We spent May 25th through June 2nd falling in love all over again. This year was the definition of lazy vacation. No snorkeling, no shopping, no dolphin cruises. As much fun as those things are, we were definitely working on a budget this year. As a single mom with two adopted and three foster (soon to be adopted!) kiddos, vacations can cost a small fortune if I'm not careful! Literally just beach, to pool, to beach, to food, to bed, to pool. Over and over for 8 days. And you know what, it was absolutely glorious.
The few little things we did that I would recommend EVERYONE do while in PCB, whether you are on a budget or not, are:
1. Visit St. Andrew's State Park! We went and explored for just a bit and I did our yearly beach photos there! It is absolutely beautiful! It only costs $8 per vehicle to get in and you can swim in the ocean on one side or a jetty on the other. There are tons of wildlife, deer that will literally walk up to you (one even licked my moms hand!). You can watch people surf and paddle board, or you can catch a boat to Shell Island (We snorkeled at Shell Island last summer, do it. Just do it.). This is most definitely my favorite part of PCB.
2. This next stop was new to us but we had heard from several friends that this was the place to go. It did not disappoint! Hershey's Ice Cream wasn't only delicious, it was a fun little shop that had the coolest map I've ever seen (I have a slight map obsession...).
3. While in PCB we rent a home through VRBO.com and typically just stay home for meals since we have a full kitchen (and who am I kidding, feeding 5 kids is expensive enough cooking at home, eating out would require me to sell an organ!). This trip we did go out to Pineapple Willy's, requested by the birthday girl, Little Sister, who turned the big 1-4 while we were on vacation! Pineapple Willy's was fun and affordable! Portions were huge so plenty of leftovers and we were basically on the beach so it was full of the "Florida experience"!
4. One of the boys' favorite things to do is go crab hunting! The girls don't love it quite as much but they will tag along (especially when the "cute" neighbor boys want to go with us)! We typically will walk about a half a mile in either direction from the house, spread out with flashlights, buckets and nets and we can catch tons of the cutest little crabs! My dad didn't go with us this summer but he made sure to remind us to be well prepared with enough flashlights for everyone and the lucky net from last summer!
5. The BEACH! You cannot go wrong with the beach in PCB! We did have a day or two with some crazy weather from Tropical Storm Alberto, but overall we had a week of beautiful Florida weather!
I cannot express how much we love Panama City Beach, FL. It will forever be one of my favorite places to visit and we are already planning our next trip back there!
Here are a few more pictures we took in front of our house as well! We are so beyond thankful Grandma was able to go with us too! She kept us fed and Lord knows I didn't want to drive that 12 hours alone!
