Flo-RIDE-uh

Deveraux Family vacation. Panama City Beach, Florida. May 2012. Boom.

Ever tried to take a self-portrait with cars whizzing by at 70 mph? Kinda awkward, even for me.

Skipped a few state signs, but I knew I could get 'em on the way back.

Panama City Beach, Florida! Whew... I made the 9 hour drive in one piece! Such a beautiful sunset, it made it all worth it. Oh yeah, that AND seeing my awesome family. 

This was the view from the balcony. How lucky was I??!!

 

Fun haters.

 

Freshly manicured toes in warm sand while listening to the sounds of the ocean. Nuthin' better.

This is how my family roles... Women in the kitchen, men attempting to boss us around, women doing what they want anyways. Left to right: Karen, Lisa, Tsenre, Tina. And yes, the twins are wearing matching outfits. They went shopping together before the trip to make sure they

would match every day.

The quiet ones (Grandma and Steve) keeping to themselves until dinner is served. 

After dinner we still had WAY too many shrimp left. We decided to prep them for the next morning's breakfast. Or lunch or whatever they ended up doing with them. 

First time for everything! Being this close to some of the tastiest seafood... gotta try something new! Hardly any of us had experienced oysters so we all went to a local favorite restaurant and ordered pretty much one of everything to try.

After trying every kind of oyster and a few other tasty treats, we started discussing dessert. What better than some local key lime pie?! We started looking up places we could find it, but being about 5 pm all the bakeries were closed. So me being not-so-shy asked the waiter if he knew of anywhere. Fortunate for us, they had some here! But... they only sold it by the slice. That would be way to expensive for like 15 people. :(  So after a little persuasion from me and a little flirting from Amber, he got his boss to give us a discount. Score!!

 It was pretty tasty, but the story made it better for all of us.

 

Unfortunately I wasn't able to cross this off my bucket list. Next time. 

How adorable is this?!

 

I couldn't get enough of this sky. 

We were high enough up we could see directly down into the water. Saw plenty of wildlife... stingrays, dolphins and probably a shark (way out).

 At the fish market, headed for the shrimp boat.

 The lady that all the locals sent us to. She was HILARIOUS to boot!!

 Ewwwww....

 Did you know that Halibut have both their eyes on one side of their head? Creepy little buggers.

 Cheers!

 Grandpa... tell me how you REALLY feel!

 Grandpa getting his first tattoo at the age of 77. Don't worry, it was just a temporary one.

 Lauren taking her turn next.

 Amber, like me, knew exactly what she wanted.

Grandpa showing off his masterpiece. It is his nickname for Grandma, "Blossom." My favorite moment of the whole vacation was when he showed it to her.

  It was the most giddy I have ever seen her.

Knew I could knock it out on the way back.

 

Also found some pretty horses in a pasture right beside the highway. Could've stood there all day to get an actual photo if I wasn't in a hurry to get home before dark. 

The foals were so cute!