Florida Part 2

On Thursday, we were suppose to take a pontoon out to Shell Island, but a storm came in so we decided to reschedule for Friday. It basically rained all day Thursday. But we celebrated Matthew's birthday with some cake! I can't believe this little guy turned 12. Last year, we celebrate his birthday in Cabo San Lucas.

Friday turned out to be the perfect day to be out in the waters! We drove out to Panama City Beach after lunch and got into our rented double decker pontoon with double waterslides. We had an amazing time and the weather couldn't be better.

M has never driven a boat before so it was great that Tucker had some experience. We drove out into the bay between the mainland and Shell Island.

We stopped halfway to Shell Island and let the boys use the slides and jump off the second deck of the boat. I'm not gonna lie - I was not a fan of the idea, but I was overruled when the "adult" boys started doing it.

We stayed and played for a little bit and then it was off to Shell Island! Tucker let Michael take the wheel. He was a natural.

Putting our anchor down on Shell Island.

We explored, found little critters, swam, went down the slides some more and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Michael and Jayce tried to catch some fish - no luck. But Michael went snorkeling and found sea urchins and scallops. We also found some hermit crabs.

Matthew, Sydney and Mark decided to build an a arena for them to challenge each other.

Michael brought us a sea urchin.

We each took turns holding it.

These boys got along so well on this trip.

Michael did such a great job taking care of the little ones and sharing what he found.

He also brought me a scallop. Be still my heart....

We were so sad to leave, but it was the perfect ending to a fun vacation with friends. On our way back, Mark fell asleep like this. Such a sweet face!

The next day, we got up early, packed up the car and drove to Baton Rouge for our pit stop. Since I missed the Mississippi sign on the way to Florida, I made sure to snap one going back to Texas.

When we got to Baton Rouge, we checked into our hotel-which was very unique. It used to be a bank vault and they kept some of the original architectural details. We rested a bit and then went to dinner.

Mark was not happy about something. I forgot what it was about.

He was probably hangry and cheered up a bit later.

The next morning, we grabbed breakfast at a cool coffee shop next to LSU and we were on our way back home. What a great trip, but it's always nice to get back home!