting tired so we went to bed because we knew we had a long day ahead.

Aunt Allie bought the kids hooded beach towels and I just love them. They are perfect and we will be getting lots of use out of them for years to come!

Gator

Dolphin

Getting this family picture was harder than I'd hoped:(

Aunt Annie and Macie were both all smiles

Grandma with her two babies

Gavin loved having the water come up to his feet. He would reach for it when it went away...it was too cute!

Story time before bed

Kid's room

Our bathroom...the way it worked out we all had our own bathrooms which made getting ready really nice.

Our room

We had a nice view considering we weren't directly on the beach

Our path to the beach

We had to turn our outside lights on at night so that we wouldn't disturb the turtles. We didn't see any, but that would've been cool.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Day 5 - Thursday

Our plan for Thursday was to go to Panama City Beach. Annie found this zoo that she wanted to go to. I have to admit that I was a little skeptical at first because it was an hour and a half away, it looked pretty small, and it cost $15 to get in. We hadn't really budgeted for it, but we decided to go for it anyway. I am so glad that we did! It was called Zoo World and it was one of the neatest places I've ever been! It was small, but the animals were all within reach, we got to feed several of them, and they even had shows. I don't know if I've ever seen some of those animals that close! Macie had a great time running around but she wasn't a fan of getting too close to the animals. Gavin conked out half way through. After the zoo, we ate at Pineapple Willy's. The food was good, but Gavin started not feeling well and actually had a low grade fever so it wasn't the most pleasant experience for me. I held him until the Tylenol kicked in and then I was able to put him down to eat. I also quickly realized that Panama City is not the place for me! Maybe if I was single or it was just Brian and I it would be fun, but it is way too crowded for me! It made me appreciate our nice quiet beach where the kids could play and we had plenty of room! Once we got back to the beach house, we just hung out the rest of the night. What a fun day!