A Birthday in Panama City

Yesterday, we drove over to Panama City to celebrate my mom's birthday. We left after church so that the little ones could get a nap in the car on the way. For most of us, it was a great day, full of fun and relaxation. But for Noodle, it was a Bad Day. She labled it thus mainly because of two events that happened on the way to Panama City. The first one happened when we stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break. Tyler (my brother) and Noodle went inside while we waited in the car. After a little while, I realized the bathroom break seemed to be taking too long. Maybe something's wrong, I started to think outloud. After another minute, Tyler came up to the car, moving quickly, but obviously alone.

"Noodle's trapped in the bathroom and the manager says there's no key," he said. Seth and my dad quickly ran into the store. The woman running the store (as I was later told) had made some rude comment about how her child wouldn't have gotten trapped in the bathroom and had gone back to helping customers. Does anyone here care that there's a little girl stuck in a public restroom? Apparently not! We didn't know if some stranger had locked her in there with them or if she was hurt... all that mattered was getting the door opened. My dad began to take apart the doorknob with his knife. The store worker, suddenly noticing that we were serious about this door business, magically "found" the key and came over to open the door!

Noodle was fine, but very shaken. Everyone filed out to the cars, and we were on our way again. However, this was not quite the end to Noodle's bad day.

She calmed down and began enjoying the rest of the ride to the beach. It was a beautiful day with sunshine and perfect temperatures. As we entered St. Andrews state park, we rolled the windows down and poked our head out to feel the warm breeze. There was a deer standing on the side of the road, and we stopped the car to stare at him for a few minutes. Finally, we pulled into the parking lot. Seth began rolling up the windows in the car and suddenly we hear, "Ow, ow OW!!" I look over to see Noodle's head stuck in the car window! It had only been rolled halfway down and she had been resting her chin on the edge. In a second's time, she was stuck! We couldn't help but laugh, especially because she wasn't really hurt, but Noodle was not laughing. This was a Bad Day. Would it be for you? If you got trapped in a convenience store bathroom and a car window all in the same day, would you be very happy?

Uncle Tyler found a hermit crab to show Noodle.

Hopers loves the beach.

Making sandcastles and smooshing them was a favorite beach activity.