We just got home from a wonderful Spring Break to Florida. We LOVE the beaches in Florida and this trip was awesome. We left Saturday morning and drove about 10 hours to Montgomery, Alabama. Then on Sunday we drove the remaining 3 hours to Panama City, Florida. We got in around lunchtime and immediately found a place to eat.
We decided to eat at "Pineapple Willy's" and it was yummy. Both Tucker and Bailey ordered fried shrimp po-boys and they were massive. Shockingly, both kids actually finished them as well. I couldn't believe it. They were so big!
After lunch we decided to head to our resort. We used our Bluegreen points to stay at "Bayside Resort & Spa" and it was so nice. We were a little too early to check in so we went straight to the private beach and played until our unit was ready. Around 3 pm we were able to check into our room and get unpacked. Then Chris ran to Wal-Mart to pickup our grocery order. Our unit at Bayside had a full kitchen and it was so nice. We saved so much money by eating most of our meals in our room and not eating out.
When Chris got home we unloaded groceries and I quickly put together dinner. Then we changed and walked down to the beach. I couldn't get over how beautiful the sunset was each evening. It was such a treat each night to see the beautiful sunset over the ocean.
The kids happily played in the sand and relaxed until it was dark. Tucker and Benson worked together to make a sand chair for Bailey. They were so determined to create it and Bailey humored them by sitting on her little throne for a bit.
Then we walked back to our room. We took showers and then everyone snacked on their own individual pint of ice cream. This was a big treat because we don't usually let everyone have their own but I decided it was okay this one time- since we were on Spring Break.
Then we went back to our room for lunch. We watched a movie and ate grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Then the sun decided to come out and we made a break for the beach. We drove over to "St. Andrews State Park" and while Dad and Tanner explored the jetty, the rest of the kids and I played in the sand. Tucker and Benson even got into the water.
The sky was so pretty because of the incoming storm. It was like an ombre effect going from blue to green. It was gorgeous.
After playing for a couple of hours, rain moved in really quickly and we all got caught in it. We ran back to our van but we were soaked. We couldn't help but laugh as we looked at each other. We looked like drenched cats.
From there we started our drive home. On the way we passed a seafood market and decided to stop. We bought some crawfish, shrimp, stuffed crabs, calamari, clams and mussels. We also picked up some potatoes and corn. Chris had planned a big seafood boil for us.
When we got back to our room, we unloaded everything and got cleaned up. Then Chris prepared a big seafood feast for us. It was a little spicy for me and Tucker. Everyone else thought we were big babies. But otherwise it was delicious. Benson really wanted to keep one of the steamed crawfish as a pet. I had to convince him that he couldn't and that it would stink in only a few hours. He finally gave it up.
After getting dinner cleaned up, we decided to go over to the pool. The storms were over and while it wasn't hot, the sky was clear and we were pretty happy about that. The kids played and had a great time. Then it was back to our room for dessert and we watched some TV together. 
Tuesday morning we woke up early, packed the car and headed off to the marina to rent a boat for the day. We had reserved the boat weeks ago and we were super excited about taking it to "Shell Island". However, on the way we decided to grab donuts for breakfast. I looked up donut shops close to us and we drove straight to "Parlor Donuts" They were delicious and basically ruined all other donuts for us for the rest of our lives. 
After devouring our donuts, we drove to the marina and we got checked in and loaded onto our pontoon boat. We boated around for a while looking for the best place to anchor. We found a spot and unloaded. Then we set up our spot on the beach and settled in. Tanner and Chris immediately went off together to go fishing. The younger boys, Bailey and I played and enjoyed the beautiful day.
Bailey and I both brought the same book to read on the beach together. We had picked out a book called "Beach Read" and we were excited to read it together while laying out on the beach together. It was a pretty cute book.
We had the best time playing on the beach together. We shelled for hours and found some pretty cool shells. Tucker and I both found sand dollars.
The younger boys also really enjoyed boogie boarding. They caught some great waves and had so much fun.
Sadly, Chris and Tanner didn't catch anything and lots most of their rigging in the rocks off the jetty. However, they had a good time together.
We ate lunch on the beach and hung out until about 3 pm. Then we had to load back onto the boat and return the boat to the marina.
We were all pretty worn out at this point and we drove back to the resort to shower and rest for a bit.
After dinner, which we ate at our resort, we loaded up to go shop for some souvenirs. I found the cutest starfish santa christmas tree ornament and I was so excited about it. Then we drove back to our resort to again eat treats and watch tv. We stayed up late because there was no reason to wake up early on Wednesday morning.
Wednesday was our last full day and so we tried to make the most of our day. We voted to head back to the beach and play for a few hours.
We went back to St. Andrews State Park and set up our "camp". We only planned to stay until about 1 pm but we were enjoying the day so much that we ended up staying until 3 pm.
The sun was shining and the weather was perfect. Chris did try fishing again, but was unsuccessful. The kids boogie boarded and shelled some more. Tucker and Benson spent hours digging massive holes and then digging a tunnel to connect the two holes together.
After the beach we headed back to our room to get cleaned up and showered. Chris made another delicious seafood dinner for us and then we got changed to take some family pictures on the beach. The sun was setting and the lighting was beautiful but it started to lower quickly. We got a few cute shots though. 
After pictures we got changed and went to the pool. We also put a frozen pie in the oven to eat afterwards. The kids played in the pool and hot tub for about 45 minutes and then we went back and snuggled up in our pjs, ate pie and watched tv.
Tanner discovered that he loves watching "The Office" and so we watched that almost every night together. It became our nightly ritual.
The next morning we had to load up the van and check out of our resort. We were all sad to leave because we love Florida. So we decided to console ourselves by stopping by "Parlor Donuts" one more time and treating ourselves to some more delicious donuts.
Then we started the 12 hours drive to Mtn. Home. We had originally planned to just go home, but then we discussed the idea of going to Mtn. Home to see Nanny, Papa & Aunt Laura and we all agreed that we wanted to spend the rest of our break there.
Surprisingly, I didn't take a single picture while in Mtn. Home. We were just too busy relaxing and hanging out to take photos, I guess. We had a great time. We played laser tag, jumped on the trampoline, played cards and ate all the yummy food.
Even though we didn't have any church clothes, we attended sacrament meeting in casual clothes. It was nice to just be there and take the sacrament.
We had a wonderful time with family and we were grateful for the short stopover in Mtn. Home.
Now we are home again and school starts tmrw. I don't know that I will be ready, but I keep telling myself that we only have two months of school left. The school year has flown by but it's been good.
Spring break was wonderful and we would happily go back to Panama City beach again!
