Bryan, Banks, and I headed down to Water Color for our first beach vacation of the year and boy, was it worth the wait. The weather was great and it was not crowded. We decided to stay at Water Color Inn on 30-A, mainly because it is close to everything, on the water, has a great pool, and we could ride our bikes to everything. I will not do a long promo on the WC Inn, but if you have not stayed there, I highly recommend it. They were wonderful and SO accommodating to our family. We will go back next year for sure.
The first day, Saturday, was a short day. We had lunch by the pool and swam a bit but it quickly came time for Banks' nap, so we went back to the room and rested, then got dressed for our first dinner out.
We decided to try a new place, Caliza. It is a beautiful outdoor restaurant in Alys Beach and the food was yummy too. Banks was a little confused when he saw the pool, he started running towards it and thankfully, he did not choose to go in.
I don't know what really got into my baby on this trip, but he decided to be a perfect angel at all of the restaurants. He would just sit in his highchair and if he wanted down, he just sat on the floor and played with his trains and tractors.
The next morning, we decided to hit the beach early and Banks LOVED it so much!!!! We were too busy playing with him to take too many pictures, but there will be more to come.
We rode our bikes down to Seaside and ate at Pickles, a local burger joint.
Banks enjoyed his first ice cream sandwich after lunch. Yummy!
The next day was more of the same.....Beach beach beach! Banks really enjoyed all of the airplanes going over us. In Birmingham, we lived so close to the airport (and Canterbury was so close to the airport), Banks was so used to the planes flying over at all times. One of his first words was "airplane". Well, here in Montgomery, we might get one airplane a day if we are lucky enough to be outside at the right time. At the beach, it seemed like 30 minutes or so an airplane would fly over us. Banks would point, say "airplane", then wave "bye-bye pairpane"
You will notice there will not be many pictures of Banks with either one of us. Wonder why? He was TOO busy to sit down with us.
We went to Cafe 30-A on Sunday night but did not take any pictures because we had just had a photo session with a photographer on the beach.....I think we were pictured out that night!
Monday night, we went to one of Ricky and Brooke's favorites, Cafe Tango. It was small and intimate and delicious! Banks was a perfect citizen in the restaurant...not so much when I tried to get him to take a photo with me!
Tuesday, we decided to get in the car and go over to Panama City and let Banks try some Mini Golf. He loved it but did not play by the rules by any stretch. Oh well...
After nap, we hit the pool for a bit.
....then spent the rest of the day on the beach. We met a really nice family with a little boy Banks' age and they had a YOLO board. Bryan was dying to try it and he did really well on it! Go Bryan!!
The sunset was one of the highlights of the trip. We stayed on the beach until dark and went in a got a pizza. What a great end to our vacation. It was a pure joy to watch our little boy so happy. That is really all that matters in the end, not where you stay, where you eat, or what you wear....just that smile and laugh on that precious face and spending time together as a family made the trip worth it.
