Panama City Beach, FL - Day 4

Day four started out with cereal and oatmeal in the room, followed by some more beach time.  The water was absolutely stunning.  I mean, crystal clear and shallow for hundreds of feet.  It looked like a giant wave pool at a water park!  The water is always gorgeous in the gulf, but this was by far the clearest I’ve ever seen it.  Jacob still wouldn’t put his toes in it, but he did let B carry him way out, which shocked me.

Once we left the beach, we took the kids back to the pool.  Jacob was even more comfortable in the water than the previous day, but he was more interested in squirting his water gun than learning to swim.  And I still couldn’t get either kid to put their face in the water, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t even happen on this trip anyway.

Once we tired of the pool, we headed up to the condo (Jacob had to press the elevator buttons) and I gave the kiddos baths while B ran out to pick up Chick-Fil-A for lunch since we had grown tired of sandwiches in the room.  Apparently we had waited a little too late for lunch because Olivia screamed for her paci all through bath time and all she wanted was to “go nap-nap.”  I didn’t want to put her down without eating anything, so I tried to distract her by taking her out on the balcony to see all of the people swimming in the ocean below.  She was amused for all of three minutes, so I caved and let her have the paci.  She was happy as a clam (and looking like she was going to pass out) by the time B got home with the food.  And I was able to snap a few pictures of the crystal clear water from up above once she had calmed down.  

We had a quick lunch, and down for a nap she went.  Then down to the beach I went, with my book in hand. 

B had a craving for Mex, so he researched the best Mexican restaurants in the area and it led us to Los Rancheros Mexican Restaurant for dinner.  It was a festive little place all painted in corals and greens and hot pinks with twinkle lights strung up everywhere… everything that you would want in an atmosphere for a Mexican restaurant.  We decided to let Olivia forego the high chair and sit in a big girl seat since they had given us a booth, and that turned out to be a great idea because she and Jacob kept each other entertained by playing peek-a-boo under the table.  B and I were able to sip our pineapple margaritas and chat (mostly) in peace while they goofed off and kept each other busy.  The food was tasty, much like our favorite Mexican restaurant here in town and the pineapple margs were out of this world!  

After we left the restaurant, we had a quick stopover at Target for a few things that we needed at the condo.  One of the necessities was the book After You since I was almost done with Me Before You.  Success!

And no Target trip would be complete without mommy and daddy being roped into buying something for the kids… on today’s trip it was Anna and Elsa fruit snacks and Hot Wheels cars for each of them.  #Spoiled #AddThatToOurCollectionOf5000  #ThankGoodnessTheyOnlyCost99Cents

We were all hungry for some dessert by then and B had staked out the nearest Dairy Queen the first day when we had arrived, so we headed over for some Blizzards for them and a dipped cone for me.

We arrived back at our condo just in time to step out in the sand and see the sun drop into the ocean again, and we let the kids play in the sand and water for a little bit until it grew dark again.  By that time it had grown quite cloudy and the wind was whipping about, so I was thinking we might get a little storm, but we never did.

While we were all standing at the water’s edge, a nice lady walked up and told us that she is a photographer and that she would be happy to take some pictures of all of us with our camera.  So nice of her!  Olivia, however, wasn’t so sure about the whole situation since she was an unfamiliar face, so she was mean-mugging in all of the pictures.  Lol.  Such is life.

Once it grew dark, we walked back up to the condo, put the kids down for bed, and then B and I enjoyed some cold beers on the balcony.  Ah, the good life.  Only one more recap to go… are y’all tired of beach posts yet?

*Linking up with Home of Malones for Thoughts for Thursday.