Pensacola 2019: Days Five through Eight

Day five of our annual Pensacola beach vacation dawned bright and sunny. In fact, we had really great weather the whole trip, aside from the fact that it was hot. Really hot.

When Nopsi got back from fishing, Kate and Luke decided they wanted to fish too. So Nopsi and I took them out into the bay for a quick trip. (Riley and Rory had no interest and continued their dock jumping and sand playing at the house.) Kate thought the bait (shrimp) was really stinky, but she powered through and we ended up catching a bunch of catfish. So fun!

That afternoon all four kids (dressed in their "Cousin Crew" shirts from AD#1) went on a special field trip with Nopsi. He took them to Alvin's Island and let them pick out whatever they wanted using the $20 they each got in their Treasure X block. They all came back with multiple stuffed animals. Just what we needed. But such a fun memory for them. I wonder if this will be an annual occurrence.....

I had to perform a small medical procedure on Luke after they got back (two splinters from the outside upper deck), but he was very brave. Then we all enjoyed another pretty sunset, got the kids into bed, and played a fun new game called Smart Ass. (Oh, and Erin left early this day to head back home on account of previously planned trip with her friends to Los Angeles. So Jeff flew solo the rest of the week.)

On Thursday Jeff, Kenny, and I took the kids back across to the Gulf side, where the water was back to normal and absolutely beautiful. We stayed out there most of the day and made it back to the house right before a summer storm rolled through. 

The clouds looked really cool making their way across the bay. The wind ended up being INSANE: things were blowing around all over the place and we had to secure everything pretty quickly. Even the tops to the daiquiri machine blew off! Things eventually died down, and we relaxed inside the rest of the night. We taught Kate how to play Rummikub, enjoyed red beans for dinner, and watched Ralph Breaks the Internet. Now there was only one day left!

Our last day is always bittersweet, but we try to make the most of it. There is always a lot to pick up, put away, and pack, but we still have fun in the morning. Riley and Kenny were out very early looking for crabs, (Riley amassed quite a collection throughout the week and was very sad he couldn't bring them home), Jeff and I finally played paddleball (we got more than 200 straight hits!), Rory pouted about something and then got over it by dock jumping, and everyone did some pages in their summer workbooks while the rest of us watched the USA women dominate France in the World Cup.

Then it was time to gather all of our stuff together and prepare to head back home. Once most of the work was done, the kids played one last game, we took some family photos out by the water, Riley caught one last crab, and we enjoyed one last sunset. We drove back home early the next morning, already looking forward to next year.

Thank you, Nola and Nopsi, for another awesome vacation!