Panama City Beach Trip Part 1

Good afternoon friends.  It seems like it has been forever since I last visited with all of you! 

We were able to take a fun vacation to Panama City Beach, Florida last week.  It was a fun getaway for us. Just hubby, Darbee Rae and I.  We sure did miss Nana and Papa but we kept in touch via Skype and the cell phones.  Thank goodness for those things huh?  It's hard to imagine what we did before them.  I remember as a kid when we would go on a trip, we (my mom, dad and I) would check in our hotel and make 1 phone call calling collect to my grandparents and give them the phone number to the hotel.  We might would call them one more time during the trip but that was it!  Those calls were expensive!  My how times have changed.  Darbee Rae thinks the phones in the hotel rooms are for playing with.  Haha!  

Anyway...we headed out last Sunday morning early.  I had one more excited little girl.  I have to admit, I was one excited mommy too.  I had never been to Panama City!  

I made sure she had plenty to do in the back seat.  She had her bag full with her DS, her Leapster, plenty

of paper and crayons, etc.  She was set.   

She was a happy camper once we got breakfast.  

Her favorite breakfast out is a McDonald's chicken biscuit.  

Darbee Rae has always been a good traveler, thankfully. Even as a baby, she was good in the car.

So, we were able to drive a while before stopping for a break. Luckily, our pit stop was a neat place!  

It was a regular convenient store, but it had an alligator pond behind it where you could view real live

alligators!  How neat!  

Darbee was so excited to see live gators.  Luckily, there was a BIG one just off the shore.

It was so neat but a bit scary too!  I am glad there was a HUGE fence up. :)

He looks hungry huh?  Hehe...

We got a few snacks and were on our way again.  

I remember as a kids when we went to Disneyworld, my mom took a big black garbage bag full

of prizes for me.  Every so many miles, we would stop and I would get a prize to play with on the way.

I don't remember much about that trip (I was little) but that memory has stuck with me until this day.

So...I went out and bought quite a few prizes for Darbee Rae to have on our trip.  She was

so excited.  I thought it was time for a prize, so I pulled out the prize bag.  

She got two or three prizes on the way and several on the way back.  They were life savers when 

her toys and movies got boring.  

Window markers...what a great thing!  She had so much fun drawing the beach on her back seat window.

A pack of Windex wipes is an easy clean up and you are free to draw again!  Yes..this was cool.

We spotted a huge flea market and quickly turned the car around.  I was so excited!

I just knew I would find something prim or some old treasure to share with you. 

BUT....no luck.  We came out with NOTHING!  

It was the junkiest flea market I have ever been too!

Looks like you could find anything you want huh?

So not the case.  It was terrible!

Plenty of Chickens and ducks and rabbits if that's what you were looking for!

Not for us.....

So...we headed on down the road.  

We sure were happy to see this sign!

We stopped at the welcome center and stocked up on brochures and maps.

We were on our way again!

Of course, we needed a new prize.... 

Post-It notes and a new pack of colored ink pens.  

Perfect.

She had so much fun writing and drawing and sticking them to the window.

This kept her busy for over an hour!  Woohoo!

Then we got silly! 

Hehe...luckily, it was almost over....we were almost there!

We didn't have reservations because we didn't know too much about the hotels there.

We took a chance of finding something. 

I am so glad we waited.  

We checked out a resort that several of my friends had recommended.  It was fabulous!

We will definitely stay there again.

This was the view from our sliding door in our room. 

It opened up to a large deck that was on the beach...literally!

I will stop here so I don't bore you too much or overload you with too many pictures!  Trust me, I took a TON!  Will continue with day 2 soon! 

I hope all of you have a great weekend and a very happy Mother's Day!

Until next time.....