Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Pensacola 2016: Days One Through Four

We left for our annual family beach vacation on the morning of June 18. Nola and Nopsi got an earlier start, and it ended up being a good thing Jeff and Erin followed us. They picked up a piece of metal in one of their tires, and we had to stop so Kenny could plug it. So glad he brought his tire repair kit with him!

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We finally arrived at the Shoreline boat launch and met up with Nola and Nopsi. Riley decided to ride in the boat with Nopsi, Nola hopped in with me and Rory, and Kenny drove Nopsi’s van and the trailer. We were off to Shaggy’s for our customary lunch before checking into the house!

We spotted Nopsi and Riley while crossing the bridge and waved to them. We were seated immediately when we got to the restaurant, and it wasn’t long before I had a cold glass of Yuengling in front of me. Our vacation was officially underway.

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We got to the house, unloaded and unpacked, and let the kids loose in the sand until dinnertime. Kenny made the first of many batches of margaritas, we saw the first of many pretty sunsets, and the three oldest cousins loved all being in the kids’ room together again.

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The next day was Father’s Day. Nopsi was unfortunately unable to go fishing because of strong winds, so everyone hung out at the house and played. It was Luke’s first time in the sand!

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At midday, we came in for lunch and rest time. Since Riley is no longer napping, Kate and Rory had the kids’ room to themselves. And they napped really well most days. Riley, meanwhile, got to watch extra shows most days. Lucky boy.

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Once everyone was awake again, we decided to take the boat and test out Nopsi’s new purchase: a monster tube with seating for three people. It would prove to be Riley’s favorite thing of the trip. He was SO funny riding on it; the commentary he would spout while on the tube was hysterical. Some of the things I remember him saying: “You call this a boat ride???” “What a predicament!” “This will suffer the consequences!!” And he screamed all of that at the top of his lungs. He was so damn entertaining.

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Kate, however, did not like the tube one bit. She cried to get off the whole time, and then she cried the whole time Erin and Jeff rode with Riley. My poor sweet girl.

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We played in the water when we were done with the boat, and Kenny and Riley walked right into a big school of fish. In fact, there were lots of little fish hanging out around our dock all week long. We also saw a stingray and tons of crabs, both blue and hermit. Riley was in heaven.

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After everyone had cleaned up, we took some Father’s Day pictures, passed out cards and gifts, and watched another gorgeous sunset. We loved celebrating our three dads!

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The highlight of Monday was when Uncle Jeff built a sand ramp for Rory, which he loved.

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Luke also had awesome post-nap hair and Kate became a tiny dancer late in the afternoon.

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Kate and Riley put on a show for Luke before bed and there was yet another picture perfect sunset.

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On Tuesday we stayed at the house for the early part of the morning…..

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…..but then some of us decided to walk over to the Gulf for an hour before lunch. Riley and Kate had a great time in the waves, and Rory loved pushing his dump truck in and out of the surf.

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Luke took a nap in the swing while we were gone, and then we all took a break inside for lunch and rest. Riley even fell asleep on this day!

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After nap, I held the kids’ popsicles hostage until they agreed to take a group picture. We also caught a crab, did some dock jumping, and attempted to find more critters to keep. Success all around!

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One more sunset and suddenly half our vacation was over.

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Last beach trip recap coming up next!

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