Our first family-of-six vacation
Panama City Beach, Florida
June 2015
Straight from the van to the water, the looks on these two faces when they saw the ocean in real life for the first time was priceless. Neither of them were scared at all. They both went right in the water with the rest of us.
Hunting for ghost crabs at night was one of my favorite things to do as a kid when we went on beach vacations. It was pretty great to introduce that tradition to my own kiddos, although those ghost crabs have grown much bigger than the ones I remember.
Somehow we lucked up with the penthouse suite (23rd floor, for the love of skyscrapers) which was the nicest place! It even had these bunk beds for the littles stashed in the dining room closet. So fun!
Who knew the beaches at the state park were the place to be!? After a tip from the locals, we loaded up and changed beach scenery for a day, and it turned out to be a great idea…until the rainstorm came.
I wish I had words to describe the relationship with this girl and her dad. It's really something.
Snorkeling for sea urchins
In the rock quarry lived a family of raccoons. Everyone was feeding them and getting pictures made with them. I guess I lost my mother mind when I let me kids do this too. But, never fear, all the sweet "mommas" in my life, including my own, reminded me how dangerous this was and that I should never do this again. Check. And, they are right.
Family Photo 2015
My little ghost crab hunter chose to spend his beach money on a crabbing hat to help him catch more. I never dreamed Sam (and Evan) would enjoy catching these little guys this much!
First trip to the beach with the little people, very much a success! I'd love to do it again every year.
Skin-boarding candids of the bigs
