Welcome to the Sunshine State! I am super excited because this is my very FIRST blog hop!!!!  I can't wait to meet other bloggers.  Enjoy yourself as you take a tour around our wonderful {and large!} state! Grab some freebies along the way, and be sure to enter to win our Bundles of Sunshine!

I have lived in the (sometimes) sunny state of Florida since 1986. I moved to GA for about 2 years after I married my husband in 2007, but because we missed our family so much and the beautiful beaches we decided to move back.  I am lucky enough to live and teach just a few short blocks from the world's most beautiful beaches.  Welcome to Panama City Beach, Florida!!!!

I love to take walks on the beach. My daughters and I go on scavenger hunts to see who can find the most beautiful shells.  Tourism is a huge industry here.  People from all over come to visit to see our beautiful white beaches and swim in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  My daughters have grown up here around the white beaches.  Once when we went to a beach in another state, they thought the sand was dirty because it was brown. I had to explain that not everyone is lucky enough to have such white, soft sand on their beaches. :-) 

Besides the beaches, we have a fantastic outdoor mall called Pier Park.  Not only does it have terrific stores and restaurants, but they do concerts in the park as well at the amphitheater.  

Fishing and boating are also very popular here in Panama City Beach.  I'm lucky because my parents own their own boat, and we try to go out with them as much as possible.  My girls love to go out and watch the dolphins play in the water.

I just can't end this post about Panama City Beach without showing you our wonderful sunsets. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and learning a little bit more about my hometown.

Now for the part you have been waiting for....the FREEBIE!!!  Who doesn't love to get FREE stuff?  This freebie will brighten up any classroom.  I am changing my theme this year to pink and blue nautical.  I love using bright colors in my classroom.  I feel like it makes my room look very inviting and cheerful.  Who doesn't want to feel happy in a place where the majority of our time is spent during the school year?  These are labels that you can glue to any container to hold sharpened and dull pencils.  I don't let my kids sharpen pencils during the day because I feel like it's just to distracting.  I make sure that I have plenty of sharpened pencils in a cup at the start of each day.  This way the students can walk over and put their old pencil in the "Needs to be Sharpened" container and grab a new pencil from the "Ready to Write" container.  My kiddos are always breaking their pencils and this cuts down on the distractions because they can quickly walk over and grab and pencil and get back on task.  This weekend, we have freebies for you to enjoy! Stop by each of our blogs for an activity or idea to use in your classroom. To grab my freebie just click the title below!

Nautical Pencil Cup Labels Freebie

The Florida teachers below have two fantastic giveaways for you! You can enter once from each one of our pages. All you have to do is follow my blog! Hop around to all the blogs listed below, and be sure to follow them to get more entries. The more entries you have, the more likely you are to win! Each pack also includes a Starbucks gift card (because, well, a teacher's gotta have a coffee!).  I will be adding my nautical theme clock labels to this giveaway!  Make sure you check out my store for other nautical themed products.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Come find out more about the beautiful state of Florida by reading about these other sweet teachers!

An InLinkz Link-up