to Pensacola Beach Florida! This is one of our favorite beach spots. Super fun for kids and right on the beach! I mentioned in an earlier post that my parents started taking us to Pensacola when I was 15. They have been back nearly every year for the past 25 years or so. We rented a great condo with room for me and my 3 kids, my parents, and my friend Camden and 3 of her kids. We had a fabulous time! The kids LOVE playing on the beach and spent most of their time doing the following: Playing in the sand and building sand castles over, and over, and over. Playing in the waves. Looking for hermit crabs, shells, and fish. We could hardly get them off the beach to go and do anything else. We stayed on the beach until after dark nearly every night. It was a full moon--so beautiful to see the moonlight on the water. We decided a flashlight was a good idea after the first night! Very helpful when looking for shoes, towels, etc. in the dark. We hope to go again next year and have the dads come too. (My dad kept teasing Greg about him not being with us--he told Greg he was sending an "invoice" for entertaining us while Greg was at home working.)
We like to stay on Santa Rosa island. The Gulf of Mexico is on one side, and the bay is on the other. Many things were wiped out by hurricane Ivan 4 years ago. We love the sea oats and the beautiful, white powdery sand.
Nan especially loved looking for crabs. She also found a great sand dollar almost totally intact.
Samantha and Adyson waiting for the next wave. The kids played for HOURS!!
Sus spent most of her time building sand castles and burying herself in the sand. The salt water irritates her skin so she mostly stayed out of it. (Natalie and Tanner got stung by a jellyfish so I think that was another reason she didn't want to go in the water too much.)
I loved seeing my kids play and run on the beach.
We had a very rainy day on Wednesday. It poured buckets so we decided to take a ride out to Fort Pickens. Before hurricane Ivan, there was a road to drive to the fort--there is no road now. You can walk or bike 7 miles to get to it, or take a "shuttle". Our shuttle was a large cart/buggy (I think they are called mules). It was kind of fun to ride over in the rain. Once there, we explored what we could of the old fort. Geronimo was once held captive here.
The fort is just across the bay from the naval air station in Pensacola. The Blue Angels were scheduled to practice this day and the fort would have been a perfect place to see them. I was very sad that they could not fly because of the rain. We did have an exciting moment at the fort--as we were crossing over a grassy/weedy area to a path, my dad spotted a snake RIGHT where we were stepping. He didn't THINK it was a poisonous snake, but the sight of ANY snake makes my heart skip a few beats!
The girls played in the rain while we waited for our "shuttle".
I just thought this picture was so cute of Sam and Mama Leslie!
The kids like to ride go karts at this place near the bay. This is really a job for Greg, but since he was not with us, I stepped up and drove the girls around and around the track!
We all enjoyed an ice cream cone at Alvins Island before we ended our beach adventure. it was very fun! (Sus added this in the blog--glad she thought it was fun--that's why we do these things!)
