Back at the beach! Camp Helen State Park–Panama City Beach, FL

Nicolas got a few more days of leave, so he drove out to Georgia to meet up with us – we had one day of playing in the pool before we moved on.

The boys had fun,

 

 

and Tom made a new friend!

Unfortunately, we do not have our truck back yet, so we once again had to find somebody to move us.

Given that, and the fact that we’re going to be waiting a few more weeks for the truck, we decided to bypass Gulf Shores (where we were supposed to meet up with Tom’s cousins for several fun-filled days at the beach!) and go straight to Camp Helen State Park, where would be spending the month of July.  It was actually a shorter drive, and we eliminated having to be towed again later in the week.

We made our way south through Alabama,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and arrived at Camp Helen State Park in the late afternoon.  With help from our friends, Tim & Denise, and the other volunteers, we selected a site and got set up for our stay in Volunteer Village.

We spent our first few days getting acclimated and familiar with the park -

the beach,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the nature trail,

 

 

and a few of the historic buildings.

 

After dinner on Sunday, Nicolas and Bryce did a little crabbin’ with one of the other volunteers, Mike.

It was slower than usual, according to Mike, but they did finally start to pull up a few crabs.         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bryce got the technique of holding onto them down pretty well,

 

but Nicolas was a little hesitant around those pinchers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He finally got the hang of it, though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They continued to watch the traps until the chicken pieces were completely picked down to the bone,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

while I walked to the beach to check out the sunset.

 

It was a beautiful one that night!