Panama City Beach - Day Five

I think this pictures sums up our trip. The guys really had fun together, going out to lunch, playing board games, and talking church. Amy and I of course loved being back together again. The kids were a delight. Amy and I didn't realize how much work took out of spouses, but they really needed a vacation, and looked so refreshed when we left.

Again with these two!

Daddy and the boys.

Friends forever

Aren't they sweet?

Our good beach picture.

Molly and her shells.

Julia and her mom walking on the beach

Tiny little fish

Grant and David enjoying the pool.

Panama City Beach - Day Four

We would go over to Grandmother's condo to swim in the heated pool. We were all very thankful for her hospitality, and the snacks.

Notice how Abigail does not have on her floats. She was doing her Aerial work. Swimming under water with her eyes open.

Caleb would jump in the deep end over and over.

David just swam all over the pool.

One night of kid fun. Playing the DS.

Something we saw often, Molly and Caleb buddied up. No, Amy and I not arranging their marriage, ....unless they ask us to!!

Panama City Beach - Day Three

Our morning with the Hudson's satrted with breakfast on the porch.

Kite flying on the beach.

hunting for shells, building castles, and playing in the water.

The girls just loved the beach. And the 6 months apart really didn't seem to phase them. They picked right back up, like leaving them happened last week.

Playing war in their matching PJ's. We had no TV and only allowed a little time on the DS. It was great to just relax and be together.

Panama City Beach - Day Two

We awoke to a beautifully clear day. The water was so clear,and the critters...hermit crabs everywhere. We went over to Grandmother's Condo and Sarah had come down to play at the beach too. So we all headed to the pool and then out to the beach. We had a nice Shrimp dinner and Chris stayed at the house eating a burger. Then we played at the beach until dark. Sarah went home and we got ready for the Hudson's arrival. As you can imagine, there are no pictures of them getting to the house, we were too busy hugging and crying to think about making pictures.

Panama City Beach - Day One

We rode down on Friday morning and arrived to the lovely beach house in time for lunch. I have pre-cooked a lot of meals to cut down on our expenses with this trip. So it was really nice to walk in the door and have everything we needed for lunch. Then we had to take a couple of steps in the ocean and and let our toes feel the sand before heading over to see The Gonzales Family. The kids had a great time playing together and Sylvia and I swapped recipes and homeschool plans. It was a great time to be with our seminary friends. And then the kids went fast to sleep.

It was just my imagination....

Imagination is a great thing. I am so happy that David is 8 years old and can still have an active imagination. He leads the others on some grand adventures. So this week, David was reading through "The American Boys Handy Book", and he decided they needed a fort. We don't have any good fort trees, and we don't have a lot of shade, but since I am David's mom, I have a lot of imagination too. So I showed them the corner of the yard, and the wheels went to spinning! I was able to get a stick in the yard, and then with some long rope, made a room. So now, we have a fort, and a place to drive the Barbie car to, and a place to set up lunch. The girls made a table out of some concrete blocks and scrap wood. So I fixed them up a box lunch, and let them eat lunch out there yesterday. They have had the most fun! I have enjoyed watching them, and it makes me feel blessed to be their Mom.

Homemade Peanut Butter

Grandmother called with an emergency freezer situation. Seems the freezer went out and she was loosing lots of food. So we brought home the bucket of peanuts. We thought it would be fun to make homemade peanut butter. So we did our research and learned that first we had to roast our nuts, skin them, and then chop them in the BOSCH blender. We added a little salt and some honey to the mixture. It turned out really good. And it was all natural and healthy for us.

Our honey from Cullman. Abigail in her new favorite giraffe dress. I think they are really leopard spots, but I am not telling her yet!

And of course, when you are making peanut butter you have to learn about peanuts. So we discussed George Washington Carver, peanuts, and peanut uses. The kids then drew pictures about what they learned, and David wrote a paper about it. It was a fun 2 days studying peanuts!

The moral of the story is God is good! This one little bucket of peanuts will provide my children
with plenty of yummy protein. We were able to get 4 jelly jars full of peanut butter saved for a rainy day. And God is so good about letting others share their blessings with us. Makes me feel all warm inside.