After leaving the Sister Servants in Birmingham we headed to our next stop, Seaside/Seagrove Beach, FL which is located in the Florida panhandle between Destin and Panama City Beach. We made excellent time on this part of the trip. The kids were wonderful little travelers. I think they watched the movie, Caillou probably three times during this part of the journey. I think Andy and I had had about enough of the Caillou theme song when we arrived at our condo, Mermaid Cove. It was about 9:30 PM and the kids were starting to get restless and a bit tired, so we were very happy to arrive. Andy got out of the car and tried to open our condo using the code the realtor had given us the previous day. Much to our dismay, the code didn't open the door... sigh. So he tried again, then I tried and it wouldn't work. We tried calling our realtor, but knowing it was a Sunday at 9:30 PM, we knew she wouldn't be there. So then we tried the emergency number... no anwser... we tried again... still no answer! I was starting to panic and the kids were getting restless. It was at this point Luke said, "Okay guys, Let's just go to the Marriott!" It was funny. And we would have, but the Marriott in Panama City was about an hour away and we knew it was booked, because that is where we originally planned to stay. We were beginning to wonder where we were going to sleep for the night. We were in the middle of "condo-land," so finding a hotel nearby for the night wasn't really an option. We started to head to Panama City. As we drove, Andy called the emergency number one last time and the realtor finally answered and gave us the correct code. So we were able to get into our adorably decorated condo... it was super cute... with a Mermaid theme.... here's a pic:
We unloaded the van and all hit the bed. The next morning we got ready and hit the beach... for the whole day. This day was my favorite day of the whole trip. I got to watch the kiddos enjoy the warm water and the cool sand. It was the perfect temperature. And I loved watching Andy play with the kiddos on the beach.
Andy and Luke build our house out of sand and Luke even found a stick to use for the Sweet Gum tree we have in our front yard.
We all played in the sand and in the water. We had an absolutely perfect day!
Then, Luke decided we needed to play a game on the beach. The idea was kind of like soccer, but we had to keep the ball out of the water. It was a lot of fun and I loved listening to Luke make the rules to the game as we played. He is so creative.
It was a wonderfully relaxing day with my sweet family.... truly a perfect day and a perfect setting. I loved it.
The next day we headed to Grayton Beach State park. I hadn't been since I was about 12 or so. The last time I was there was with most of the Bellman family including my Great Grandma Ruth. It was her favorite beach and being there made me feel very close to her. It really is such a gorgeous beach... it has been ranked in the USA Most beautiful beaches several times and most recently in 2004. The best part is that it's a state park... no hotels, no high rise condos or anything on the beach... just the beach, the beautiful dune and the sea oats. It's stunning... it really is. The sand is so white and the water so clear. Not to mention the fact that there were hardly any other people there while we were there. It was kind of like our private beach. 
When we arrived at Grayton Beach, we decided to take the Nature hike, which took us through the dunes and under a canopy of trees... Luke loved it. :) We also hiked by Western Lake, which is one of only a few other "brackish" lakes in the World. "Brackish" means combination of salt and fresh water. It was gorgeous to the the Lake, the dunes and then the beautiful Gulf waters. Grayton Beach is definitely one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been too. And it was even more beautiful that I had remembered.
The kids really enjoyed another day playing on the beach and in the water. I couldn't help but think that Great Grandma Ruth was smiling watching the kids have so much fun on her favorite beach.
The next day we had to check out of our condo and Seaside, so we got up early and headed to Panama City Beach where I've visited more times that I can count. This time instead of driving on 98, we took the scenic route to Panama City Beach. We drove through all the little beach towns and the West end of Panama City Beach. My family pretty much always stayed on the East end of the Panama City, so I actually saw a lot of place on Panama City Beach that I hadn't seen before. Once we arrived, we took the kids to play putt-putt at one of my favorite places to play mini-golf in Panama City, Coconut Creek. Andy and I played here when we came in 2003 when we got engaged... we played lots of mini-golf on that trip.
Luke played his first round of mini-golf and got his first hole-in-one! When we first got there, he acted like he didn't really want to play, but he ended up loving it! He wanted to play another round after we were done. Emma was cute playing mini-golf. She tried using the club, but after a while she decided it was easier just to kick it. So she would put her ball down and kick it towards the hole. It was cute. She actually almost made a hole-in-one herself. Andy of course won, but I didn't play to shabby either... if we'd played a few more holes, I would've beat him! :) haha!
Next we went to eat lunch at Schooner's... a favorite place of ours to eat. I've eaten at Schooner's so many different times that I can remember myself at all different ages being there.... with the swim teams girls, on Senior Spring Break with all my girlfriends, with my family numerous times, with Luke when he was only 10 months old, then again when he was two, then just a two years ago with most of the Bellman family when we were here to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa's 60th wedding anniversary. Needless to say when I eat at Schooner's there's a flood of memories... not to mention the food is really good as well.
Finally, we ended our time in Panama City with a short walk down the beach... just about a block from Schooner's and showed the kiddos where Andy asked me to marry him over 7 years ago. We try to visit that spot each time we are in the area... it is very sentimental to us! :) We had a wonderful time in both Seaside and Panama City Beach and had wonderful weather. Next up it was time to head to Montgomery and visit with Aunt Mary and Uncle Josh and the Montgomery Zoo.
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