Florida, post 2

Days 3 and 4

On Monday it was still rainy but we took ourselves to Zoo World in Panama City. Not exactly a "world" per se, but interesting. We saw bears, wolves, lions, tamarin monkeys, parrots and a giraffe pretty up close. There was just a chain link fence, not a big moat like at our zoo. I felt a little sorry for the animals there, though, because the space was a bit smaller and less interesting than at a zoo. But anyway... Evy got to pet a wolf and get pretty close up to a baby bear (2 months old). However the peacocks which they allowed to roam freely scared her and she'd scream, I mean a real blood curdling, break your eardrum scream, whenever she saw them. Oh, and then there would be the hysterical crying. Yeah, that was fun. Um, she had an equally disturbed reaction to the ostrich, though it was behind a fence. The fence still allowed it to poke it's head over the rail and ravage any food you might have. I'm sure she'll never forgive us for making her walk past it!

Bailey and Evy at Zoo World. Taking a break from the terror!

By the time we got to the petting zoo full of miniature ponies, goats and such, she wouldn't have anything to do with it. The giraffe with a deck built up high enough to pet the big guy is in this same area but she will not go near it, either.

This is what made her happy. sigh.

After that, a little playing in the rain was in order.

Finally, we woke up Tuesday and the clouds were still there but Kelley, my beach-loving sister-in-law, would not be deterred. We ate breakfast and loaded up what we needed for the beach. It was a mere walk across the street and down the walkway. It was still a little cold, actually, but miraculously within about 30 minutes or an hour, the sun broke through, the clouds disappeared and it was absolutely stunningly gorgeous and warm! Well, the weather was, anyway. The water was still pretty icy!

The most beautiful beach I've ever seen!
(that little girl is pretty cute, too!)

It's sand castle building time!

Such a good architect!

Kyle, in a rare, still moment!

My sweet, beautiful neice, Bailey, playing in the sand with Kyle.

My fair-skinned brother pretty much stayed under the umbrella, though he did venture out a bit.

Fun-loving drama queen and volleyball champ, Peyton.

And Kelley's favorite beach pasttime!

MaryEvyn, the mermaid!

Evy, Reed, and I were kind of "done" after a while, so we headed back to the house. We cleaned up and then drove about 5 minutes up the road to Rosemary Beach (a very upscale beach community) to find postcards. We didn't find what we were looking for and had to go a bit further to the grocery store for the post cards and supplies but not before we got this shot in the square of Rosemary Beach.