Sunday, August 8, 2010

PCB 2010

At the beginning of June, we went to Panama City. By "we", I mean me and Gary and the 4 boys, plus Gary's parents, plus his sister, Lauri, and her two boys, Ronnie and Wyatt. Ronnie is about Alex's age, and Wyatt is Mitch's age. (If you are trying to count, that's 11 people...8 boys and 3 girls) We had a fantastic 4 Bedroom condo on the beach, with a wonderful balcony!



We got up every morning and went to the beach. We spent the whole day on the beach and then came in and fixed dinner and went to bed. We could have officially been called "beach bums" and it was great! We really didn't have room in the condo for all of our beach toys, and beach chairs, and beach umbrellas, so we left them in the car, and Alex and Ronnie carried everything down to the beach every day. We didn't even come in for lunch. Lauri and I would fix sandwiches before we went down for the day, and Jack and Gary would pack the cooler to last the day. Poor Jack or Gary had to drag that big, heavy cooler through the sand every day...not fun, I'm sure!



The only negative of the entire week was the grocery trip Lauri, Judy, and I took when we got there on Saturday night. It was CRAZY! Super Wal-Mart was the closest store to us, so of course that's where we went. The shelves looked like 3:00pm on Black Friday! No kidding, the shelves were EMPTY...but the store wasn't! We had to have 3 carts to hold all of our groceries (that's what happens when you have that many boys), and we had to leave our cart's on the end of the aisles and bring the food back to the carts. We COULD NOT get our carts down the aisles. It was the craziness shopping trip I have ever had!



Okay, so I know you really just want to see pictures, and pictures I have! Consider yourselves warned, there are LOTS!



I loved to wake up in the mornings and fix my coffee and sit on the balcony (usually with Papa Jack). One morning, we walked out to this beautiful rainbow. It is the first time I have ever seen a full rainbow! This was when we first got to the condo. Of course, the boys headed straight out to balcony to check out the beach. I love this picture because Jake is trying to copy the faces Mitch is making. "Idol worship" in action!
Judy had not been to ocean in about 30 years. She was a little concerned that our condo was on the 12th floor. She had never stayed above the 5th floor and she doesn't like heights. She said she would just stay away from the rail, but this is where she headed as soon as she got there. She handled it great...and now she says she's going to the beach one way or another every year!
Jack and Judy were so cute together all week. I have more pictures of them together from this trip than I do for the entire last 8 years combined!

Papa Jack, Jack, and Gary went deep sea fishing one day while we were there. They loved it! Mitch, Jake, and Wyatt are not old enough to go yet, and Alex and Ronnie didn't want to go. It's kind of funny that it ended up being all three "Gary Jack Roberts".
From left to right: Jake, Wyatt, and Mitch all sporting their goggles, and Papa Jack in the background Ronnie and Alex buried Jake, Wyatt, and Mitch in the sand
Jake and Gary playing in the ocean. The water was absolutely beautiful all week...no oil!
I LOVE this picture! Wouldn't you just love to know what they were talking about?
Why are little boys so cute from the back looking out at the ocean?
Here are all of the kids playing together! Who would have guessed that 5 boys ranging in age from 2 to 14 would play so well together?
Mitch and Alex (not sure who buried them)
Papa Jack in the ocean with Mitch and Wyatt. This isn't as easy as it looks...Both of them want to hold your hands and jump the waves. Unfortunately, they did NOT like to put their feet back on the ground after they jumped!
Ahhhh...This was great! Gary was trying to talk Alex into going parasailing, and Mitch was standing there listening to it all. Well, Gary never talked Alex into it, but Mitch wanted to go! I told him he couldn't because he wasn't big enough. Of course, in typical "Mitch" fashion, he asked, "How do you know?" So, I told him we would ask...never dreaming that they would say YES, he could go! What?!?! He's only 5! Are you kidding me? Well, great! Now I was faced with the choice to either let him go, or make a big deal out of it, and make him afraid of something he wasn't afraid of. So...he went...and I went with him! Here we are...not that you could tell that from the picture.
We stayed on the beach until 7:00pm or later ever day, except one. We came in early one day, and all got ready for a little sunset photo shoot on the beach, and then we went out to dinner.
I love this picture of Jake...he looks so sweet!
and this one...captures the true Jake! :) Woo hoo! Family photo!
And...a whole group shot!
Grandma Judy (or Mimi) and Papa Jack with all of their grandsons! All of the boys...in a hole, of course!
A rare photo of Jack and Judy together...smiling...both of them!
Alex and Mitch goofing off
Another shot of the whole group
The only girls...Me, Judy, and Lauri
We walked down the beach to dinner. It was so sweet to watch Jack helping his grandmother! He really is the neatest kid!
Gary with his little "Mini-Me"
Yay! A picture of me and my favorite man!
Gary, Jack, Alex, Ronnie, Wyatt, and Mitch all went for a banana boat ride one day. Here they are getting ready to go
and coming back in
All of us playing in the water (except Jake)
Jack and Gary trying to put together Mitch's Star Wars kite, that never did fly...not enough wind that day
This was how we spent almost ALL of our time! We originally had our beach chair back away from the water, but the kids wore us out going back and forth. It only took one day to figure out we'd be much better off to just put our chairs down by water!