Florida Family Trip

We went to Fort Walton with Uncle Mike, Morgan, and Grandfather.  We somehow managed to cram into one small car. 

Uncle Mike drew a six pack on Jacob's stomach

I'm pretty sure this is right before they saw the shark/dolphin...

 Michael had taken them out to the sand dune and at one point Jacob casually said, "Morgan there's a shark swimming toward you."  As Morgan freaked and Michael lectured Jacob on how you can't say shark in the ocean, just like you can't say bomb in the airport (really, he did), Morgan began screaming louder and yelled, "SHARK!"  There actually was a fin coming toward them.   Michael grabbed both kids and started swimming the other way, just as he saw the head of the animal and realized it was a dolphin.  Less than 5 feet away from them.  AMAZING.

Then in another crazy turn of events, Michael decided to go for a late night walk on the beach one night after the kids and I had gotten into bed.  All of a sudden I get a phone call from him and he is shouting, "I'm on the beach, grab the kids and get down here FAST!"  We run out there, not knowing what in the world to expect, and find this huge sea turtle.  CRAZY.  It crawled out to the water REALLY fast so we only got this one quick pic (because obviously I would have taken 20 with the kids).

Here is the view from our balcony.  Our condo was really nice but we did have to walk across a parking lot to get to the beach.  Which sounds lazy to point out, except that we were carrying a tent, beach chairs, a cooler, rafts, etc.  It was great though.

Jacob has always been obsessed with balconies and whenever we have stayed in a hotel/condo with one he pretty much spends all down time out there.  Once we went to Gatlinburg and our hotel room had a balcony.  Even though it only overlooked a parking lot Jacob still spent all his time out there.  Michael said, "you need to get this kid a balcony."

 Morgie liked the balcony too, but not to the extent that Jacob did.

Mid-afternoon nap for Michael.  I'm sure I was doing the dishes or cleaning something.  One time he said, "I'm glad we brought you Shannon," after I had cleaned up.  Gee, thanks.  #nonapformama

Morgan and I have managed to start a tradition where whenever we go out of town together, I do her hair.  I try to get really creative, but sometimes the juices just aren't flowing.  I need to surprise her before the next trip by learning to do some different kinds of braids.

The first night we ate at a place called Floyd's where Jacob got Gator Bites.  Apparently they were the most delicious Gator Bites ever because he had them at two other places after this and they didn't compare.

The second night we went to Fudpucker's which has apparently taken over Florida because we spent about 3 hours there and never got bored.

They had a mini aquarium with an albino aligator... 

...and real alligators swimming around the front of the restaurant.  This is when we were first walking up and were just excited to see the alligators.  We didn't even know yet the fun that awaited us.

You can feed the alligators with a fishing pole for $3!  Craziness. Jacob got really pumped up because one alligator bit off the food and the metal hook on his line.

 Then you could HOLD an alligator!! At a restaurant!! Fudpucker's has it figured out.

Video of them feeding them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SomM7ZhuSoA&list=UUlEiBflpzVOnuPlwMTh3iCQ

Morgan got a "kiddie cocktail."  She was pretty excited about it.

When we went to order a drink, the waiter asked, "do you want a drink, or do you want a drink drink?"  Well, of course we went for the drink drink. Which was delicious, but came with instructions, and a shot of something that he neglected to include in his original description.  We were supposed to drink the shot and then, "take a sip of the drink, which will now taste like water."  Because the shot was so strong.  Yes. I don't remember what the shot was, but the guy was so impressed I did it that he said, "good job mom! I'm proud of you!" and high-fived me.  Alrighty.

Morgie looking like that cocktail is not so kiddie...

Since we were all together I decided to go ahead and give dad his father's day gift, which was a photo book filled with pics of Keith, Michael, and me from when we were little.

Our family pic

And the pic with the waiter who offered the drink drink

The kids with their shirts.

Jacob was being weird about not wanting to sign the walls so I signed the check thingy  hehe

This girl was kind of the back up person I guess (?)  because she would bring stuff, clear plates, etc.  Jacob asked her randomly if anyone had ever made a ketchup face on a plate.  She said no.... And when she walked away, he made one. #ofcoursehedid

Jacob looking thrilled for our mother/son selfie...

When we were leaving and Jacob realized he could sign the playground, then he was all over it.

This is Jon's fave restaurant in Destin so I wanted to go and at least get him a shirt.

I love nachos and I love seafood, so I got the seafood nachos.  They were delicious.  Everyone kept eating off the plate.

At a cracker barrel playing checkers.  Like a boss you might say...

*note to future self:  Jacob had picked up saying, "like a boss" recently, and then the shirt he is wearing and bought in Florida says it on there.

 Ewwwww

 Our trip overlapped with Aunt Debbie's trip so we drove to their beach/condo to hang out for the day.

The guys playing football

Zack caught some fish for Anderson

Aunt Debbie playing with Anderson and Jacob

Morgan, Anderson, and Michael burying Jacob, um, face down in the sand...

#cousins

Anderson is basically a fish.

Their pantry and fridge cracked me up

Morgan and Lily wasted no time getting to the crafts

And Jacob wasted no time getting in the pool

#cousins  #love

Aunt Debbie bought this 1500 piece puzzle for Uncle Vince because he NEEDS a project...

 ...meanwhile back in Memphis lives Uncle Vince's younger self, a.k.a. Jon Phillips.  He also NEEDS a project.  This is what we drove up to when we got back into town.

 We all went to Harry T's to eat that night.

Morgan got the $25 order of crab legs.

The guy table.

 The old people/teenage/Michael table.

 There is no pic of the mom/kid table for obvious reasons.  But as you can see, everyone else finished before we did and came to hang out around our table.  I'm sure that it didn't bother the flow of the restaurant at all.  #wetakeover

I stole Reese away from her mama and we went for a walk where we found a live band playing, Reese broke it down for them, and they threw her a necklace.

 Of course the gift shop was located near the door.  And of course they had the popular cord bracelets in every size and color displayed front and center, on sale for $5, and a sign declaring the whole $5 went to breast cancer.  Who can say no to that?  So I bought everyone one.  My fave moment was when Jacob tried to pick one out for Anderson and I told him to find a green one.  Anderson looked at me like, "YOU KNOW."

  

The boats

 In another CRAZY act of randomness/awesomeness, Jacob was asked to shoot the cannon off (apparently they do it every night to signal twilight? can't remember now...)

Video of him shooting the cannon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MfENTctp2w

Somehow Michael talked Jacob into going on two thrill rides.  The 'Superman' and the 'Cyclone,' otherwise known as the 'Cranium Shaker' in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.

Here they are getting strapped up for Superman.

I like this one because Michael is talking to him, and I'm sure he's Jacob if he's ok.

 I have ridden this ride twice, once with Keith and Michael and once with 2 friends.  It is a WHOLE different experience watching your child doing it.

Video of them riding it.  Might want to skip to about the 2 minute mark.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM-WyiyBQHI&list=UUlEiBflpzVOnuPlwMTh3iCQ

And here is the Cranium Shaker.  Which only lasted a few minutes.  Michael said as soon as it started he FELT Jacob go RIGID so he put his hand on Jacob's chest and kept telling him to concentrate on it.  But after a few cycles he told Michael, "Ok, I'm done."

Video of them riding this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmVu52pL5rc&index=1&list=UUlEiBflpzVOnuPlwMTh3iCQ

At 44 second you here me tell Morgan to go sit down.  Because she was literally about to faint.

At 1:31 you hear Michael yell something. That was to stop.  I wish I had recorded my hysteria while getting the employee's attention. If you notice in the Superman video I am talking throughout the video.  During this one I am dead quiet.  Because I have never ridden this one...because it is so terrifying.  I was just waiting...

Also not recorded is Morgan.  Once I get Jacob down, I look over at her and her head is going around in circles and her eyes had rolled back into her head.  It was SPOOKY/SCARY.  I basically carried her to the car, we got her a Sprite, and blasted the air conditioner on her.  She seriously did not stop doing that until about 30 minutes later.  Watching them had completely thrown off her equilibrium.

Finally, these are misc pics.

Here is a selfie Morgan took of herself and posted on Instagram while eating a strawberry slushy we made at the condo.  Her caption was "yummmm, I'm in Florida yall!"

This shirt says "this is what an awesome aunt looks like."

His certificate from firing the cannon

We went to a souvenir shop one day, and of course we based our decision on the fact that this one was giving away a free beach bag with purchases.

I have no idea why I took this pic, unless it was to demonstrate how Morgan has always been a messier child than Jacob.  She is more easy going, better at trying new foods, more serious about school, less argumentative, but can always find a way to get messy/dirty.  That is her gum somehow wrapped & tangled all around her fingers.

 On the way to Aunt Debbie's condo we stopped to eat lunch.  Well, and watch Spongebob.

I took this because Mom wanted to know why Morgan wasn't wearing her sunglasses in any pics.

Mom gave them each some money to buy a souvenir.  This is what Jacob bought.  Yes it did come from the beach souvenir store that advertised the free bag.  That's right.  Snuggled there in between the goggles and sand buckets were the toy assault weapons.  #ofcoursehedid 

We made Dad and Michael stop 2 separate times while driving down the street so that we could hop out (literally and run across the street) and take these pics.  We do love us some cut-outs.

Dad and Michael didn't even yell or act aggravated.  I was so proud.

I got Jon a t-shirt from his fave restaurant.