The FIFTH Week of Summer

Fifth Week of Summer!!!!

(June 24th- June 30th)

The Fifth week of summer was spent on VACATION in sunny (or not-so) Florida!!  See what we were up to:

We woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful sunny day in Gulfport, MS.  Our hotel was conveniently located right next to a Krispy-Kreme.  This Bubba boy enjoyed his first KK donut, can ya tell?!!

On the way from Mississippi to Florida, we began seeing billboards for this restaurant famous for their "throwed rolls".  Matt had been to the Lambert's Cafe in Missouri a few times and loved it! So we thought, why not - we exited off the Interstate and went in search of this place.

The wait was only close to an hour- was it worth it?  Oh my goodness, yes!

They have so much fun at Lambert's Cafe - the waiters joke with you, pretending to spill a pitcher of tea in your lap or ketchup all over you- the kids really loved it. And the food was oh-so yummy!!

When they threw hot rolls at you it was pretty cool. 
The jokes were really funny.

After our HUGE meal, we traveled over to Pensacola and the Naval Air Station.  The National Naval Air Museum has every plane in the Navy's history and was completely free.  it was very cool to see all these planes, we only wish we had a little more time to see it.

We saw a lot of really cool airplanes.
I got a penny pressed coin.  I think it was cool when we got to fly a plane in the wind tunnel.

I was optimistic.  I had heard that Tropical Storm Debby might be heading our way...but I thought NOPE! I was wrong.  We were right in the way of one of the outer bands that just hung out on top of us all Sunday long. This were the skies we woke up to.

So we did what every crazy vacationer does...we headed to the beach to see the storm in person.  The waves were high, the water was almost up to the dunes, and it rained heavily on us.  It was pretty cool to see it in person.

Nobody was there but we got to "swim" in the water and we had a lot of fun.
The water got all the way up to the top of my pants. I was disappointed to see the storm when it was supposed to be sunny in Florida.

Even Bubba got out in the rain a bit before we hopped back in the car.

So what does the beach bound family do on a rainy day?  Lots of stuff! We had a dance party (Call Me Maybe?), read books, and went swimming in the rain for 3 hours.

Even though it was a tropical storm, we still had fun that day.
I didn't like swimming in the rain.

My friend and I enjoyed the afternoon on the patio of our house and played a few card games.  It actually turned out to be an awesome way to start our vacation - a day of complete down time.

On Monday, we ventured out, determined to find some sun and enjoy the beach.  The forecasters were predicting rain until Thursday, but we didn't let that stop us.

Boogie Boarding was awesome- especially with friends.

The sun FINALLY peeked out that afternoon and we enjoyed a day with BIG waves.

Bubba loved playing in the sand.

Last summer, Bubba ran from the surf.  We were hoping that he might be a little more excited about the beach this summer.  He took a wok with Matt and screamed as soon as the water came up to him.  That was ok - he loved playing in the sand and played non-stop all week.  He slept hard at night.

I was happy that it finally got sunny.

ANd on Tuesday, this was my view.  I put the phone down and read an entire book.  It was heaven!

Had to snap this promo shot!

On Thursday, we took a day off from the beach and went into Destin to play.  We took the kids to go and see Brave and rode some go-carts.  Bubba got to ride this year with his Dad and seemed to enjoy it.  Although he never really smiled.....

The go carts were fun because I raced against mom & Brody and almost beat them.
I finally got to drive my own car and won the race between my sister and my mom.

Last day at the beach - boo hoo!  We really love our time here - it is so relaxing and a great way to spend time as a family.

On the last day, there was a huge sand bar that you could walk out to in the water and suddenly only be ankle deep.  We took Bubba out and sat him down and he loved it - As long as one of us were holding him, he laughed at the kids (and adults) rolling in the surf.  With the fear knocked out of him, he spent the rest of the day running in and out of the surf.  It took him all week, but we finally got him to play in it!

We dug a tunnel in the sand that you could crawl through.  And I got stuck in it when they tried to collapse it.

We had fun buying each other all week - so Matt volunteered to be buried the last day. The kids enjoyed covering him with sand.

Sissy tried to make him look like a mermaid.
I didn't try to - he did also!

13 hours to Illinois on Saturday.  I swear it seemed like the LONGEST drive EVER!!  We tried reading, watching movies, and playing car games - like this one - all of us joined in to find over 25 state license plates on that drive.

We found a bajillion different states. 
I found the hardest state to find - Alaska!
Well, I found Maine!

And we made a quick potty break in Metropolis, Illinois, home of the world's largest Superman statue.  Matt wouldn't let us drive into town to see it, so we settled for this one at the rest stop.

I don't want to say anything about this.

Sissy provided commentary in pink.

Brody provided commentary in blue.

The FIRST Week of Summer

The SECOND Week of Summer

The THIRD Week of Summer

The FOURTH Week of Summer