Friday, July 20, 2012

Florida 2012

So I know that most blog posts from anyone are the highlight reel.  We don't post pics of all the laundry we fold, the messes we clean, or videos of temper tantrums we have to deal with.

You would think that a blog post about a vacation would fit into the highlight reel category, but this one not so much.

Nick and I were packing up Thursday, and my mom called. We talked about important things like waffle irons and sand toys, and then she let me know that there could be a developing hurricane in the gulf.  I was so disappointed!

We left Friday around 10 AM and drove to Troy, Alabama.
We had just passed Montgomery, and we saw this little treasure on the side of the road.  It took a few minutes to talk Nick into turning around, but he did, and we got to meet Sweet Pea! They say she produces strawberry milk, and it makes the best strawberry milkshakes around!

We planned on getting to the beach before check in so that we could get in some beach time, but it was raining before we got there. We met my family at Subway, and then we headed to Pigly Wiggly. We stocked up on food, and headed to the house. The weather wasn't very good, but I had to take Presley down to the beach! It wasn't looking too pretty!


Just for comparison, here is a picture from last year. This is what we had been looking forward to, but we tried to make the best of it!

After dinner, Nick, Will, and Betsy headed to the beach to try to catch some waves.  Presley couldn't stay out of the water, but I wouldn't have expected anything else!

Nick got his exercise in that day. The waves were really rough, and the current took him down the beach fast!

Presley had fun while Betsy pulled her around on the board!
Maybe not so much fun when daddy did!

This is what the beach looked like Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday morning. Every now and then, there would be a break in the rain, and we would run down to the beach. We found out that the rain was only part of the problem, but the wind blowing the sand was the other.  It felt like being sandblasted!  The storm broke up Tuesday afternoon, and we were so excited to see the sun!

We spent lots of time playing with ponies, watching movies, and working on puzzles. One day we went to Appalachicola to eat and shop only to find that many of the stores had sandbagged their doors and closed!
 We went to Port St. Joe on Tuesday morning to shop. The sun came out before we left! I thought this picture of my dad and Presley window shopping was so sweet!
Nick, Presley, and I had to hunt for some crabs Tuesday night. We weren't very successful, but we laughed and laughed running down the beach in the dark. I don't know what happened to the sand because of the storm, but every now and then you would take a step on what looked like level ground, and you would sink to your knees! Nick went running on the beach one morning and had to take his shoe off to get out of the hole he sank in! Then he had to get his shoe out of the hole. I wish I would have caught that on video!



Wednesday morning, the guys got up and went fishing, and we spent the entire day on the beach. It was much needed, and we enjoyed every minute of it!


Presley posed like this for a picture. It was so sweet that she wanted to take a picture like this. Maybe she will love pictures as much as her momma does!




The boys came back eventually, and joined us on the beach.
 On Thursday, we loaded up and went to the bay to snorkel. We saw lots of marine animals, but the best finds were a spotted eagle ray and a really big nurse shark. 

I made my dad pose with these beauties! Apple murex and a slimy sea hare.



After we left the bay, we headed back to the house, and we went right to the beach.  It wasn't very late in the day, and as I looked down the beach, I noticed no one was in the water. I thought it was strange, but I didn't think much about it until I got in the water and saw all of the jellyfish. They were all over the place. I took this picture of Presley that day. See? No one anywhere.  We still stayed on the beach until the sun set, but we stayed out of the water!
Friday we went out to check the water, and there were still jellyfish! We drove to the state park a couple of miles down the road to see if they were down there too. The wind was blowing away from the park, so we thought there might be a possibility that they weren't there. We didn't see any, so we loaded up a BUNCH of stuff and hung out there for the rest of the day. We had a couple of hours without jellyfish, but they followed us! It was so pretty down there, so we stayed anyway! 


We left Saturday morning, and drove home. We will probably go back next year, but we will have an extra passenger!




Uncle Eric and Anna. My aunt Theresa and Anna's friend, Gracie came too, but somehow I didn't get their picture!

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