June went...

(view from our balcony)

We finally went on a relaxing family vacation! It was awesome to have absolutely no agendas...no time restraints (except we only had a 7 night reservation)...and no body to see. We just took it an hour at a time, which made the vacation last so long! We (Matt, Grammy and myself) drove through the night (which by far works best with kids) about 14 hours to Panama City Beach. We each drove about 1/3 and slept about 2/3 which worked out pretty well. AND, we did get it all IN my Acadia! (5 people, 5 suitcases, camera/camcorder bag, packnplay, double stroller, beach stuff (buckets, toys, towels, floats and life jacket), 2 tub/containers of toys, activity table, food basket, blankets, 5 pillows, table hook-on chair for Braden and a bouncy seat/chair...think that was about it!)

We spent most of our time at our condo's two pools and some time at the nice beach. The pool area was the easiest place to keep the kids and stuff corralled!

(our balcony view from the 12th floor - there were 2 pools, 2 hot tubs and a fountain for Aly)

Aly didn't really care for the sand as you can see....and Braden didn't seem to mind, but at first, the loud water did scare him.

Matt did get Aly to help make a sandcastle. It didn't last very long, so this was it! Braden sat in his new sundome and was amused by it all!

We did do a few things around town. We visited/frequented the new outdoor Simon mall (Awesome!)...Aly enjoyed these mirrors. (Note: These could also represent our before and after vacation profiles! We ate a lot!)

We played miniature golf at two different places. The animal place was Aly's favorite because there were several animals around and there was a big elephant squirting water into the pond. We played there twice because it was cheap to do 24 hour unlimited play. We played once during the day and once at night.

The course wasn't stroller friendly, so Matt did have to carry sleeping Braden and putt one handed for 9 holes. He then woke up and wanted to play :)

Lastly, I couldn't go without blogging about Aly's hole-in-one! My dad would've been so proud of her! Matt's dream of raising a Tigerette just might come true! This is her pose on the hole...

They also had a human maze that we ventured through ( it took almost an hour - harder than you would think!). You have to find your way to each of the 4 checkpoint platforms and then back out. You even get try and "map" out your plan to and from each checkpoint from the top of the platforms (which you'd think would make it easy).

Lastly, we went to many of the local establishments including a family favorite Sharky's! They have great food, excellent entertainment and a playground on the beach for the kids. Aly enjoyed dancing with other kids to the live music! She kept requesting to go back to the "Shark Place"!

Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville

And...There's not many road trips with kids that doesn't include a stop at "Old McDonald's" (as Aly would say).

Everyone had a great time but after being gone almost 10 days, we were all glad to get back home and sleep in our own beds!

Now that we're home, unpacked and the laundry is done the month is now passing us by. Hopefully July won't be as busy and will take it's time passing so we have time to enjoy it. I don't even want to talk about what comes next! :)