Haralsons go Southern- Part 2- Florida

Early in the morning we woke up and packed up the car and started our drive to Florida. We left at 6:30am. the drive went much smother then I had though. A 10 hour drive with 3 children, Tikes! It really turned out to be a lot of fun family bonding time. I had folders for the boys with paper and crayons and printed coloring sheets of their favorite characters. We also drew pictures of places that we would pass through on our drive, and then hung them up on string to make a little timeline. Asher drew a cute one of our final destination of Angie Will and John at the beach in Florida. The drive was beautiful! There were so many green trees.

 In Louisiana we drove over a bridge that lasted a half hour or more. There was lots of water, wetlands, and swamps.

 

 

 

 

We stopped in Baton Rouge and saw the temple.

 Next we stopped in New Orleans for two hours.

 

 

 

 

 

We rode a ferry, and enjoyed this interesting city. Back in the car we kept busy by playing eye spy. Then Asher found every letter in the alphabet on signs outside and earned a prize, Bridger sang the alphabet to me and got a prize and David drove really well and earned a prize as well. As it got dark and the boys got bored we pulled out glow sticks and entertained the kids, even Titus loved them. Next we went around and took turns singing a song. Asher sand “firework” by Katy Pery and “Papanamericano” Bridger sang a made up song about lightning McQueen and Mater. I sang “Time to say goodbye” and David sang “do you want to build a snowman” and Asher sang little beep noises for Titus.

 At 10:00pm we arrived at Panama City Beach Florida, and were greeted warmly by John, Angie and Will! The condo was really nice. It had two bedroom and bathrooms a kitchen living room and washer and dryer. Angie opened the sliding door so that we could hear the ocean.

 In the morning we hit the beach. David and John had fun going out into the bigger waves and jumping into them while doing tricks. Some tricks were named “the 360” “The Hasselhoff”. “head but” “up and over” “dolphin” “Plank” “sideways plank” After the beach we went to the swimming pool. This is how we spent the next 5 days.

Swimming in the beach and swimming in the pool. It was awesome! I love water. Angie was really good at searching underwater with her goggles for sea shells. She found a lot of cool ones. She got me and David into it, and we really enjoyed going out in search of sea treasures.  When you were under the water you could also see lots of fish. We even found a small jellyfish and we had it in our bucket for a while. We tried some good local sea food: Coconut shrimp and fried catfish.  Another day we tried some New Orleans food Poboy sandwiches and Beignets. Bridger really enjoyed the powdered sugtar from the Beignets.

 WE orders good local pizza and Bridger ate 4 whole pieces!

Asher and Will got along so well, they were always playing a new made up game together. Titus was having a hard time falling asleep in his crib, and I had tried a lot to help him, but nothing was working. Cousin Will found a cool light up stuffed animal of his and gave it to Titus and he fell asleep.

 Bridger enjoyed playing in the sand. He also loved the lazy river and holding onto his tube. Asher got up the courage to jump into the pool, and he loved it. My Ocean boy was actually Titus. He loved going into the water with me and kicking around his legs. When we got tired of the sun we went inside and the children would watch a movie and the adults would play Dominion. We got Angie and John into it.  I highly enjoyed being outside on the balcony and looking at the beautiful ocean view and hearing the waves.

 

One night we played mini golf and really enjoyed that. On our last night in Florida we did it ALL! We went out to eat, and then rushed to the pier before sunset to take family pictures. I got a kiss from David on the beach at sunset!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we went to Alvin’s Island and got little souvenirs for everyone. Titus got a really cute stuffed alligator. 

 The pool was closing at 10:00pm and we hadn’t done any night swimming yet so we hurried into our suits and back down stars and jumped in the pool. In was magical! Everyone was smiling and having a blast! The water had lights that changed colors in it. Bridger was being cute and silly and he would run toward me and jump to me and he would do little trick on his way to me.  I was the “swim bus” and would race around the pool with Asher Bridger and Will all holding onto me laughing. When the swimming pool closed we busted out our nets and went crab hunting. One boy showed us his crabs. One of them was huge! Bridger loved it and the boy was about to give it to him. We walked along the beach with flash lights searching for crab holes to dig down.  David John and Angie ended up catching two. Then we got the children to bed at 11:30 or so. I packed up a bit and we played a Dominion game and went to bed at 2:00am.