Back in May I was feeling a little lost. Brandon and I were still trying to wrap our heads around the fact that he wasn't in flight school, and I was trying to figure out what to do with my time now that Brandon was around to help out at home.
I perked up as soon as I realized I could start planning some trips. Within 24 hours I had campsites booked for two different weekend trips. Later I added another weekend trip.
The first of those trips was one that we'd planned as a Father's Day camping trip. We'd combined it with the Military Appreciation Day at the Montgomery Zoo and Brandon took off 5 days from work.
I'd been hoping to reserve three nights at St Andrew's State Park in Panama City Beach Florida, but by the time I'd made the reservations there had only been one night available. So I booked that and then booked us too more nights at Falling Waters State Park which is about an hour away from Panama City Beach. We visited Falling Waters in February and I'd made a semi-serious promise to Charlotte that we'd come back another time so this seemed like a good opportunity to cash in on that promise.
Normally we would have left the house as early as possible, but this time we could take our time a little bit since the twins had a dentist appointment at 9:30. We packed everything up and then drove to the dentist office in Enterprise. Charlotte and Lydia each did really well and didn't have any cavities!!!!! Derrick's appointment was scheduled the next week so I had him come back and sit in the dentist chair. I was hoping that would help him do better during his actual visit. (It did a little bit.)
Then we all got in the car and started driving down to Panama City Beach.
After about an hour we stopped by a river in a town called Vernon. I'd noticed this picnic spot while we were driving up from PCB at Christmas Time and so I wanted to stop and check it out. It was really pretty and we had nice picnic.
Once our tent was up we used it to change into our swimming suits and then we hoped in the car and drove over to the beach side of the state park. We found a parking spot and then went on a walk way that took us over the sand dune and on to paradise.
I'm still so amazed that we live so close to such an amazing beach.
We'd bought a beach umbrella a few days earlier and so we were all excited to try it out. There was a fierce wind blowing, but Brandon anchored the umbrella with a bucket of sand. That worked really well.
We all jumped in the water and it felt so good. This was one of the reasons I'd been willing to go camping in June - I knew we'd be able to cool off in the water.
At one point a dead fish floated by Brandon. So of course we had to take a picture with that.
Veronica liked playing in the water in her puddle jumper. But she wouldn't go out to far.
Derrick played in the water too, but after a while he didn't want to deal with the waves any more. So We dug a big hole and filled it up with water for him and Veronica to play in.
They really enjoyed that.
We all took a snack break under the umbrella.
Charlotte put shells all over our sand castle. She said they were balconies.
Then Lydia decided to turn the castle into a slide. For over two years she has insisted that her middle name is Break instead of Brooke. She loves to do things like smash ants nests and she always justifies it by saying "I'm Lydia Break." So this was just another thing to break.
This is one of my favorite pictures ever. I love how you can see each of the kids having fun with the water in a different way.
And here is another fun one. All the kids loved the beach so much.
We stayed at the beach for at least 3 hours. We probably could have stayed longer, but we were getting hungry. So we headed back to camp and changed back into regular clothes. Brandon strung up a clothes line so all our swimming suits could dry.
It was way too warm to really need a fire, but Derrick wanted one so Brandon went to work splitting wood so he could make one.
A few weeks ago we bought this water jug. This was our first time using it while camping. Everyone loved being able to get water out of it. And everyone loved the little metal cups. Brandon bought those in Korea for us to use while camping.
Here's Derrick enjoying his fire.
And here's Brandon being the master of the camp stove. At one point he and Charlotte were walking back from the bath room and he told her something like, "I'm glad you are my daughter." She was so touched by that. I know that Brandon has told her things like that before, but somehow it meant more to her this time. There is something about vacations that helps families come closer together.
We had one of our favorite meals for dinner - noodles and sauce. We aren't fancy when it comes to camping food.
But the kids don't mind.
After dinner we roasted marshmallows. This might seem really weird since it's not even dark yet, but we wanted to do that before the kids got too sleepy.
Brandon had still been tying down the rain fly when the storm hit, so he ended up soaked. But since this was summer time he really didn't mind. I joined him outside as the rain died down.
After a little while we decided it was time to go to sleep too. We made sure the kids were at least semi covered up. When we went camping in the spring I'd make sure the kids were all snug in a big bed. But in the summer that isn't a concern at all.
Everyone looked really content.
Brandon and I slept with only one thin sheet. And actually I'm not even sure I used it until early in the morning.
Sometime in the middle of the night we heard one of our neighbors yell something about leaving. But I was really confused because I could also hear what sounded like a tent being set up. In the morning we realized that one campsite was vacant (word around the campsite was that they'd gotten soaked during the storm and had given up in a fit of soggy misery). The campsite next to us had a second tent set up. Their friends had shown up around 1:30 and so that was the tent we'd heard getting set up.
Day Two - Saturday June 18
Our kids paid back the late night interruptions by waking up bright and early at 6:00. We got up and had a quick breakfast.
Then we rolled up sleeping bags and got everything ready to load up into the car later that day. Then it was time to put our swimming suits on again and go back to the beach.
This is where having a campsite really paid off. The campsite had cost us $37. If we'd wanted to visit this state park it would have cost us $8 per day. But we didn't have to pay that if we were camping there. So staying over night had saved us $16. Plus we didn't have to drive far to get to the beach.
We chose to go to a beach that was slightly more inland than the one we'd been at the day before. It was really only a few yards away from the other one, but it had a jetty and so was more sheltered from the waves.
We got there around 8:30 and so we were some of the first people there. Again, it was like we discovered paradise.
The kids really enjoyed the less rough water. At one point we all went walking in the water and got pretty far from shore. We could see little fish in the water and Derrick kept pointing out the fish to me.
And check out this awesome picture. I'd been having some body image issues, but seeing a picture like this helped me remember that I really am doing well with this whole weight loss thing.
Once again we had a lot of fun playing in the sand as well as the water.
Derrick took a break from the water for a while and so we walked back to the car and found chips. We brought them back to the beach and sat under the beach umbrella while he ate the chips.
Brandon and the girls found these things that looked like Jellyfish tops. They didn't sting so they could pick them up.
Derrick posing with his chips. One reason I love taking the kids on vacation is because Derrick talks so much when we are out doing things. Here him say a new phrase or word makes all the work worth it.
Lydia holding a jelly fish top.
As the morning went on more and more people arrived.
The beach was getting pretty crowded by the time we had to leave around 11:30.
But from up on the bluff it looked like a remote paradise. Gosh this place is pretty.
We had to get back to our campsite because we needed to vacate it by 1:00. I took the girls to the bath house and we took showers while Brandon and Derrick worked on taking down the tent. Then we traided places and the girls and I set out a little lunch while Brandon and Derrick took showers.
We ate lunch while Brandon packed the car top carrier. We checked out of our campsite just a few minutes after 1:00.
But we weren't done with our vacation yet.
First we had to make a stop at the Walmart in PCB. Some how I'd forgot to pack the hotdogs and Derrick was not letting me forget that he wanted to cook them on the fire. So Brandon and Lydia went inside the store to grab hot dogs and a few other things while I stayed in the car with the other kids. Veronica fell asleep, but she kept moving her arms. We said she must be dreaming that she was still in the water.
After our stop at Walmart we drove up to Chipley, Florida to Falling Water's State Park. After the squishy campground at St Andrews it was nice to be back in a large spread out camp ground. Our campsite seemed extra big.
Charlotte and Lydia set out making this little home for a log that they named Fluffy. (Honestly I wasn't really paying attention to what they were up to and I have no idea why the branch was named fluffy or what kind of animal it was supposed to be.)
We got the tent set up again. It looked tiny in this large campsite.
Lydia sorted out the seashells that she'd collected at the beach.
We had hot dogs and snacks for dinner.
And then made s'mores while it was still light again.
Everyone was acting really sleepy so Brandon and I expected them to go to bed extra early.
But they ended up staying up until after it got dark. We all saw fireflies buzzing around the campground.
Day Three - Sunday June 19, 2016 - Father's Day
The next day the kids were up bright and early again. The twins were especially excited because this was Father's Day. Several weeks earlier Charlotte had drawn a picture of us camping on Father's Day as a present for Brandon. She'd taken care to hide it and then made sure I packed it. At first I really hadn't paid attention to her present. I was planning on giving Brandon a hammock from the kids and I and I figured that would be the "real" gift. But then we had the whole drama of the store not having the hammock. I ordered one from Target.com, but it wouldn't arrive until after we got back from camping. So Charlotte's little picture became the only "real" gift that Brandon got on Father's Day. Charlotte was so proud of her present. And Brandon liked it too.
Actually this whole day was Brandon's Father's Day present. We usually don't go camping on Sundays, but Brandon really wanted to have a long weekend of camping this year. So that's what he got. And he loved every minute of it.
For some reason the kids really wanted hot chocolate. And for some reason we'd brought some. So even though it was already at least 80 degrees outside Brandon made everyone hot chocolate
After breakfast we could have gone to a little church service at the park. But instead we decided to go for a walk to the water fall. So we started headed out on a little hike.
The kids really liked walking through the woods. I'm still getting used to the fact that Florida has pine trees. I always thought it would be full of palm trees. But nope, northern Florida has just as many pine trees as the rest of the south.
The Florida/Alabama/Georgia area where were live is called the Wiregrass area. Wire grass is actually very rare in this area these days because it requires fire to germinate. But we were able to see some wiregrass on our walk.
Lydia had brought her Teddy bear named Rosie on the hike, but she didn't want to carry her after a while. Brandon, being the good dad that he is, offered to carry Rosie and made sure that she could still see everything.
After less than a mile we came to the Falling Water's Water Fall. Last time we were here we hadn't been able to get very close to the fall because the lower viewing platform was under construction.
But this time it was all done. So we were able to stand right by the falls.
We kept going on the trail and ended up at a butterfly garden where Charlotte declared that she was too tired. Lydia lay down with her for a second but soon got back up.
Then came the long and not so fun trip back up to the campground. None of the kids were doing very well by the time we got back. Since it was too hot to make them nap in the tent we decided to go for a drive and let the kids fall asleep in the car.
That worked out perfectly since there was a nearby town called DeFuniak Springs that I wanted to visit anyway. Several months ago we drove through here and I'd noticed a train museum. So I wanted to go back and look at it.
We drove there and Derrick was super happy to see the caboose that was on display outside the museum.
He was also happy to see the real train tracks and the train crossing gate. He kept asking to have the "gate down." Which meant he wanted a real train to go by.
We walked over to get a closer look at the caboose. Derrick was really cute and kept saying, "Hi Gate" to the train gate.
And then, because Derrick is the luckiest boy in the world, a train really did go by. Derrick was so happy.
The museum was across the street from a lake so we went over there and the kids threw rocks into the water. Check out that giant live oak tree.
We had a little picnic and the girls (and Antler) loved the powdered sugar donuts.
This is one of my favorite pictures of the kids together.
There was this cool building next to the lake. The signs said it was purposely made to look like the nations capitol.
Then we drove back to came where everyone was in a much better mood. Brandon put together a hammock with a sheet, rope, and two pieces of fire wood. This is one of the tricks he learned at SERE training.
Then we decided it was time to go swimming in the lake. So everyone put on their swimming suits and we walked down the trail to go swim in the lake.
Everyone except me that is. I was pretty tired so I just lay down on the picnic blanket under the beach umbrella and took a nap.
The kids had a great time in the water. Back when we came here before there had been a group of cub scouts who'd made boats out of things like bottles. Charlotte had wanted to do that. So part of my promise was that we'd come back and make a boat out of a juice bottle. Brandon made the boat and named it the Ocean Spray. But it was Lydia who ended up playing with it the most.
Everyone swam for at least two hours. It was the perfect way to spend a hot afternoon. We weren't the only people with this idea. There were at least 30 other people swimming in the water.
When we got back to camp we had rice for the kids and chili for the adults. And left of hot dogs for everyone. Charlotte and Lydia took turns laying in the hammock.
Charlotte got done with her turn and said she was sleepy. She laid down in the tent and fell asleep for the rest of the night. It wasn't even 6:00 yet. Veronica followed soon after. Derrick stayed up for a while, but even he was in bed close to 7:00. Only Lydia made it until dark.
When Lydia finally went to sleep Brandon finally had his chance to relax in the hammock. It had been a busy Father's Day, but he'd loved it. (And he's not wasting time on his phone. He's updating his sleep log that his sleep therapist wants him to maintain.)
Brandon let me try out the hammock and I immediately made "figure out how to spend as much time as possible in a hammock" one of my life goals. We are had a semi serious talk about how to make being on vacation into a viable career option.
When we made it into the tent we found the kids sprawled out everywhere. We got them arranged and partially covered up and then went to bed ourselves.
The next morning we got up with the dawn patrol once again. But it was a beautiful morning so there wasn't much complaining.
Earlier we'd decided that we'd hurry and pack up as quick as possible and go back down to Panama City Beach. So that is what we did. Lydia made sure we took a final picture of Fluffy's house. Some how I also agreed that Fluffy could come home with us. So now I have a log living on my back porch.
The kids were antsy so I took Derrick, Lydia, and Veronica on a walk while Brandon and Charlotte finished packing. I love this picture of Lydia and Veronica.
Here's Derrick.
We went to a little park that was by the bathrooms and Lydia showed Veronica how to slide.
Then Brandon and Charlotte met up with us and we all got in the car and drove the hour back down to PCB. This time we went to a city park called Steltzer Park or something like that. We've never been here before which was one reason I wanted to check it out. We hurried to change into our swimming suits again and then walked out onto the beach.
As usual the beach was beautiful.
Once again the umbrella was very nice to have. I'm so glad we invested in one.
Charlotte and Lydia were very daring and spent a lot of time jumping into waves.
Derrick and Veronica weren't as daring and preferred to play in their hole.
Later, Brandon got into the hole and the girls buried him.
We could have stayed at the beach for a lot longer, but we had to get back to Fort Rucker so that Brandon could go to a sleep class at 2:30. So it was back into the bathrooms to change an then back into the car for the drive back to Fort Rucker. The kids were all pretty worn out.
We barely made it back in time for Brandon to shave and put on his uniform and make it to the class. The kids and I unpacked the car and started washing laundry. The first things I washed were the swimming suits. I wanted to get the ocean and lake smell out of them because we needed them to be clean for a pool party that night.
Yeah that's right, even after going to the beach 4 times in 4 days we still made an appearance at a pool party for the LDS family's on Fort Rucker. (At it was super fun.)
A day or two after we got back from our beach vacation we were sitting around the dining room table. I remarked that everyone looked a lot more tan than they had a few days earlier. We certainly had enjoyed our four days on the beach. And we are looking forward to the four more that we have planned later this summer.
I don't know how much longer we'll live near such pretty beaches, so I'm going to take advantage of them while I can.
And by the way, if any of you want to come visit we will totally share our beautiful beaches with you.
Part of me was a little worried about camping in the summer. The last thing I wanted to do was slowly cook at a campsite in the hot and humid southern heat. But since each of the places we were staying had a beach I figured we could just go swimming if it got too hot.
Also camping in the summer in the south is fairly easy because you don't have to pack as much. In the winter and spring I always worry that the kids will get too cold, but in the summer we really only need to sleep with light pajamas and sheets.
Our little mini vacation ended up being exactly what I hoped it would be. We swam at a different beach every day. We relaxed at our campsites. We were hot, but not too hot at night. And we had a great time as a family.
Here's the really long run down.
Day One - Friday June 17
Charlotte helped Brandon put the "hat" on top of the car. She was so proud of herself for being able to help.
Then we all got in the car and started driving down to Panama City Beach.
After about an hour we stopped by a river in a town called Vernon. I'd noticed this picnic spot while we were driving up from PCB at Christmas Time and so I wanted to stop and check it out. It was really pretty and we had nice picnic.
We were planning to spend the night at St Andrew's State Park east of Panama City Beach. The reservation confirmation said that we couldn't check in until 3:00, but I thought we could at least try to check in early. So even though it was 1:00 we went right to the state park and were able to check in and go to our campsite.
I was so surprised by how crowded this place was. I'd expected there to be a lot of people there. After all, I'd been lucky to even get a campsite for one night when I made the reservation about 4 weeks ago. But I couldn't believe how close together the campsites were. This place took one regular sized campsite and turned it into three.
We showed up at the same time that our neighbors showed up. We kind of had an unofficial contest of who could get the tent up and whose kids were the most helpful. We won in both areas.
At one point a dead fish floated by Brandon. So of course we had to take a picture with that.
Brandon took the girls out and taught them how to jump into the waves. They had a lot of fun.
Our neighbor showed us a live picture of the Doppler radar for the area. The radar showed a big storm squall line headed our way. We still had about 30 minutes before that arrived so we took the kids on a little walk to look at the water of the bay which was right by the camp ground.
As we walked we could see lightning from the storm in the distance. We knew the storm was going to arrive soon so when we got back to our campsite Brandon started tying the tent down while I got the kids ready for bed.
Charlotte was really concerned about the storm. I think she was worried that a tree was going to fall on us. (And to be honest, the thought had crossed my mind too) So when the first gusts of the storm hit I sat down by her and said a quick prayer and asked Heavenly Father to keep us safe and to help Charlotte feel calm.
The storm raged around our tent for about 20 minutes. Charlotte and Lydia were really worried during it, but Charlotte actually fell asleep before it was over. Derrick was completely calm and he fell asleep even with thunder booming overhead. Veronica seemed to enjoy the storm and stayed awake the longest. I took this video of the wind shaking the tent and the kids' reaction. I love Veronica's delighted smile at the end.
After a little while we decided it was time to go to sleep too. We made sure the kids were at least semi covered up. When we went camping in the spring I'd make sure the kids were all snug in a big bed. But in the summer that isn't a concern at all.
Sometime in the middle of the night we heard one of our neighbors yell something about leaving. But I was really confused because I could also hear what sounded like a tent being set up. In the morning we realized that one campsite was vacant (word around the campsite was that they'd gotten soaked during the storm and had given up in a fit of soggy misery). The campsite next to us had a second tent set up. Their friends had shown up around 1:30 and so that was the tent we'd heard getting set up.
Day Two - Saturday June 18
Our kids paid back the late night interruptions by waking up bright and early at 6:00. We got up and had a quick breakfast.
This is where having a campsite really paid off. The campsite had cost us $37. If we'd wanted to visit this state park it would have cost us $8 per day. But we didn't have to pay that if we were camping there. So staying over night had saved us $16. Plus we didn't have to drive far to get to the beach.
We chose to go to a beach that was slightly more inland than the one we'd been at the day before. It was really only a few yards away from the other one, but it had a jetty and so was more sheltered from the waves.
We ate lunch while Brandon packed the car top carrier. We checked out of our campsite just a few minutes after 1:00.
But we weren't done with our vacation yet.
First we had to make a stop at the Walmart in PCB. Some how I'd forgot to pack the hotdogs and Derrick was not letting me forget that he wanted to cook them on the fire. So Brandon and Lydia went inside the store to grab hot dogs and a few other things while I stayed in the car with the other kids. Veronica fell asleep, but she kept moving her arms. We said she must be dreaming that she was still in the water.
The next day the kids were up bright and early again. The twins were especially excited because this was Father's Day. Several weeks earlier Charlotte had drawn a picture of us camping on Father's Day as a present for Brandon. She'd taken care to hide it and then made sure I packed it. At first I really hadn't paid attention to her present. I was planning on giving Brandon a hammock from the kids and I and I figured that would be the "real" gift. But then we had the whole drama of the store not having the hammock. I ordered one from Target.com, but it wouldn't arrive until after we got back from camping. So Charlotte's little picture became the only "real" gift that Brandon got on Father's Day. Charlotte was so proud of her present. And Brandon liked it too.
And we could see straight down into the sink hole. This sink hole is what makes this waterfall the tallest waterfall in Florida. It's 75 feet high.
She and Brandon found some wild black berries and had fun picking and eating those.
That worked out perfectly since there was a nearby town called DeFuniak Springs that I wanted to visit anyway. Several months ago we drove through here and I'd noticed a train museum. So I wanted to go back and look at it.
We drove there and Derrick was super happy to see the caboose that was on display outside the museum.
When we got back to camp we had rice for the kids and chili for the adults. And left of hot dogs for everyone. Charlotte and Lydia took turns laying in the hammock.
Oh and Lydia wouldn't want me to forget to show you this picture of her with her doll Rose. She was so excited that they were wearing matching dresses.
When we made it into the tent we found the kids sprawled out everywhere. We got them arranged and partially covered up and then went to bed ourselves.
Yeah that's right, even after going to the beach 4 times in 4 days we still made an appearance at a pool party for the LDS family's on Fort Rucker. (At it was super fun.)
A day or two after we got back from our beach vacation we were sitting around the dining room table. I remarked that everyone looked a lot more tan than they had a few days earlier. We certainly had enjoyed our four days on the beach. And we are looking forward to the four more that we have planned later this summer.
I don't know how much longer we'll live near such pretty beaches, so I'm going to take advantage of them while I can.
And by the way, if any of you want to come visit we will totally share our beautiful beaches with you.
