Whimsical September

A Family + Lifestyle Blog

Traveling 3 Comments

Family Beach Getaway in Panama City, Florida – May 2015

I know things have been a little quiet around here, but if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you might know that we slipped away to Panama City Beach, Florida for a few days to enjoy some sunshine and family time.
On Saturday morning, the three of us made our way over to the Kansas City airport and jumped on a couple flights to Panama City. Our connection was in Dallas’s Love Field airport, and boy oh BOY is that airport nice! We’ve both seen the inside of a lot of airports the last few years, but this trip to Love Field was a first for both of us. We ended up being delayed and spending four hours there, so we made use of their wonderful kids play area as well as some quiet areas so Hadley could catnap in her umbrella stroller.

By 2:30 we were on a quick flight over to Panama City. We were happy as could be when the pilot came on the speaker to say that we were making our final descent. We couldn’t wait to see my family!
My dad scooped us up, but unfortunately Hadley’s suitcase (with all my toiletries) got shipped to NYC instead of Panama City, so that was kind of a party foul. Thank goodness for having a mom and sister who had all the toiletries, makeup, etc. that I could borrow because Hadley’s bag didn’t arrive until the following night! We had to purchase a few things for Hadley in the meantime, but Southwest promises they’ll be reimbursing us. No big deal!
Our first day there was my sister Jennifer’s 26th birthday, so we all gave her gifts, took pictures, and headed out for an incredible dinner on the water. I hadn’t gotten to hug my sister on her birthday since college, so I loved being able to celebrate with her!
The next four days were filled with a lot of time at the beach, pool, and hanging around the condo soaking up time with the fam.
Pictured above (from L to R) is my sister Jennifer, my brother David, and me.
Hadley’s favorite part of the beach was being down by the water. She loved it every time, especially if it involved sitting in Grandma’s lap with a shovel!
We couldn’t get her to keep a hat or sunglasses on, but she was lathered in sunscreen!
Everybody loved the heated pool!
Hadley and Jenn are mildly obsessed with each other. 😉
Can you spot Jamie in the picture above?
I really adore these two above…
…and these two below.
 We played a roaring game of Heads Up one night that still has all of us cracking up! I’ve still barely recovered from the side stitch I got from laughing! If you haven’t downloaded Ellen DeGeneres’s game to your phone, you have to do it!
Jamie and my brother ran an insane amount of miles every morning while the rest of us took the week off from exercise and did a lot of bummin’. 🙂
One highlight of the trip was having dinner with Jamie’s best friend Chris and Jamie’s cousin Madeline who happen to be married to each other (they met at our wedding). They live about an hour away and drove over to Panama to see us. So awesome catching up with them!

 

 

 

Another highlight was our date night on our last night. My family kept Hadley while Jamie and I ventured over to 30A to take a peak at the house we got married at a few years ago. So fun to see it and dream a little bit about going inside again one day!
 After we peaked at the house we headed over to Seaside for dinner and dessert.
On Wednesday we packed up and headed back to the airport. Hadley slept on the way to the airport, but that was the only nap she was able to squeeze in since her genius mama scheduled our flights for her exact nap time (mom fail). Neither of our flights on Wednesday were full, so we were able to carry her carseat on the plane and let her sit in her own seat. Having her own seat always helps our sanity so much!
We’ve been struggling lately with how much Hadley eats on the road. She’s very much about routine, and when she’s not home in her highchair with her usual foods, she doesn’t like to eat. For the trip home, we used her new Camelbak and put some Naked juice in it so that she could get some calories in, and she loved it. Loved loved LOVED it! WIN.

 

It’s usually so good to go away and so good to come home, but this time I really could have used a few more days with my fam. The upside to not living in the same state as your family is it makes the time you spend together so much sweeter! Thankful for a fun little vacay and some much-needed r&r.

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