Labor Day 2011

This year for Labor Day, Robert's mom booked us a hotel room in Panama City Beach Florida. We were so excited to get in one final trip to the beach for the summer and because neither of us had been to Panama City in years. The only bad thing, Tropical Storm Lee decided he wanted to hit the Gulf Coast Labor Day weekend. We kept an eye on the weather and decided it was safe enough to go. We knew it would more than likely rain the whole time but there's always great food and great shopping at the beach so we knew we would have something to do even if it rained the whole time. We headed down Friday evening after work. After stopping for dinner and making one small wrong turn, we still beat Lee to the beach. Of course since Bryson fell asleep in the car he was full of energy when we got there so we all decided to go to Wal-Mart and stock up the room while Lola put Bryson to sleep. Thankfully when we got back, he was out. After we got back, me, Robert, Lisa and Paul walked down to the beach since it wasn't raining. It was so cool to see the lighting in the distance and the way the clouds looked. The storm was far enough away for it to look neat and not be dangerous.
We woke up Saturday morning to no rain, but that changed very quickly. Bryson enjoyed a yummy fruit breakfast on the porch watching the waves crash in the ocean. There was no rain, but it was very windy.

There also weren't very many people on the beach. It was a lot quieter than when we normally go to the beach. One of the only sounds we could hear was a plane flying overhead warning everybody to stay out of the Gulf because of how dangerous the waves were.

Everybody except me, Robert and Paul decided to go to IHOP for breakfast/lunch and the rain started very shortly after they left. (we stayed behind to watch the Auburn football game). Our Saturday was spent mostly in the hotel room watching the football which worked out great since it rained the whole game. Even though we were at the beach, we were prepared with all of our game day gear.

After the game, we drove to Pier Park to see what it was all about. It was really neat with a bunch of different shops and restaurants. (of course we didn't find out until we were on the way home that there was an outlet mall behind those shops, but they were closed for Labor Day). We decided to go eat at a place called Dusty's for dinner and it was pretty good. We didn't realize it was so far away so our short walk turned into a super long walk but it was worth it because the food was great.

 The restaurant had signed dollars all over the place

The Dorsey dollar

Sunday was another day spent inside. In the morning there were a few tornado warnings but it never got too severe where we were. We spent most of the day in the hotel room playing a board game. There was finally a break in the rain so Robert, Lisa, Paul, Erin, and Eli decided to go swimming. (and yes, they were crazy enough to get into the ocean). Bryson didn't swim because it was little too chilly but he did get to walk around outside and experience the crazy wind. 

 The crazy waves on Sunday

 Bryson in his new Pineapple Willie's shirt

Bryson braving the wind

Sunday night we went to dinner at Reggae J's at Pier Park and got some goodies at the Kilwin's candy store. After dinner me, Robert and Paul sat outside and enjoyed our last night at the beach. The rain finally stopped but we were able to see the storm in the distance. It was pretty cool to watch.

We had Bryson's head covered so he wouldn't get wet but he was so determined he was going to see what was going on. It was the funniest thing ever!

We headed back on Monday and were making great time until we hit a good patch of rain and our car started acting crazy, so we pulled over to check our tires. They were fine so we have no idea why we were sliding so bad but nobody else was. After that we were still making good time until we got stuck in traffic on I-65 just past Montgomery. I swear we sat completely still for over an hour. Thankfully Bryson was asleep because he would not have been happy. Since we sat still for so long we were so anxious to get out so we stopped at Peach Park in Clanton and enjoy some yummy peach ice cream and other peach goodies before heading home. Even though our trip was pretty much rained out, we found other ways to enjoy our time. We had a great time braving Tropical Storm Lee at the beach.