Day four of "Awesome Vacation to Florida"
Arise and shine! There was a HUGE thunderstorm and rain in the middle of the night, but this morning the sun was shining beautifully. We were able to detach ourselves from our king sized bed and make it to church in time to get the sacrament at the Panama City Beach Branch by 9 AM. That is one small building. Justin being Justin, bore his testimony today, and tried to get me to go up there. Yeah, no thanks. The people seemed quite friendly. We stayed for Sunday School then sneaked out so we wouldn't have to be apart for the third hour. I know, cheesy. I did notice a one-half inch hair growing out of the back of Justin's ear that threw me for a loop for a minute. He's only 36! Stop those ear hairs! Can this be grounds for divorce? (I'm obviously joking.)
We stopped in Camp Helen State Park and walked around for awhile. There was awesome moss growing on the trees several feet long all over the place, just like you might imagine the bayous. It was only $2 to park here and I enjoyed it lots! We saw a few interesting birds (an egret or heron) and to top it off, there weren't many people at all. I like secluded hikes and places. Since it had rained the night before, the forest smelled like tree and leaf decay. I love that smell.
We have been having fun playing with our digital slr camera. I wish we knew how to use it better. Hope some of them turn out okay.
We drove a few more miles and stopped at Deer Lake State Park (free). It was only a parking lot with a boardwalk over some forested area and sand dunes, which are neat to look at. We walked to the beach and contemplated walking back to this spot because it looked promising for skim boarding.
Back at Endless Summer, I took a nap while Justin read "The Hero of Ages" by Brandon Sanderson. He is obsessed with these books and is always trying time to squeeze in a few pages.
At 3:30, we walked barefooted to the beach and found that it was having the tide out that made for some fun skim boarding spots, so we didn't have to walk back to Deer Lake. I tried the board once and fell a little getting my sweatshirt wet, and chickened out on trying more. I probably would have if Justin put on a little pressure. Justin seemed to have lost his groove from the previous jaunt, but was able to get a few good runs in. The three times he fell down, I didn't have the camcorder on, darnit! His pulled muscle in his thigh is sure bothering him.
We made the sand come to life by sculpting a crab. I wonder if it will be there tomorrow...
Justin bought some $2.99 paddles and ball, so we had a great game on the beach. The sand is amazing (and squeaky). The was lots of fun too.
It was warm and sunny, enough that I was in my swim suit the whole time. The weather forcast has tricked us,and said that it would be rainy most of the days, but it hasn't been. Tomorrow is our last day. I would love to stay longer. It wouldn't cost us anything more to stay. Just the kids out of school and Justin's work. He said he could do some office work from here. The kids would only miss two more days of school, and we could stay through Friday or something. Just a thought. I heard it is -1 in Minnesota. Makes me think harder about staying here.
Yummy tacos for dinner. Justin ate 8, me 4 (which is LOTS for me). We had another installment of Skip-Bo, which I won, so our tally is now 175/65.
Another great day in Florida!
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