Ryan, his brother, Craig, and brother-in-law, Marc, all decided to run the Gulf Coast Triathlon together the first week of May. They spent countless hours training and prepping and had to be in excellent shape for the 70.3 miles! Being on the Gulf Coast in Panama City Beach Florida, all of us family members, including Ryan's parents, decided to tag along. We got there the day before the race and relaxed on the beach while they checked in for the race and then we all went out to dinner together. The next morning was the triathlon and it was so fun to watch! We then had the next 3 or 4 days to relax on the beach and at the pools. It was such a fun trip!
There's a baby in there! The beach wagon became his mobile crib. Davis was living the life!
This half-tent saved our lives at the beach with a newborn! Worked perfectly!
Those tall condo buildings in the background were where we stayed on the fourth floor. When we first arrived, the kids were all running between condos while we unpacked and figured out sleeping arrangements. Somehow, Claire got turned around and separated from the other kids and got lost for 30 minutes! I didn't even realize it until the last few minutes but it was the worst few minutes of the trip! Thankfully some nice people on the next floor up found her and helped her find us. Pretty sure they thought I was the worst mom ever but I didn't even care because I was just relieved to have found her. This whole scenario was not a good start to the trip for this post-partum mom's hormones!
Seriously crystal clear water! It was amazing!!
Pre-race dinner the night before at Olive Garden.
If we had to be up at 5:30am, it might as well be on the beach!
Lucy got to run in at the end with Ryan and she loved it! Somehow Claire missed this (maybe she was sleeping or something?) and she was so sad about it, so Ryan did a little run with her for a second on the side.
Also a lifesaver: the stroller fan!
The Sunday we were there happened to be Mother's Day. The guys surprised all of us wives with a massage at the resort's spa for the next day! We spent this Sunday going to church and then coming home and taking pictures, naps, relaxing, and enjoying the beautiful views!
Mark took Lucy and Stella on a little walk around to keep them entertained. They loved waving to us from down below.
No filter! The water really was this beautiful!
Lucy's very favorite thing to do at the beach: jump over waves!
It was Callaghan's second birthday while we were there and so we had a little party for him.
I couldn't get enough of these beautiful sunset pictures! They might all seem the same, but when we were there, it felt like it was changing every minute or two!
We took a long walk on the beach one night, which took a little while with kids, but was fun and relaxing.
Our last day there had some rough waves and strong tides, with warnings not to get in the water, so we spent the day in the pools and hot tubs, which was fine since we hadn't done that yet.
