Lucky Bathroom Breaks: Alligators and Car Sick Stops

We said goodbye to the beach house on Saturday morning and then started on the drive home. Though we had planned a pit stop at the military museum on the way out to Florida, we had no planned stop for the way home. We were just going to more or less drive straight through, stopping only when necessary. We determined we'd eat our lunch at...some random gas station along the way. 

And some random gas station it was!

Sunset at Panama City Beach: May 23, 2025

It's always hard for me to say goodbye to the beach...even though I know that regular-ordinary life is piling up back at home so we need to get back to real life. It's just so beautiful...

Last Beach Day: May 23, 2025

Our last beach day was a beautiful one.

When we got to the beach we found that the shallow waters were filled with jellyfish of sorts, so we were a little hesitant about getting into the water. Eventually we caught one and identified it as a brown comb jelly—so not a jellyfish at all. While jellyfish often have stinging tentacles, jellies are typically harmless. 

Here's Benjamin holding one:

Dig a Big Hole: Thursday, May 22

I hardly took any pictures this day. When I got up, Phoebe was already wide awake, watching video montages on a phone. Sunrise was at around 5:45 every morning, so the day was already bright and well under way by the time we were getting up. 

Print Shop: Wednesday, May 21

Andrew didn't actually have to work on Wednesday, so he came to the beach with us in the morning for a quick splash in the gulf before playing tourists. It was another red flag day and the waves were just right for boogie boarding again.

Here's Phoebe enjoying some snuggle time with Daddy (she sure likes being held):

Boogie Boarding Spectacular: Tuesday, May 20

The water was much choppier on Tuesday, which made it perfect for boogie boarding (but less perfect for Phoebe, who has given everyone a real arm workout this trip). Here you can see Phoebe in Grandpa's arms, along with all the kids (except for Alexander) and Darla:

Garbage Baby

We went in to St. Andrew's yesterday to visit the Panama City Publishing Company Museum (which was fantastic, by the way), but we arrived a little bit early so we did a little self-guided walking tour to see the Oaks By The Bay park and to look at the marina and things. 

On the boardwalk just behind the park, Phoebe spotted a baby (doll) that had been left by the garbage can. 

"I need to rescue that baby!" she said. "Can someone help me to rescue that poor garbage baby?"

Benjamin went to pull it out of the weeds. It was a little waterlogged but otherwise in pretty good shape.

And Phoebe fell in love.

Funny kids

Phoebe is always so happy when Daddy finishes his meetings (teaching classes is what he's mainly doing) and joins us at the beach. Look at her grin when she gets in his arms!

Mega Beach Day: Monday, May 19

I've decided that I'll upload videos later since there are a few more steps to that and I...miss my desktop setup. So for now pictures will have to do. 

We spent the entire day at the beach on Monday. Grandpa and Darla headed out to the beach with the littler ones as soon as they got up in the morning—which was quite early because the sun rises at 5:45 am (and not until 6:30 in Atlanta). The sunset feels early as well. And I'm still trying to figure out the tides because...what is happening tomorrow? Some kind of reset button or something?

Here are the tides for Panama City Beach:

Look how small the difference is between the high and low tide! We have hardly been able to notice when (and whether) the tide is changing—it only comes in/out 2 feet over the course of the entire day! 

Calamities of various proportions

Nothing untoward happened on Monday...except that several of us got a little too much sun. But Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday have certainly had their moments of excitement!

On Saturday, Grandpa bent over to get something out of the fridge and when he stood up he bumped a shelf with his shoulder and sent a jug of orange juice crashing down to the floor. It split open and went all over the floor. It took two full bath-sized towels to mop it up (and then some). 

I was just glad it wasn't my kids who made the mess. 

On Sunday, Darla went to get a bowl out of the cupboard and the shelf—which was missing one of its pegs—tilted and an entire set of dishes came crashing down. Honestly, I'm a little vague on the details here because I was in the bathroom when I heard the crash. 

My first thought was, "I hope that wasn't my kids!"*

*Technically my first thought was, "I hope no one is hurt!" But that thought quickly passed because there wasn't any associated screaming. So it was clear that something had broken and not someone. So my more permanent thought was, "I hope that wasn't my kids!"

Sunday splash

So we took the kids to the beach.

 

Favourite things

Phoebe and I were snuggling in bed the other morning and I decided to ask her about her favourite things. Just to make conversation. 

"What's your favourite colour?" I asked. 

"Umm...all of them!" she said. 

"I feel that," I said...because she seems to have inherited my own dis/satisfaction with everything in the world. I simply don't understand how to choose a favourite colour. That feels like too big of a commitment. I admit to feeling drawn to certain colours of certain items at times, but I don't feel like I often seek out specific colours for things...if that makes sense. All colours are beautiful. 

"What's your favourite animal?" I asked next. 

"Ooooh! Dood question...all of them!" she said. 

"All of them?" I asked.

"All of them—dogs, cats, horses, giraffes, lions. Just all of them."

"So what about spiders?"

"Not spiders! I do not like spi...well...nice spiders. I still like nice spiders."

"And snakes?"

"If they're nice."

"So you just like animals in general?"

"Yup. Hey, Mom—you know, like November, January, February, April, June, May, July and August?"

"The twelve months of the year? Yes, I'm familiar. Should we sing them?"

"Yes. But first, what's your favourite schedule?"