Summer in Pensacola – Part 1

Despite the dark clouds over my early days in Pensacola, there were a few silver linings I want to remember.

Grace’s 7th birthday was the day after we arrived, and she didn’t let our less-than-ideal circumstances keep her from enjoying her special day.  I was particularly impressed with her optimism, because she’s the kind of girl who, immediately after one birthday, starts planning the gifts and theme for the next one! LOL

We talked about the things that would make her feel special on her birthday and came up with hotel continental breakfast, swimming at the beach, Subway for lunch, opening presents, pizza for dinner and frosted angel food cake and ice cream for dessert :)

Nothing like dry bagels and sugar cereal to start the day! LOL

The beach behind the Navy Hotel is on a bay.  The water isn’t very pretty but the kids still had fun swimming and playing in the sand.

She received a bunch of fun gifts and really appreciated all of them.  I thought it was adorable that she wanted a binder and a full-sized spiral notebook.  She really enjoys writing about her life and I’m hoping we can keep track of these early notebooks for her to read later :)

Andy found a fun pizza place called Ozone and it was super funky and delicious! It’s in an old school building and the dining rooms are tucked in various rooms along big marble school hallways.  They display a bunch of local art, have micro brews on tap, and serve up a delicious pizza!  It’s fun to explore new restaurants when you move around like we do, and this one was a real winner!

After dinner we made our way back “home” to the hotel where we sang to Grace and enjoyed her frosted angel food cake and ice cream.  It may have been different than our usual birthday celebrations, but it was a fun and special day nonetheless :)

The next day was the 4th of July, and Dr. Gould scouted out a free local festival for us to attend and it really helped me see the wonderful side of Pensacola.  We had so much fun that day!

Free pony rides!

Free face painting! Cold slushies!

Sweaty smiling selfies!

Super dad :)

Avery met a “real” live mermaid!

A Spiderman sighting!

I REALLY love outdoor festivals and cold beer, so I sent this funny video clip to my mom and my sister :)

Fun was had by all as evidenced by the ride home!

Getting out of the hotel was my saving grace. Andy was fantastic about getting us into the car and out on the road to explore. One particularly grumpy afternoon, we decided to follow Gulf Beach Highway along the coast and into Alabama.

We explored a shopping area called The Warf, but for whatever reason, most of the shops were closed.  I did manage to snap a few adorable pics of the kids though :)

Orange Beach, AL is a tourist hot spot so we figured it would be a good place to have dinner. We googled and yelped and after a LONG time decided on a place called Cosmo’s. We wanted a restaurant we could all enjoy and the kids sometimes make that challenging.

Cosmo’s was a winner though! They had cool art all over and it was all dog themed which Grace LOVED. The kids menu had something for everyone and I thoroughly enjoyed my cold pinot grigio and scrumptious ahi tuna salad.

We passed an adorable ice cream shop on our way home and pulled over for a sweet night cap!

By that point we were all STUFFED so we pulled over to take a walk along the beach before heading home.  It was a special ending to a really lovely outing :)