Thursday, June 30, 2016

Panama City Beach, FL – Days 5 and 6

Day five started out much the same as the other days from the trip with breakfast in the condo, but we could tell that the kiddos seemed to be tiring of the beach, so we decided to skip it and head straight to the pool instead.  Poor Jacob is just not a fan of the beach during the day when it’s hot and sunny, and I think it would have done him in to go one more time.  He did have a great time at the pool, though, and I was really glad that we chose to skip the beach.

Our condo has two different pools and we decided to go to the other pool this time.  There wasn’t much of a difference except for that this pool was larger and it was partially outdoors and partially indoors.  The kids were obsessed with the indoor part and they kept wanting us to take them in “the room.”  Both of them were pretty relaxed and comfortable, so I’m hoping that we have prepared Jacob enough for his swimming lessons next week.  Eek.  I guess time will tell.

Anyway, we stayed down at the pool for a long time – longer than any other time during this trip – and then we went back up to the condo around lunch time.  I bathed the kiddos while B picked up Five Guys for lunch.  Once the kids were clean and fed, I headed down to the beach solo for one last day by the ocean.  


After the beach, I went back up to the condo, showered, and then we set out for our last night there.  We adore Pier Park, so we decided to head back there for our last evening of the trip.  We chose Margaritaville for dinner and I was shocked because there was already a 30 minute wait even though it was only 4:45 Panama City time (5:45 back home).  We ducked into their souvenir shop to keep cool while we waited, and we were seated upstairs on the indoor balcony of the restaurant about 20 minutes later.  Not bad at all. 

The kids were excited because we were high in the sky next to the airplane that was hanging down on the lower level of the restaurant.  I indulged in a Watermelon margarita and B had some kind of strong whiskey drink, and we watched the people on stilts make balloon objects for the kids – a water gun for J and a princess crown for O.  While we were eating a quick rainstorm blow through.  It’s crazy because out of the six days that we were here, the only time it rained was for the hour that we were in this restaurant.  By the time we had finished dinner, the sun had started to emerge again and the sidewalks were already starting to dry.  The best part was that the rainstorm had cooled it off by probably 15 degrees so we knew that we had a very pleasant and cool evening ahead of us.  Perfect since the rest of our plans were all outdoors.






The next stop was souvenir shopping.  We told the kids that they could each pick one thing to have as a reminder of our trip.  I was thinking along the lines of something beachy and typical of souvenirs – ya know, a t-shirt, a shell, a beach toy – but they immediately spotted a regular ol’ toy store where Jacob picked out a nerf bow and arrow set and Olivia picked out an Ariel doll.  Hey, I guess Ariel is beachy since she’s a mermaid, right?

After the toy store, we headed to a more traditional souvenir shop, because I had to find a tacky souvenir frame to add to my collection.  I always buy a picture frame when we travel (the tackier the better) and I have the entire collection displayed in our upstairs playroom with all of my favorite photos from our travels.  One day I shall do a post about it.  It’s one of my favorite walls in our house!  So many wonderful memories.  :o)

Anyway, after I found the perfect frame, we moseyed on down through Pier Park to find some dessert.  Jacob chose frozen yogurt, and we hadn’t been to that particular location yet, so we decided to give it a whirl.  I mean, I’ve never met a froyo place that I didn’t like.  Am I right? 



We enjoyed our froyo out on the patio and people watched a bit.  Once the sun started setting we walked straight out of Pier Park and down to the beach for one last sunset by the ocean.  Olivia was as happy as a clam running around in the sand… she pretty much looked like this the entire time:


But Jacob wasn’t having it and he had a pretty bad attitude the entire time we were on the beach.  His face pretty much looked like this the entire time:


He did willingly take a few pictures, but he was pretty much done with the beach.  Done.  Haha.








Once the sun had set, we walked back up to Pier Park and told the kids that we could go to the carnival one last time since it was our last night there.  Jacob definitely perked up then!  We made our way down and stood in the mile long line to get tickets.  Jacob rode the roller coaster and the tornado with Brian and then Olivia just wanted to ride the carousel, so we let her ride it twice.  That would have exhausted the tickets, but a passerby handed us an extra ticket that they weren’t going to use, so we let Jacob ride the roller coaster again.  I surprised him and told him that I would even ride it with him for his last time and he was excited.  (I’m not big on thrill rides anymore – even baby ones – so this was a momentous occasion!)  The roller coaster was tame and a lot of fun, and I’m glad that I rode it with my sweet boy!




After that, we called it a night and we made our way back to the car for the two minute drive back to the condo.  It was 10:30 our time by the time we got back.  The kiddos were champs for staying up that late… two and half hours past their normal bedtime!  They both fell right to sleep.

Once they were asleep, B and I enjoyed our last two Melon Beers and called it a night.  We squeezed every single bit of goodness out of this day and it was one that I will remember for a long time to come!

Sunday morning we awoke, packed up the car, stopped by Panera for cinnamon crunch bagels and cinnamon rolls, and then headed home.  We didn’t even have to make any pit stops on the way home!  Unheard of!  That’s a long time for the kids to stay in the car without a break.  Olivia did ask for her paci 1,800 times, though, and we finally gave in so we could have some peace for the rest of the drive home.  We arrived home mid-afternoon and it was so good to see Maui!  We sure did miss her.


This was such a wonderful and relaxing trip and one that I will remember for a lifetime!  I’m so glad that I get to go through life with these special people because they sure do make all of our adventures fun!

If you missed any of my other recaps, you can see them below.

Day 1 Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4

*Linking up with Home of Malones for Thoughts for Thursday.



Wednesday, June 29, 2016

What's Up Wednesday

And just like that, we’re halfway through the year!

What’s really crazy is that we’re approaching the time of year when it really starts to fly… we’re going to blink and we’ll be toasting to a new year.

What We’re Eating This Week

We’re finally settled back in our regular routine after our vacation a couple of weeks ago, so I’m back to cooking four nights a week.  On deck this week –

Monday – Shay's Pizza Joe’s with broccoli and fresh fruit
Tuesday – Garlic Cheddar Chicken with mashed potatoes and sautéed squash & zucchini
Wednesday – Vodka Sausage Pasta with fresh green beans
Thursday – Sausage and Peppers Tacos with pinto beans and lime chips

Sausage twice.  #Oops

What I’m Reminiscing About

Our beach trip two weeks ago!  I’ve been recapping each day on the blog, so I’ve been going through hundreds of pictures.  It was a dream of a trip and I’m already ready to go somewhere else now!







What I’m Loving

Red, white, and blue everything.  Gimme everything patriotic.  

Cami Dress // Bikini // Maxi Dress




What We’ve Been Up To

This week I finally got our house decorated for The 4th and I’m loving it!  You can see the tour here.



What I’m Dreading

Not much to dread right now, except for maybe the summer heat.  Sheesh, it’s been hot.

What I’m Working On

Jacob’s big boy bedroom makeover is finally underway!  You may remember this post that I did a couple of months ago for inspiration… I posted that back in April and we’re just now getting around to starting it.  I was totally stressing over paint colors and that’s what took so long to decide.  However, we finally nailed it down this past weekend and picked up the paint so now I’m ready to roll!  I love planning things and making lists, so I’ve already started To Do and To Buy lists for the project.  A few items on each list…

To Do:
·     Paint walls
·     Convert toddler bed to full size bed
·     Make personalized wall art to hang over bed
·     Hang shelves over dresser

To Buy:
·     Full size mattress
·     Lamp
·     Black-out curtains
·     Throw pillows

Lots more on each of the lists, but I don’t want this post to be 18,000 words so I’ll stop now.  Here's the bedding that we settled on though... minus the shark pillow case!


What I’m Excited About

I’m participating in my first blogger exchange this month and it should be a lot of fun!  It is a Favorite Things exchange and I had a blast shopping for some things to send.  Stay tuned for the post in July!

What I’m Watching/Reading

Watching – The Bachelorette and a bunch of movies since nothing is on the telly (can you tell that I’ve been reading too many books by British authors?).  B and I are way behind on movie watching, but we’re more than making up for it these days because we’ve been averaging about two movies/week.  In recent weeks we’ve watched Age of Adeline (I cannot say enough good things about it!), This is 40 (one that we’ve already seen, but love!), St. Vincent (one of B’s picks), and The Equalizer (can’t go wrong with Denzel). 

Reading – Since Instagram changed their algorithm and my feed is now permanently jacked up, I’ve been spending significantly less time on there, and it’s freed up all kinds of time to read in the evening.  Not to mention we went to the beach and so I had ample time to read in the car and on the beach.  Just in the last few weeks I read the following:

Shopaholic to the Stars – cute book, you’ll like it if you like the rest of this series
Me Before You – excellent, excellent, couldn’t put it down
After You – another excellent read (the sequel to Me Before You)
Shopaholic to the Rescue – still reading and also enjoying



Anyone else turned off by Insta since they changed it?

What I’m Listening To

A whole lot of country music… I’m obsessed with Blake Shelton and I’m also loving Dierks Bentley and Carrie Underwood’s new albums. 

What I’m Wearing

As little clothing as socially acceptable.  It’s been hot here, y’all.  Hot.  I have a feeling this is going to be one of our hottest summers ever.  The last few weeks we’ve had highs near 100 degrees every day and it is sheer misery.  And I’m still in my rental car since my airbag was recalled in my SUV and it has leather seats which is also sheer misery.  I’ve never understood why in the world people want leather seats.  AND PAY EXTRA FOR THEM ON TOP OF IT!!  I mean, they burn your buns when it’s hot and they freeze your buns when it’s cold… why would you want that?!  Why??

The other day I was wearing a skirt and I slid into my seat and jumped right back out (while cussing) because the seat had literally burned my legs.  They were all scalded and red when I got home.  Luckily I didn’t lose any skin in the process.  #AtLeastIDontThinkIDid

Anywho, I’m way off track now, but here are a few looks from last month.  If you want to see the full recaps they are listed below.




What I’m Doing This Weekend

All the praise hands for a long weekend!!  We are heading to a 4th of July party at my aunt and uncle’s house Sunday and my whole family is going to be there.  We had the best time last year, so I’m sure that this one should be fun as well.  We’re gonna do a little swimming, a little grilling, and we have big plans to play Cards against Humanity and drink the night away.  I’ve heard nothing but hilarious things about it so I’m excited. 

What I’m Looking Forward To Next Month

July is Jacob’s birthday month and we have big plans for his party.  I just booked it the other day and I know he’s going to have the time of his life, so we’re really looking forward to it!   I just love celebrating my babies!

What Else Is New

I think I’ve already typed enough in this book, so we’ll just leave it at that!

Happy Wednesday, y’all!

*Linking up with Shay, Mel, and Sheaffer for What’s Up Wednesday and Jessi's Design and Going the Distance for What's Hap-"Pinning" Wednesday.

*This post may contain affiliate links. 




Tuesday, June 28, 2016

4th of July Decor

It’s no secret that I love to decorate.   I go all out for fall and Christmas every year, and since we added a huge storage closet to our house last summer, I decided to start decorating for some of the other holidays as well since I now have a place to store everything.

Since this is the first year that I’ve ever decorated for 4th of July, I didn’t have anything red, white, and blue, so I drove to my favorite store, Hobby Lobby, to peruse their selection.  Unfortunately there wasn’t much to peruse as they had already replaced most of the 4th of July stuff with Christmas stuff (ridiculous), but I was able to find a few cute things to decorate the mantle.  Next year, I’d like to add a few more things, specifically to the kitchen table and the front porch, but for now, this will have to do.  














How cute are those star marquee lights?!  I sure am loving the marquee craze and I hope it stays around for a long time.   I also love how the red, white, and blue decorations in the vases look like fireworks!  So festive.  And look at our sweet little family... that picture was taken on 4th of July the year Olivia was born so she was just four months old.  Gosh, I miss having a tiny nugget. 

I hope you enjoyed the tour.  Happy Tuesday!  

*Linking up with Our Pretty Little Girls for Tuesday Talk, and Stang & Co. and Crown Me in Glitter for Talk About It Tuesday.