Pre-Hurricane / Beach Post 2

On Monday morning we hurried and got ready so we could get on the beach and soak up what we worried would be our last beach day. We weren't sure, and it didn't seem that anyone else was. We had a bunch of friends vacationing down in Florida and we were texting back and forth trying to get a feel for what everyone was doing. And the basic consensus was no one knew and everyone hoped that now-named Hurricane Michael wouldn't be as bad as they were saying (now a Category 2). We also hoped that the storm would go east of us just slightly, making what hit our area more tropical storm in nature. Once we got down to the beach we quickly found that the red tide respiratory stuff was worse and likely due to the high winds (they closed umbrellas before lunch because the winds were so strong). 

Mac got ahold of the water camera and her and the boys took turns (fought over) taking pictures...

Here are all the pictures I found on the water camera...

Maclyn was absolutely melting down so I decided to take her and Ivy upstairs to nap while Josh let the boys swim in the pool. I hung out on the balcony a while so the girls could nap and I could soak up some quiet sun.

Beach pictures were a bit more rushed and informal this year...doing anything with 4 kids, one an infant, just has an extra layer of difficulty. But I had some cute outfits for the girls (courtesy of Grandma) and being that this may well be our last night on the beach I decided to take some pics. With my phone. Because that is all I can muster up at this time in my life.

While out to dinner we ran into a group from our town and they asked us when we were leaving town due to the hurricane. We really hadn't planned to, as it looked like it was going to go east of where we were staying. The lady said there was a mandatory evacuation order for tomorrow by the afternoon. We were floored; I guess we were in denial that it was really coming. By this point Hurricane Michael was predicted to be a Category 3, but we still were looking at just getting tropical storm conditions. This new news put us in a bit of a funk, so we decided to make a night of it and went and played miniature golf and then got ice cream. Meanwhile, Josh and I talked options and planned for what was next since we were not ready to go home. 

When we got back to our condo that night these notices were posted everywhere. Sure enough. Mandatory evacuation. Well crap. So we booked a hotel room in Mobile, Alabama, for the night and decided to wait it out and possibly come back after the storm passed if the condo was OK. Let the rash packing begin....