Traveling the Backroads...

You will find that one man's trash truly IS another man's treasure! You will see sights that draw you in... only to find - everything is closed!
OH how I wish I had the priceless photo to accompany this next one!!

A country mall is NOT the same thing as an outlet mall! Let's just get that straight right now! A country mall (with a strict sign forbidding dipping and any and ALL dip spittin' cups) is more along the lines of an overpriced Rack Room Shoes (with rude staff too)! Never NEVER ask the Country Mall sales clerk if there mildly overpriced goods are REAL leather! You may get a used spit cup thrown 'atcha! :)

Last glimpses of Florida fun!

We were able to see Daddy in the evenings. He missed out on most of the fun but we really enjoyed our trip more when he was with us! Me and the kids in the bustling wind!
Here are a few of the friends we made - their daddies work with our daddy!
JB's buddy! Reid was so gracious to play with JB. JB thinks the world of him!
One night we played putt putt... but our final night was dinner and straight to the hotel. We ordered JB and HC a shark attack. It was a sprite with a toy shark in the sprite. The shark had an open mouth FILLED with cherry juice. We poured it in their drink and they thought they had something special. Only problem was it was a big bulky cup and JB spilled it all over him. He wailed while we quickly took off his shirt and hurriedly ate our dinner. I think it was great to go to the hotel early our final night and unwind before our long trip home. But I hated that JB was so uncomfortable!
A nice shot with the dolphins. I hope one day we will all swim with the dolphins! Wouldn't that be fun?!?
In their touristy gear!

And we headed home! Next year we will definitely make time for going to the beach! I hated to drive off without having our toes in the sand once. It just wasn't the best idea this time. So - a fun work 'vacation' was had by all!

Ice Cream and Swimming!

Our first night in Panama City we decided to call this 'vacation' our ICE CREAM VACATION! Every night we would eat ice cream! No questions!! It was our deal. They were thrilled to indulge and even more thrilled to know there was more ice cream to come.
HC was enjoying her goggles and her boogie board. We found out our hotel had beach access via a 20 minute boat ride. Sometimes when you read a brochure it is the things they leave out that makes you wonder. Well this was the case here. They said you could request an umbrella from the front desk and you could not bring your own beverages (you had to buy theirs on the boat) but feel free to bring food. That is it.

In my mind I had this sneaking suspicion that there were no chairs. I wasn't sure but... it didn't sound promising. Asking the hotel staff was ZERO help at all! It is like they didn't want the word to get out or something. Their answers were very vague. So I didn't go. The kids used their beach gear in the pool instead. Later on one of the other families came by to say hello and shared their 'beach' experience. There were no chairs, no potty and no restaurant. It was just them and the sand. Then they had to wait over 45 minutes for the next boat to take them back on another 20 minute ride! Don't you love it when you listen to that little voice inside sometimes??? I was thrilled I didn't bother to see what it was like! The kids and I would have been so disappointed to have wasted such precious swim time on a wild goose chase for the beach. So we swam in the pool!
My 2 had full access to this pool for a few hours! The hotel had 3 pools. I guess you have to have something to keep the people coming back! Because once they take the boat ride - they do not go back to the beach!
Every time HC would get in/out to grab a new toy she would organize her things! I found this to be hilarious because she would take her time carefully placing every single piece in it's proper place!
JB trying out part of his snorkel.
They were both leery of putting their faces under the water very much. They would carefully place it at surface level and then quickly pull it back out! That was our experience until we came to this bigger pool. We found our friends were at this one and so we joined in the fun.
JB and his buddy Reid (not pictured) would run and splash into this shallow part of the pool. By the end of day 2 at the pool - JB was completely submerging himself in the water.
HC went off to play with some new friends she made and asked me to come see what she was doing. I walked over to find her jump in and this is what I saw! She was going all the way under!!!
She really became brave while I wasn't looking. That is the good side of being with your peers. They spur you to try to push past your fears. Boy did she!

They both found some friends that drove them to try harder! I love that! They had a great time exploring things Mommy and Daddy could not convince them to try!

Trip Recap

Last week hubby had to go to Panama City for a business trip. We packed up the van and we all piled in for a week of fun. We stopped at the Florida rest stop for some OJ and a stretch - and then we were on our way again.When we arrived we jumped into our swim suits - swam for about 30 minutes and then got dressed. It was dinner time and we were starved! After our meal we headed over to Ripley's for some tourist fun. The kids were excited to go inside this BIG ship!
One of the big highlights for the kids was this wall. Isn't it lovely?? :) This picture is with the flash....

And this is what we saw! They had to hit the planets and they would fly upward. They had SOOO much fun running back and forth along the wall chasing the planets.
And then they did the same with the jelly fish. They did not want to leave this display. The majority of the sights were lost on them but this wall was a hit!
Their next favorite (and I enjoyed this too) was this tunnel. I didn't take a shot without the flash but what happened was you walk across this bridge. The tunnel around you was spinning with a background of stars. When we first walked through this tunnel we were both carrying the kids. Although I saw the people in the tunnel struggling to walk I could clearly see the bridge was stationary. When it was our turn - about half way across the tunnel you feel as though you are completely turned upside down. I found myself - with JB in tow and holding on for dear life - holding the handrail for dear life. I was bent all the way over trying not to fall. IT WAS CRAZY! You KNOW you are not spinning but you feel like you are spinning! The kids did this one about 5 times - and hated to leave after that!

Our adventure was just beginning and the verdict thus far - fun fun fun!

Puerto Rico Farewell!

On our last night the company threw a big party/dinner on the island. We all loaded up on boats for one last trip to the beach. The view of the island from the boat.
This was made of sand! Pretty neat huh?
Hubby and I were in line to have our picture drawn. The theme was pirates - can you tell? We took home the pirate hat and sword for JB. Pirate Daddy found a little treasure to give HC - a pink jeweled ring and some gold coins!! We were ready for any battle that ensued to steal our treasure!
Here is the drawing of us. I was expecting more of a caricature but... it was pretty good. I can see the resemblance in Steve but I don't see it exactly in me. I guess that is the way life goes - I also do not think I sound the way I seem on tape either! :) We said our farewells to Palomino Island and headed back to the resort. We walked the grounds and tried to see anything we may have missed thus far. And finally it was off to bed and early rise to the airport, with prayers that we would get through security once more without a bag check. I was dreading that happening - the bag check! No real reason - I just thought it was bound to happen these days! Anyway... I am already looking forward to my trip next year! Fun times!

Winnings and More Sights

I will say that usually hubby and I will play a little nickel slots when we are out on a special trip .. but usually is once on our Honeymoon and then while we were in Puerto Rico. So... I guess when we go places for vacation and the machines are around - we are willing to play with about $20. There have been other times we've played (now that I think about it) - on a few trips to New Orleans and such. OK. So my normal instinct is "No, I could find other fun things to do with $20." But I always want to give the game a try anyway.

This time was the same. Hubby asked if I wanted to throw $20 away and I (out of boredom - in the early evening) agreed. We took the money to the machine of my choice and I did my usual. I pushed the proper button (some have levers to pull) and I don't know what happened but within about 5 minutes - I won. I walked with $81.80 - that is a win of $61.80!!!! I normally win at least $40 when I play but I hate the risk of it all. I think I am one of the weird ones who sees the $81.80 and I am satisfied. It isn't fun for me to push the button when I could walk away with guaranteed winnings. I have even gotten back up to my initial $20 before and cashed out! But this was my first BIG win! It was enough for me!!! Translation = all my spending money for the trip (gifts for the kids and things we wanted) were now on the winnings! I had more money for the things I wanted! WOOHOO!! I do not condone gambling people - unless you have self control and want to live on the edge a teensy bit! So here is my cha ching moment - I have no idea how I won! I am not gambling savvy I tell you, but I do like to win!
Here are hubby and I on top of a tower in the rain forest! We walked up 98 steps to see this view.

Here was a bridge in the rain forest!
We took a mini-hike through the local rain forest, about 30 minutes. We drove through about 3 hours.


A waterfall!
Look at the size of this leaf!
Trees on the resort grounds!
Rarely have I seen a coconut tree with coconuts on it (I am so deprived)! This was the golf course on the resort.

I think there will be one more post of our time in Puerto Rico. We had fun - I still wish I had one more day of leisure!! :) It was so nice to have peace and quiet!

Puerto Rico Part 2

The resort we stayed in did not have a beach you could just walk to.. we had to take a 10 minute boat ride to an island for that! It was a nice little ride - here is a view of the island from the boat.
Steve said "WOW! Look at that lizard!" I assumed it would be a gecko but I was wrong. It is hard to tell in this picture but this iguana was the size of my foot at least (not counting it's tail). Can you believe these things roam around like this??
In the little restaurant on the island there were a few unusual critters that visited for freebies. I actually watched a grown up woman reach down to pet this wild rabbit!! I can't believe a rational person would do that! It wasn't a pet - it was a WILD animal that wanted to be fed!!!
People offered the animals fruit and they refused the fruit but quickly snatched and fought over french fries! Can you believe???
Here is the view of our hotel from the marina.
Another beautiful nook at the hotel.
The view from our hotel room minus the rain! {BIG smiles!}

It was definitely a beautiful place! There were these noises we would hear at night that were SO loud. We later found out the noise was from local frogs. They sounded like LOUD birds. They are coquoi (sp?) frogs. At night they sound like a recording - they are so loud, it was there mating call. It became a pleasant thing to hear in the evening after we were used to it. You could hear a rhythm like music from all the noises when you would sit and listen. With the beach, the frogs and the breeze - it was nice!