Marlee's 1st beach trip

Heading to the beach!

Who knew playing on a luggage cart was so much fun?

First time at the beach, and Marlee doesn't know what to think!

Playing in the sand and back from a dip in the ocean with daddy!

Don't you love her butterfly bootie?

drying off after playing in the ocean

Happy girl!!

Getting ready for some pictures on the beach! Doesn't she look cute?

Rocking in the chairs at Cracker Barrel!

To sum up our first beach trip: awesome!!! We left Wednesday night and drove about 4 hrs to Dothan, AL to spend the night so that the trip would be broken up and so that we would get to the beach a little earlier in the day! It worked out well except for Marlee waking up when we got to the hotel at midnight then not wanting to go to bed until like 2am and sleeping in the bed with me and Kendall! Talk about not sleeping much! About the only good thing about Marlee not getting much sleep that night was that she slept the entire 2hrs from Dothan to the beach-what a quiet ride it was!

We arrived at our cottage in Port St. Joe mid afternoon on Thursday, unpacked and Kendall and Marlee hit the pool while I went and found the nearest Piggly Wiggly! Jenn, Mike, and Parker came a few hours later since Mike was working in Dothan that day! It worked out great that we were able to plan a little weekend getaway with them!

Friday turned out to be our lone day at the beach! It was quite an experience I might say! Mike stayed back at the cottage to work since it was technically a work day, so me, Kendall, and Jenn took Marlee and Parker to Wind Mark Beach which was half a mile from our cottage. Marlee and Parker weren't really into the beach at first. They didn't know quite what to think about the sand on their feet and especially the loud ocean waves. After a while they kind of warmed up to the whole beach thing~they played in the sand and we even took them into the ocean for a little bit! Marlee's first beach experience lasted maybe an hour and a half because by then, they were both done and ready for lunch! Later that night we drove into Panama City to eat at Pineapple Willy's! It's a really fun atmosphere and the kids were really good while we were there! Thank goodness it's a family place and there are lots of people there!

Saturday was a gray day. We woke up Saturday to thunderstorms and pouring rain-and that's how it continued off and on for most of the day! Thank goodness for the pool that felt like bath water! By the late evening, the clouds cleared up and we were able to go to the beach to take some pictures and play (only for a little bit). Hey-at least we got to the beach for a little bit!

The drive home Sunday was great! Kendall and I weren't too sure how Marlee would do being in the car for such a long time, but she did great! She slept for most of the drive to Dothan (2hrs), then after lunch and Cracker Barrell, she played and hung out for another 2 hrs, then took a nap for an hour, then played and talked for the last hour of the trip! I know she was excited to get home!!

So, our first trip to the beach while short, was a success! We are already looking forward to next year!!