We took our first family vacation over Labor Day weekend. I was so excited to learn that we were going to Panama City Beach, Florida since that's where I spent literally hundreds of days frolicking in the waves & building sand castles as a young child. Now Nathan would be able to do the same.
We arrived Friday evening, and promptly put Nathan to bed. Despite our early start (we left Atlanta at 1:45 p.m.), we didn't arrive until 9:00 p.m.... along with thousands of other vacationers with the same idea. Our condo was beautiful, and right on the beach. We opened the sliding glass doors and welcomed the sound of the surf into our condo. What a wonderful start to a much-deserved & needed vacation!
Nathan woke at 6:00 a.m. (7:00 a.m. EST), so we fed him his bottle while watching the waves meet the shore, and he got his first look of the beach. Wonder what he thought of it all!! We made our way to the sand around 7:45 a.m., and after setting up Nathan's sun shade, we walked down the beach with our faces to the sun. Thankfully Nathan was wearing his awesome sunglasses!
After our walk, Todd decided that it was time for Nathan's first dip into the ocean. Of course I captured the moment on camera, and I'm glad that I got to see his sweet face as the wave rose to meet his warm body. What an expression! He's definitely going to be a beach boy!! We ended our morning with Todd building sand castles, something he hasn't done in 20 years, and Nathan kicking them down with his "happy feet!" The boy loved the sand, and certainly didn't mind having a soaking wet diaper encrusted with the powdery stuff. (That's the thing about PCB sand, it's like powdered sugar.)
We returned to the condo, where Nathan got a bath in the kitchen sink. Hehe. The sink was the PERFECT size for him, and the spray hose was perfect for washing the sand off. After a quick wardrobe change, we were off to lunch.
This is where things go from awesome to horrible.
Going for the whole nostalgia thing, I already knew where I wanted to eat at every meal. Capt. Anderson's & Angelo's for our two dinners, and at Montego Bay for one of our lunches. We decided to dine at Montego Bay for lunch this day. Horrible mistake. Horrible.
Todd & both got food poisoning!!! Without going into details, this absolutely RUINED our trip. I was sick for 2 days, and Todd was sick for 1. I almost called the restaurant and told them to send an employee over to our condo because we couldn't care for Nathan. It was all we could do to feed him. I didn't eat for almost 48 hours, and Todd was not much better. Poor Nathan spent most of the day Sunday in his bouncer, and I spent almost the entire day in bed. We did manage to get showers and get to Target... we needed to buy formula (that's another story all together), but we never made it back to the beach. I never got my family photo that was going to be on our Christmas card.
As horrible as this trip was, at least Monday morning was somewhat of a saving grace. Nathan enjoyed his breakfast on the balcony with a dolphin swimming in front of the condo, and his morning snack was greeted with a school of stingrays. He loved sitting on the balcony listening to the waves.
And so while we have both good & bad memories of our first vacation, at least we will never forget it!!
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