Beach Weekend

For the three-day weekend we packed up the car and drove down to Florida to see my family for a few days. I can't say enough times how nice it is to be able to drive down there whenever we can, instead of only flying down to visit once a year! Even though it's mid-October, it's still sunny and warm in the South, especially down on the Gulf.

We kicked off the weekend with a race! 

After the race, the pirate festival at Pier Park began, and of course we took our little pirates!

Digging for buried treasure in the sand. She didn't want to get dirty, so she used her sword.

Found one!

Walking the plank.

Elijah had to walk the plank and sword fight!

After checking out all the games for kids, playing on the pirate ship playground, and listening to the pirate band,  we headed down to the beach to watch the pirates invade by sea! We had left the kids bathing suits in the car, but they quickly decided the water was far too tempting to resist. So we let them swim in their clothes.

Pretty cool!

This is the same pirate ship we took a pirate cruise on three years ago. (Old post here.)

Next up: the pirate parade! 

Elijah had to get a little higher to catch some of those beads!

The girls had the most beads, of course!

The next day Mom really wanted to take some family pictures, so we gathered the gang up, set up the tripod and started snapping. Some turned out good!

And some turned out kind of crazy!

Monday morning we had to hit the beach one last time before heading home. The water was so warm and calm, you couldn't have asked for a better beach day.

This girl is part mermaid, seriously.

Bye bye, Panama City Beach, see you again soon!