Beach Baby

With the beach being less that three hours away from our house, we decided to take a weekend trip to Panama City Beach, Florida. When a trip starts off this sweet, you know it's going to be a good vacation.

Nathan loves the beach. He's a veteran beach-goer. He has been talking about the beach since Paw-Paw and Lady took him in the summer of 2009. That was the time they invited him to go along, but asked me to stay at their house to babysit their brood of animals.

Kathryn got to experience the joy of sand and water for the first time. I think she brought more sand back to the hotel room than she left on the beach, but she had a good time, so that's all that matters.
We got to the beach just as the sun was setting.

This was her first taste of sand, definitely not her last.

Nathan is always fun to travel with. I don't think many people can say they love vacationing with their three-year-old son, but we really do enjoy it. He gets excited over everything. As we were driving to the hotel he was getting so excited over seeing the beach, understandably. Then we got to the room and he was so excited to see that there were beds for everyone and even a kitchen and bathroom! That was the level of excitement the entire weekend.
Hotel rooms gross me out, so Kathryn spent her down time in her playpen.
Let the beach fun begin.


Kathryn's nap interfered with beach time, so Steve and I took shifts with Nathan on the beach and at the pool.
After Kathryn woke up we took her down to the beach.

Sometimes kids are freaked out by the sand at first, but not Kathryn. She took to the sand like she was born for the beach.

Face plant into the sand.

While Baby Sister was caged up in the hotel room, Nathan liked sitting on the balcony.
We all got matching airbrushed t-shirts to commemorate our beach vacation. Look for this picture again as our Christmas card picture. Just kidding.
Besides the fact that we are wearing airbrushed t-shirts from Panama City Beach, these are funny because they say, "Party Crew 2010." We're going to start making our kids take family pictures in matching vacation t-shirts just to be mean. It's not mean yet, but just think how bad they'll hate us when they're older and we make them wear horrible t-shirts for pictures.
After all the fun on the beach on Saturday, both kids were done by 7 p.m., which meant we all called it a night at that time. Hardly a "party crew."

Steve has always thought he was too good to eat at Waffle House, but I told him that Kathryn loves their waffles and Nathan loves bacon and toast and I love the atmosphere, so he didn't have a choice but to go. And guess what... Steve is hooked now. We ended up going there for breakfast both mornings.
Kathryn not only enjoys the waffles, she also enjoys the atmosphere. She sat completely content the entire time we were there as she watched everyone and munched on her waffle.
Morning #2, not nearly as fun sitting in the booth. She prefers the counter.

We all had so much fun. Look for more beach vacation post in the near future!