Well, here we are! The weather is hot, the sand is white and the bugs are plentiful. So far, so good. Yes, we are now moved to our new residence in Panama City, Florida. We are still waiting for our HHG (household goods) to arrive from overseas. It is estimated that it'll still be another 3-4 weeks before they arrive. In the meantime, we are sleeping on an air mattress and eating off of paper plates. We were very content with our situation until about the second night, when we realized our new home... is infested with fire ants. All of a sudden sleeping on an air mattress on the floor of our master bedroom meant sleeping with a can of Raid in one hand and a Dustbuster in the other... sweet dreams! :)
Besides looking in your shoe and seeing about 3 dozen fire ants, life in Florida appears to be fairly promising. They call our neck of the woods "The Redneck Riviera" because well, there just isn't much around... we have to drive a good 25 minutes to find a good restaurant and shops. However, the up side of this is... we have miles and miles of beautiful sandy beaches, basically to ourselves. Pretty sweet exchange, if you ask me.
Over one of our first days here, Kurt and I took a drive to Pier Park in Panama City Beach:
Such hard decisions:
You can walk or fish from the pier, eat at one of the many beach side restaurants, see a movie in the 3D movie theatre or shop in the outdoor shopping plaza. Whatever you do, make sure you're carrying a couple bottles of water, cuz it's mighty warm out!
Under the pier:
Introducing "Bella". She is our new 2010 Ford Fusion and she is classy... much better than our clunkers we were driving in Europe (which weren't even worthy of names). However... it did give us the opportunity to save up for this sharp beauty, so it was worth it.
Here is our new home. After weighing the options, we decided to move on base. We still think we made the right decision.
We went to Bonita Bay, which is a little cove right outside base. This sign will make you think twice before jumping in (at least for newcomers like us):
We also checked out the beach on base and Kurt stepped foot in the ocean for the first time since we arrived to Florida:
Not too crowded! It's perfect and awaiting you guests! (I guess we should just wait until the fire ant situation is resolved and our furniture arrives... I'll keep you posted)
This weekend we went to the Military Ball which was held at a ballroom on Panama City Beach. The hall was elegant, the food was delicious, the jazz band was entertaining and everyone was dressed to a hilt. We had a phenominal speaker, Colonel (Ret.) Leo K. Thorsness who is a Medal of Honor recipient. He spent six years as a POW in North Vietnam and his messege on "Wingman, Leader, Warrier" was truly inspirational.
Mom, Jolanta and I at the local flea market with our new-found treasures...
A little rivalry? Kurt is an avid Steelers fan and Geoff is a loyal Patriots fan... uh oh...
Mom and I making breakfast. It's been a while since we last cooked together :)
We spent a day at John's Pass Boardwalk, shopping and walking on the beach. We all got a little sun. Here is Geoff and Jolanta:
You can walk or fish from the pier, eat at one of the many beach side restaurants, see a movie in the 3D movie theatre or shop in the outdoor shopping plaza. Whatever you do, make sure you're carrying a couple bottles of water, cuz it's mighty warm out! 