Pensacola 2016: Days Five Through Eight

Day five of our annual beach vacation just also happened to be Nola’s birthday. We didn’t make too big a deal out of it since she hates her birthday, but we did a bit of celebrating later in the day.

It was mostly just a regular day of playing in the sand and the water. The most notable addition was the huge crane that was dropped off next door the evening before, which Rory was ecstatic about. There is so much new construction going on in that area, and it looks like there will be a brand new house on the side of us next year.

Riley welcomed Nopsi upon his return from fishing and then got right back in the water. I am so proud of his swimming; so cool to see him without floaties on!

Erin brought Luke out after his morning nap, and shortly after that the other kids decided they wanted to walk over to the Gulf again. We didn’t stay too long but had a good time nonetheless.

Nopsi made special raspberry filled chocolate cupcakes for Nola’s birthday treat, which the kids were all too happy to taste that evening, after we sang to the birthday girl. Then it was bedtime so we could do it all again the next day!

Thursday was slightly different for Jeff and I in that we got up super early to go fishing with Nopsi. I did not particularly enjoy getting up before dawn, but I must admit we saw a pretty sunrise.

We unfortunately didn’t have any luck catching fish, although Nopsi managed to hook a stingray, which was really cool to see. It ended up snapping the line though and disappearing into the depths. We also didn’t see any dolphins, much to my dismay.

However, when we were pulling up to the house, Erin was at the end of the dock watching a small group of dolphins play. She said they had been putting on quite a display before we showed up, jumping out of the water and everything. We had seen some on previous days out in the sound, but I’m glad we got to see this little group up close, especially because there was a calf among them.

That afternoon was very lowkey; I ended up falling asleep downstairs and then trudged back up to sleep more. This cute picture of Luke is the only one I have from that time!

But then that evening Jeff decided he really needed to shave his head, so he asked the kids if they wanted to do it for him. My two, not surprisingly, declined the offer, but Kate readily agreed. Didn’t she do a beautiful job???

The kids played well inside after they had their dinner and even got to try Jeff’s homemade vanilla ice cream (sans whole milk….oops) before they went to bed.

All too suddenly it was our last full day at the beach house. Nopsi went fishing but the rest of us, including Luke, got into the water to play on the tube and do some last dock jumping.

 

Then Riley found a crab and wanted to go back in the sand. He had quite the set-up happening all this week: he buried one of the hoses under a mound of sand, turned it on, and created his own sand “volcano.” It actually looked really cool and kept him occupied every day. Winning.

Then there was the time that Kate sat on the side and cheered for Rory as he raced his green dump truck around. So cute.

And since it was our last day, we let the kids have popsicles in the morning as well as the afternoon. Those things just don’t travel well.

The kids napped and then we went for one last tube ride before starting to pack everything up. It had been a really fun week, but our vacation was almost over.

After getting the boat back on the trailer, rinsing off all of the beach toys, hosing down the sand-covered patio, and dealing with a few minor cuts on the wonk potatoes, we were finally all cleaned up and able to take our annual family pictures. (So funny that we all ended up wearing some shade of blue!) The sun was setting and it was past Luke’s bedtime, but we got some great shots. As always, thanks so much for a wonderful trip, Nola and Nopsi!

See ya later, Pensacola.

Until next year!