Our goal to leave yesterday was noon - so we figured we would be out by4! \240

We made it on the road by 12:20 and the car was packed full!

As I walked in everyone working and all of the guests are black. \240I take my confirmation number to the desk and she informs me that they don’t have the room available that I booked. \240Yet 5 hours earlier I called to confirm we would be late arriving - no mention of the no room. \240Kevin was furious, we are all tired and just want to go to sleep! \240They had 1 room a available that we could have but it wasn’t a king bed but there was a pullout sofa bed, and they would give us a discount on it, but I had to call Priceline & get the refund on the confirmed room from them.

We paid $169 for the king room, they are refunding that pull amount plus $28 for the \240inconvenience. \240The room we got they gave us at a discounted rate of $69 plus free breakfast - we made out pretty well in that deal! \240We get up to the room and there is 1 full size bed and the pullout sofa. \240We made up the kids space on the floor and we were done. \240

This morning for breakfast was crazy crowded and kinda picked over, but we found enough to hold us over. \240The sausage was delicious!

Pine trees look like puff balls

Well breakfast was a madhouse! \240That hotel is not designed to be at capacity! \240I don’t think anyone went hungry and the sausages were delicious.

We made it to the house around 4:30 after a very stressful trip of rain and conflicting routes on Waze. \240As soon as we had everything moved in the kids wanted to go to the beach & go swimming. \240I just wanted to relax and get settled.

They had the rooms divided out. \240Julie & Dave & Mark & Donna on the lowest level. \240Kids in the bunk room on the second level and our generation on the third floor. \240They assigned us a king room that has a door out to the balcony. \240Toan & Christa & Matt & gabby have the other bedrooms with the Jack & Jill bathroom and between us & the other bathroom on the floor is the sitting room where Ashley & Teri are staying.

Everyone except me went down to the water. \240They seemed to have a good time from what I saw from the balcony & pictures Teri showed me.

We ordered pizza for dinner and Toan Ashley Matt & gabby made a Walmart run. \240They said Walmart was crazy packed with people. \240While the kids were waiting and since they were already drenched from the seashore they decided to go in the shallow end of the pool, clothes & all.

After dinner they wanted to go back to the beach & I went along. \240High tide was starting to come in while we were down there. \240Some of the waves were pretty good size and came up on the beach further than expected. \240Kevin said it was a two red flag day for the current conditions. \240Doesn’t mean much to me but I know you aren’t supposed to go in the water because of the currents or undertows being \240so strong. \240They said you can even be fined if you are in the water. \240It didn’t stop us from standing in the water as the tides came in but we weren’t doing any swimming. \240A few of the waves came a little higher than I had anticipated and I was a bit wet by the time we left.

It was dark by the time we got back to the house and rinsed off. \240We threw the kids into the bathtub to get them clean then off to bed.

Conflicts that arose with bedtime - after all of the whining and crying because no one wanted to go to bed:

Everyone is super tired and closeness is already trying patience’s

Myles tried to take his switch to bed and instead it fell on the floor from the top bunk thankfully it didn’t break this time

I yelled at Kenzie because I was trying to get the stupid night light on the right timer and she agin had a million questions for me so then she is sad and in bed and we notice - no foo foo! \240We searched the house top to bottom, checked the car, looked in every bag that was in our car, looked under the car, she was no where to be found. \240Cammi let her borrow baby Vader for tonight and I promised we could find a new animal tomorrow. \240After a bit Teri thought to look behind the middle seat in front of the back seats and there ahe was. \240Meltdown averted!!

Then they are both out of bed, she has water in her ears and he is itching like crazy and has scratches all up & down his legs. \240We tried to stress how he has to quit scratching or he isn’t going to be able to go in the water anymore but put some lotion on his legs and gave him an allergy pill - not that it will help much, but he’s 8 and doesn’t know a lot better lol!

There are 2 washers & dryers in the house. \240One set is in the closet in aToan & Christa’s room and the other set is in the garage which you have to climb past the 2 cars parked in there to get to them. \240I wasn’t going to do laundry but there was so much sand and salt water in the clothes I wanted to get it out of them before it ruined their outfits. \240Plus, there is 1 bath towel for each person in the house period. \240So we are going to have to wash towels every day just to have enough, or I’m going to buy some extra at least for us tomorrow. (Along with aaundey basket so I don’t drop the clothes on the sandy floor of the garage.

Finally we are about settled in for the night. \240They have some fancy thermostats here which is taking some getting used to, and there isn’t really enough pillows in the house, but we are working together and hopefully tensions will be a little lower tomorrow after everyone gets some sleep.

Latest development- Kenzie’s has apparently kicked Haden out of his bed so she doesn’t have to share so Jaden is on the couch. \240She sure is bossy for being so little!

Headed to the beach this morning. \240Managed to

Fine a bit of space for my tent. \240It was a little further up on the beach that i wasn’t in the middle of all the conversation. \240After a bit I decided to go down to the waterfront to be more social. \240I had worn my swim bottoms and just my regular shirt.

No beach for the Wilson’s today! \240We will stick to the swimming pool. The kids are loving the scuba masks that uncle Toan got.

We were hanging in the pool and watching a movie this afternoon to hopefully get them a big of rest.....I do not think it worked out so well lol.

Since tonight was Matt & Gabby & Marks last night we wanted to do something to.

For dinner we tried Pineapple Willy’s. \240We got there and they would tell us a wait time in we were all standing in front of us even though they were all walking in from the parking lot. \240So they all get in and I let the hostess know and she said it would be 30-45 min wait. \240They had a little shop to go in, a deck to look off or a lounge that had air conditioning. \240We waited for about 8 minutes and our pager went off - of course because everyone had scattered lol!

So we tried to rally all 18 of us back to be seated. \240We started with a couple alligator bites and some chips & salsa, and lots of them got frozen drinks and moonshine shots in a variety of flavors / of course so they could find their favorite flavors, plus they had collectible insulated mugs they served the frozen drinks in. \240I was glad I hadn’t ordered a frozen drink, Christa said the strawberry daiquiri wasn’t nearly as sweet as she is used to getting. \240I think the consensus was that the raspberry moonshine was the favorite.

Myles thought the alligator bites weee just amazing & made quite the dent in one. Of the baskets! \240I was glad we were able to find something he would eat. \240When it was time for him to order he wanted mini corn dogs, chicken strips and a hot dog. \240I made him pick one and said we would go from there if he ate good. \240I got the prime rib even though it didn’t start until 4 and it was 3;52 when I ordered it. \240I said if they won’t take the order cancel it and come back at 4 so I could order it then. \240Kevin got the mahi mahi of course- I think that’s going to be his go to all week! \240My prime rib was ok, nothing really to write home about or anything but Kevin’s mahi was cooked just the way he wanted it. About 1/2 way through our meal mj came down and asked if he could eat his Rice Krispies treat, he had finished all his corn dogs so i told him yes. \240Then he came back down and was still hungry. \240I gave him a piece of bread & asked what he wanted- a hot dog of course, so I ordered him a second kids meal! \240When he’s in the mood, he is in the mood to eat!! \240He finished that hot dog and the Rice Krispies treat all that he left were the big pile of fries. \240One of the things pineapple Willy’s advertises is they the have daiquiris to go and Ashley was curious how they did it so she ordered one. \240It comes out as a virgin and they give you the airline size alcohol bottles for you to pour in on your own. \240We had to atop in their gift shop on our way out, the kids really thought they needed shirts.

Nothing says good family time like a game of putt putt golf! \240Mark & Donna didn’t want to play so it was like we had our own score keepers and photographers! \240It was pretty hot out and the course Kevin picked had quite a few steps climbs to cope with. \240But honestly the only one really complaining about it was Julie. \240She claimed it was the heat....something tells me though all of the alcohol she drank at dinner had a bigger impact on it, but what do I know about it.

We had talked about ice cream since it was so hot out. \240My thought was to go somewhere for it, Christa’s plan was more to go to the store and buy a gallon and some cones. \240I guess that was fine with the kiddos but certainly wasn’t my first choice.

Another fun night for bedtime! \240Myles wanted to sleep with Cammi and Kenzie wanted to sleep with Cammi and Cammi didn’t want to sleep with anyone! \240So we tried coming up with a compromise that would get everyone some sleep to no avail. \240I even took the kids upstairs so everyone did t have to listen to their crying. \240Since no one could agre me we tried everyone by themselves. \240We made Kenzie a pallet on the floor between the bunk bed & the closet and mj on the top bunk and honestly after fighting all of that I don’t even know where Cammi slept!

Today is a beach day. \240I am braving the elements and headed for water! \240Yesterday they dropped the second red flag so it was substantially less rough waves than before.

Once everyone was lathered up in sunscreen we were off.

The sand is SO hard to walk in!! \240Really gives you a workout before you even get to the water!

Kenzie is terrified of the “red ants” as we step off of the boardwalk. \240We wear shoes to that point then take them off when we hit the sand.

With the umbrella up and the blanket spread, we were set. \240Even I went to the water though I did decide I prefer when the waves come to me than me going to the waves! \240Mj has his life vest on and was having a blast in the waves he even snorkeled a bit. \240Kenzie was holding onto aunt Christa and they were riding them out. \240We tried to hang in the area about \240 \240 150 for out just before the white caps formed. \240The waves were easier to ride and less likely that we were going to get pushed under.

Cammi is apparently s ares is the waves. \240Toan finally got her out to us and onto a float by carrying her on his back. \240While on the float I said I would hold onto her since I wasn’t going out as far as some of the others so I could keep touching. \240This worked for the first 10 min or so then a particularly big wave came through and it happened before Anton could say anything. \240I held on and kept her above water but I went under. \240Even though she was still up it scared her pretty bad and she retreated to the beach.

Kenzie liked to go back & Forth between the water and building sand castles in the sand while mj was perfectly happy riding the waves. \240He was even getting stronger at swimming back towards us when the waves pulled him away.

About noon we thought we had been in the water and the sun plenty long!! \240We headed back to the house to swim and relax a bit. \240Ashley & Donna booked us on a dolphin cruise for tonight so we are excited for that. \240Kevin was excited Julie made burritos for lunch.

Ashley & Donna stayed at the beach a little longer until Ashley couldn’t take the Sun any longer! \240We said we need to take shifts at the beach with Donna since she’s the only one of us that didn’t burn!!

Our dolphin cruise started at 6 at Captain Anderson’s Marine.

As we boarded they took our group picture, she only took 1 and none of us had much faith that it was going to turn out where we were all looking where we needed etc!

We opted for the upper deck of the boat, it was outdoors but covered but we thought we would be able to see better and there would be a bit of a breeze. \240As we were waiting for everyone to load there were sea gulls just swarming around us - one pooped on Jaden’s head - he was not impressed! \240Kenzie says they can’t be sea gulls because we aren’t at the sea, we are in the gulf so they are gulf gulls!

As soon as we were leaving the port, one of the crew came through with some Cheetos then the sea gulls really swarmed!! \240 We sailed about 20 minutes out and they (the captain) spotted some dolphins. \240I’m not sure what I was expecting but all I saw was water. They definitely weren’t jumping out of the water or anything but some people were able to see where they were swimming. \240Not a big deal, the cruise alone was fun either way!

Cammi did not enjoy the cruise, every time we went over the wake of another boat and rocked a bit she went into full panic mode!

They had color changing souvenir cups that my kids thought were amazing. \240Funny though they are $4 with a soft drink. \240Capri suns & bottled water were $1 but she gave us 4 cups, 2 with sodas, a Capri sun pouch & a bottled water for $16. \240I was very impressed with her willingness to accommodate all of our requests!

After the cruise some of us really thought we should go out for dinner. \240So Kevin & I & the kids, Ashley & Donna decided to try captain Anderson’s. \240I had a shrimp cocktail with brussell sprouts and a baked potato &

Kevin had a mahi mahi filet which was all amazing! \240I had no idea shrimp cocktail wasn’t supposed to be chewy! Ha!

When we got home the ones that weren’t hungry had went out for whataburger. I was very confused.

The kids wanted to play Pictionary when we got home until 10:30 when Kenzie came over to our game of 5 crowns and informed us that she wanted to go to bed, she was tired. \240We finished our game and worked on finding a sleeping solution that didn’t include tears. \240We still had some but she agreed that so very Matt & gabby left she would sleep on the floor in their room with Maggie in the bed.

Today I have ruled no water day! \240When mj was in the bath yesterday he is getting chafed on his legs. \240This

Morning Ashley had a dive, Christa & Toan went to Waffle House and Teri Donna Dave & Julie went to drive & explore. \240Once we got moving we had a later breakfast at Andy’s Flour power cafe & bakery. \240Mj has a waffle, Kevin tried their biscuits and gravy, I had French toast and Kenzie had a croissant. \240Kenzie’s was the beat thing we had. \240The rest was all edible but nothing to get super excited about. \240They did have cute shirts that said powered by bacon, I couldn’t resist getting for Kenzie, it will be a little big but so appropriate!

Next stop was wonderworks

Today we split up a little. \240Ashley Donna Christa Toan and Kevin went to a beginners diving class.

They started out with resigning the waivers then a safety class & test which went quickly. \240How to breathe, popping your ears stuff like that. The instructors said don’t mark yes on any of the medical questions or they wouldn’t be able to dive! \240There was a big discussion between the drivers because of the online medical questions, one didn’t want to take Toan & Donna because of his diabetes and her leg. \240In the end they did let them dive but one wasn’t \240real happy about it. \240Next Kevin got strapped into his gear and Christa & Toan In 1 group with ______. \240The other 2 were with ______.

First on the safety checklist was how to breath, seal, no nose then slow in & out nice & easy breaths. \240The gear was heavy once they got it all in and then they still had to walk 100 yards to the beach. \240More lessons in the water with the water up to their chest. \240Christa started panicking so she had to go back up and calm down a bit before she could come back down. \240Finally it was time for slippers on which when you are carrying a little extra weight in the middle becomes a struggle in itself!

They went about 15 ft deep. \240Went out to the rocks then down the rocks and back and then back to shore

Last day and we want to make the most out of it. \240We were all up a little earlier today to get the the beach. \240Down we went en mass. \240We got the blanket spread out and the chair & umbrella up. \240The. I was determined to get my plaster sand molds made.

All morning we were listening to the thunder and were a little concerned that it was going to impact our plans. \240It was sprinkling at the house but it wasn’t doing anything there. \240A beautiful overcast day at the beach! \240Temperatures were around 84 and a light breeze, couldn’t have asked for much nicer!

We gave it a shot and pressed Mj & kenz & maggies hands into damp sand and filled them in with the plaster. \240With that task taken care of we were hitting the water. \240Boy was it a different experience today! \240You could really see a shift in the sands. \240There was loads of seaweed and shells washing up that we searched through for gems. \240But then, the waves had created a super steep ledge right at the waters edge and there were lots more stuff pounding into that ledge with every wave. \240We tried to do some shell searching in the waves but they were really hitting hard. \240More than once the knocked Teri & me down. \240Put me into a splits at one point!! \240After I had fought the waves enough and darn near lost the bucket 3 times I gave up and tried to get further out to sea. \240The ledge was still treacherous with the waves coming in with such force.

Once you got out there it was so calm. \240It was a yellow flag day any it was nice just to relax and enjoy without being on constant wave patrol. \240As we were out there Teri got the idea to go back to the house for Ashley’s water camera. \240Though it didn’t have tons of battery left after her dives we were still able to get a few shots taken.

Cammi even came out in the water for a few minutes for pictures and because Toan said if she didn’t then she wasn’t going to be able to get in the pool. \240Kenzie was perfectly happy going between building a sand castle to swimming & back & forth.

When Jonah Jaden & Cammi came down to the beach we made up some more plaster & cast their hands too. \240Again, such good sports with all we ask them to do!

The water was more murky again today and you couldn’t see as clearly. \240Which made the surprise schools of fish between our legs even more of a surprise! \240Ashley even saw a stingray and the seagulls were diving for fish right next to where we were swimming. \240I’m not sure what was up with the ocean but it was definitely showing us a different side of her!

About noon the rain finally made it down to the beach. \240We stayed out in the water for a bit but even though it wasn’t really a hard rain it was kind of a nuisance. \240Just as I was getting out Kenzie was insistent that she wanted to go back in. \240I really wish she hadn’t because the shells and the waves were a killer on my legs to hold on to her. \240It really was a workout trying to get back up on the beach, then you still had the hike through the loose sand, and my watch told me every time I went out in the ocean that I had closed all of my rings those days so I didn’t think I needed the extra workouts!

We gathered all we could and headed back to the house. \240The kids went straight to the pool and I went straight to the shower! \240I could never get enough of that sand and sticky ness off in the outside showers for me to be comfortable.

While the littles were in the pool we took the opportunity to go out to lunch. \240We found a great little restaurant allied j Michaels. \240Kevin got the fish & chips and I got the garlic shrimp. \240All the reviews raves about the fish & chips, but the meal they should have written about was my garlic meal. \240After this I knew I was safe from vampires for sure! \240The shrimp were cooked (boiled I think) then served similar to a shrimp scampi just sitting in the garlic butter sauce. \240Then I had garlic smashed potato’s - i think they used the same garlic butter as on the shrimp and garlic toast, and then with coleslaw which I didn’t eat just because it was too onion-ey. \240Absolutely delicious even if it was garlic heavy.

That afternoon we started gathering things together and sorting to see what all has to be done before 10 am on Saturday when we have to be out of the house. \240For dinner we only had snack foods so we found the Sisters of the sea and dive bar. \240We weren’t sure how good it was going to be but there were real mermaids that you could talk to.

There were 2 mermaids tonight, inside in the shell thrown was bubbles, then outside in the dive pool was Brittney.

Up early again, have to be out by 10. \240Christa was already gone but we knew they would be. \240I got my shower and gathered everything I missed last night. \240By the time I was back in the room Kevin had made up the bed and thrown the wet clothes in the dryer. \240As I finished packing up he started carrying down. \240Just another realization that everything had to go down 3 flights of stairs!

All we had to do to the house was take out all the trash. Put furniture back if we moved any, reset the thermostats and wash all the dishes. \240I was kinda impressed, I was afraid there would be more to do.

Kenzie & Cammi didn’t even wake up until almost 9, which was iuat fine they needed the sleep!

once Kevin had it all down the stairs he wanted me to pack the car, Tetris isn’t his strong point! \240I got it all in even with a little space for a few souvenirs I wanted to pick up. \240We had everything packed up and we were out the door by 9:40!

Dave & Julie wanted to get on the road, she was starting to pay for some of the poor food choices she had made this week! \240So Ashley & Donna joined us for brunch. \240We went to schooners which they claim to be the last beach club. \240We couldn’t figure out why their parking lot was closed, but we found a place to park a little down the road & walked back. \240We go in & the lasy said they were all set up we could sit anywhere. \240We looked at the clock and they didn’t reopen for another 8 minutes. \240They had a very minimal brunch menu which was mostly just Bloody Mary drinks. \240We \240considered going somewhere else but every place we found was going to be 20+ minutes away - only 3 miles, but 20 minutes. \240We decided to stick it out, mostly because the desserts were tempting! \240So what did we do? We ordered desserts as our appetizers! \240Pineapple upside down, chcoclate lava & a sticky toffee cake. \240They were all mini bundt cakes, plus it was a fun way to round out the trip, but they did fill us up more than we expected!

Once lunch was over we thanked aunt Donna again and headed our separate ways. \240I wanted to get a few souvenirs before leaving town.

I was honestly very surprised that we didn’t have any serious conflicts. \240We had a few disagreements about activities but nothing major by any means! \240Bedtime was a trial but I think everyone was just so tired.

Dave & Julie hit quite a few traffic jams on their way home but had hoped to make it to Memphis. \240Christa & Toan hit some storms but so far it’s been a clear run home!

While souvenir shopping we were weighing out our return trip options. \240Originally we were going to New Orleans but with Hurricane barry we didn’t know how much flooding there would be. \240Then we had talked about going to Dallas and up from there, or over to Savannah, Ga to Charlotte and then wing it.

I found an everything’s a $1 souvenir store and they had shot glasses & wind chimes and shells (big ones) and shell necklaces. \240They were fun to shop for. \240Plus they gave away free stuff too. \240Maybe not the highest quality but really does it matter? \240The other shop I went to was everything under $10!

Finally we had to make a decision. \240We left pcb by 1:10 (I had to go back for more shell necklaces, I hadn’t gotten enough with shell shapes and miss k is a little spoiled!)

We headed for Savannah. \240We figured we could make a trip to Dallas sometime more realistically than us going all the way to Savannah again.

Our original plan was to take 2 of the Luu children so no one was super crowded. \240But Maggie wanted to see the muny show footloose tomorrow night, Jaden wanted to get back to the weight room and Jonah wanted to go work, so all we have is Cammi, giving us even more room In the back end.

I have spent the last 5 hours updating all of this journal before I completely forgot all the fun memories. \240I think it will be more fun to make the books with more details to go into it. \240I’ve also thought about making books for everyone for Christmas, but have to work on it some more too. Among all my other projects!

In our trip to Savannah Kenzie figured out she can do thumbs up with her toes

We didn’t rush this morning. \240Taking it kinda slow, get places when we get there. \240We missed breakfast at the hotel so kiddos had some mini muffins while I went to check out peach world. \240They had almost anything peach you can imagine! \240Peach cider, peach bread, peach salsa, peach slush,, peach ice cream, loads of options! \240They also had pecans in different flavors. \240I really wanted to get some peach wine but they can’t sell that until after 12:30 on Sunday. \240I decided I would look at a grocery store later I didn’t want to wait an hour. \240The best thing about the store wa they allowed you to sample almost anything. \240I’m just hoping I can get them back home safe!

After I was back in the car the kids wanted to have their pictures taken in the peach photo prop. \240While I had them out I took them in to sample the peach ice cream which they decided was pretty good. So they got ice cream to go with their muffins!

On our way to Savannah we decided to try out the historic trolly tour that you can hop on & off as much as you want. \240As we were driving Kevin said I’m going the wrong way for what we want. \240Kenzie said do you need Cookie Monster?? \240It was cute that she related the two!

Missed breakfast at the hotel again this morning. \240We are just getting in too late to be up and moving before they shut them down. \240But I guess they need their sleep too!

We found a restaurant called the famous toastery for breakfast. \240I think the kids were most excited to have breakfast foods! \240We had to order extra bacon & sausage for them!

Cammi still isn’t making bedtime any easier. \240She still doesn’t want to sleep with anyone so it’s been a fight every night. \240My opinion is she needs to grow up but Kevin says she’s not ours and it’s not our place.

Back to the toastery. \240It looked like there was going to be a long wait when we got there but ended up only about 10 minutes for them to clear tables. \240I had their cinnamon raisin French toast which I wouldn’t order again, it was fine to eat but not as good as it sounded. \240All the kids had pancakes. \240Kevin tried to get a country benney but didn’t like the gravy they used, and when he ordered grits with it I knew that wasn’t going to be a good choice lol! \240Interesting at this restaurant every server is your server so anyone that walks by will help you with anything you need. \240Kinda nice I think we had 4-5 different people help us or checked on us.

Kevin went out to search for sunscreen and clean out cups from the car while I paid the bill. \240As we were walking back to the car there were some reflective glass and Kenzie saw her self and said “hi Kenzie “ yet it still confused her a bit!

After a stop at Walmart for sunglasses for Cammi we headed towards the track for our 1:30 tour. \240

We signed all of our waivers and headed downstairs. \240We were glad we had bought our tickets last night because many of the tours were sold out!

There is officially no reason for us to go to a hotel for free breakfast! \240We missed it again! \240So after packing up we went to don delfis pancake house. \240Kinda looked like a hole in the wall when we pulled up, but the food was ok. \240Next we were off to see the Sunsphere. \240At first we couldn’t find any parking. \240Also I was concerned we were going to have to go up all the stairs!! \240We found parking on the opposite side of the park so we had a hike to get to the tower but the plus side it had a working elevator!

The rest of the worlds fair park was very pretty and well kept. \240We made a quick stop on the playground then back to the car.