The Best Day

Like I said in my last post, Brad, Annie, and I stayed an extra night at Carillon Beach so that we could drive to Mobile on Monday and stay the night there for Brad's business meeting on Tuesday.  So, as I told Brad at the end of the day Sunday, the three of us had "the best day" spending time as our little family of 3!  We are so fortunate to get to vacation with each of our families and we certainly get to do way more than we could ever do alone, but it was so fun to just be the 3 of us for a little adventure!

We started off the day with a delicious breakfast at The Summer Kitchen Cafe in Rosemary Beach!  

We ate on the patio and enjoyed being surrounded by the quaint and beautiful village as well  

watching the passers by.

Look at the beautiful shops and architecture in Rosemary Beach!

I loved this stand alone screened in porch above the garage!  What a dream!

After walking around a little bit and admiring the amazing homes, window shopping, and watching dogs catch a frisbee on the green, we headed back to the condo for Annie's nap.  I was able to lay out by the pool which overlooked a small little lake.

After nap time, we packed up everything we own everything we needed for a day at the beach and headed back to Rosemary Beach.  We rented two chairs and an umbrella and set up shop for the day!

Here is our set-up!

After a few pictures including all 3 of us,

Daddy and Annie,

and Mama and Annie,

we sat down to enjoy the amazing view!  I haven't seen the water this gorgeous in a long time!

We saw two women walk by with a live parrot!?!?  What in the world?!?!

The houses at Rosemary Beach that overlook the beach are unbelievable!

Then, we all enjoyed lunch on the beach

and Annie played in her baby pool!

Annie was exhausted after being in the sun and splashing in the pool, so her Daddy worked his magic and put her to sleep beach side.  

Seriously, Brad can get her to sleep anywhere even when I cannot!  It is amazing and awesome!  I think Annie just relaxes in his big arms and falls right asleep :)

Brad and I gave each other a big high five and sat down to enjoy a cocktail!   

After Annie's nap, we headed back to the condo, let Annie take another short nap, cleaned-up, and then went back to dinner at the Old Florida Fish House on 30A.  It was that good! 

What a perfect day!

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On Monday, we packed up and drove to Mobile.  On our way, we stopped again at The Summer Kitchen Cafe in Rosemary Beach and then did a quick drive through of Seaside since Annie was asleep.  What a beautiful and fun place!  Once in Mobile, we had a good time and were mostly just happy to be together!  Unfortunately, Brad's meeting never happened on Tuesday because the man he was supposed to meet got called into court to testify about something.  So, after a long day of waiting around, we headed home about 3:00 Tuesday afternoon and were so glad to be out of the car!  I love vacation, but it is always good to be home!

Carillon Beach

Last Friday, Brad, Annie, and I joined his family at Carillon Beach for the wedding of Leigh Ellen & Mitch.  It was a lot of packing and quite the journey to get down there!  Annie immediately fell asleep and did great for about an hour and fifteen minutes until we had to start driving around in a big loop on Highway 331.  

Brad had a conference call for work and was afraid of running out of service on the rural highway so we kept turning around to stay within cell phone coverage!  Eventually when it was his turn to talk on the call, Annie and I got out and walked around a random gravel road and field!

Eventually, we got back on the road and slowly made our way to the beach.  We did stop again at Doc's which was one of literally just a few places that we saw to eat.  Thankfully, they were willing to make us a cheeseburger even though they had already stopped serving lunch!

The porch at Doc's

Finally, we made it to the beach in time to get ready for the rehearsal dinner.  We had a fun night and delicious dinner at the Old Florida Fish House on 30A.  Annie and I stayed until 8:30.  She did great staying up way past her bedtime and with all of the people and excitement.  

Annie slept in until 9:00 Saturday morning since she went to bed so late and since she was so worn out.  After we all got up, we ate breakfast with the family at a local dive called Steaks, Shakes, and Pancakes in Panama City.  We all lounged the rest of the day and got ready for the wedding at 5:00.  Unfortunately, Annie only got one nap in on Saturday so she was very tired.  

The Newlyweds

The wedding was beautiful and the food was delicious!!  We also took lots of pictures with the family!

All of us!

Love this one of Annie clapping with JoJo and Grandpa!

Aunt Nicole and Uncle Taylor

Just the girls!

Annie enjoyed dancing with her Daddy...

and walking around exploring with him!

Thankfully, Annie is a trooper and did great!  We stayed at the wedding until 8:00.  She was asleep within 1 minute in the car.  Poor baby - I felt like we just wore her out!

 Thank you to Tom and Joanne for the fun weekend!  We enjoyed getting to spend time with the family!

Brad's family left early Sunday morning to pack up his grandmother who is moving to Birmingham, but Brad, Annie, and I stayed so that Brad could do work in Mobile on Tuesday.  More to come on the rest of our trip! 

Easter 2012

Here are a few pictures from Easter Sunday that we spent with my family!  We spent Saturday evening with the Oser's, but didn't take one picture.  It always seems like I have pictures from one side of the family or the other, but I rarely remember to do both.  We had a fun evening with the Oser's and a delicious meal including homemade macaroni and cheese!! Yum!

Sunday, we started off at church bright and early with our gorgeous Easter service!  

The music at our church is incredible!

Here is our family after the service in the church garden.

After church, we all went to Mom and Dad's house for lunch, an Easter egg hunt, and a relaxing afternoon of visiting and watching the Masters!  Dad's side of the family including Aunt Janet, Andy and Laura as well as Grandmax and Nila joined us!

 Since we were all dressed up, we each wanted a photo with Annie on her first Easter.

Our little family of 3!

This is a new face of Annie's.  We see it a lot these days.  She is either concerned, confused, or just practicing new facial expressions!  It's a very funny face!!

I love this shot of Brad and Annie!!!  

Gorgeous picture of Aunt Elizabeth and Annie!

Such a happy baby with Aunt Emmie!

Grandmommy, Grandaddy, and Annie!  Love Mom and Annie talking to each other!

After a delicious lunch, we engaged in our annual, competitive Easter egg hunt!  A friend dubbed their Easter bunny the "Cash Money Bunny" and I love it!  Our bunny stuffs her eggs with cash and iTunes cards as well as some yummy chocolate treats!  Thanks Mom and Dad for a great lunch and a fun hunt and treats!

Congrats to Emily who was the big winner this year! 

 I can't wait til Annie is old enough to run around and hunt next year!  She will love it!

Spring Break 2012

Last week, we went to the beach for Spring Break with my family!  We stayed at the Oser's condo again and had another great trip!  Unfortunately, Elizabeth and Alex  had a different Spring Break week so we missed being with them. 

We had very pretty weather on several days but also had some serious thunderstorms and rain on half of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  With all the rain, it left me wanting more beach time!

Annie is a beach baby and absolutely loved every minute on the beach, walking in the sand, playing in the surf, and catching the wind!

 The sand did not bother her at all and she had no fear of the water!  In fact, I think she would have walked all the way into the ocean if we had let her!  She laughed and smiled every time the water came up!

Brad stayed for the first half of the week, but then had to return home to put in some work time.  Then, for the second weekend, he went backpacking / hiking to scout the trail for the upcoming Men's Hike with our church.  He had a good trip but did endure 45 minutes of hail and serious lighting in only his tent on top of the mountain in the middle of the night.  Ahhh...glad I didn't know what was happening until the next day.

Before he left, we tried to take a family picture one afternoon, but it was seriously windy!  

We did not end up with many good ones.

Just wait for the outtakes coming in the next post - you will not stop laughing!!!!  

One day we set-up a baby pool in the shade for Annie and she loved it!!  I wasn't surprised at all since she loves her bath so much!  She splashed and splashed for a long time!  

The exposure is off but the pictures are still cute!

Love this sweet shot of the back of her head!

Relaxing, taking in the view!

I know we will enjoy the baby pool at home this summer too!

After playing in the baby pool, Annie thoroughly enjoyed some naked sunbathing!  She was so relaxed!

And then finally, she ended her day with a nice, cozy nap on the beach!

My family loved getting to spend so much time with Annie during the week and they were all a huge help taking care of her! I know that Annie loved all of the attention and did not want to be out of someones arms the entire week!

Love this shot!

Overall, we had a great week and we were all so happy to be at the beach, but vacation isn't quite what it used to be.  Annie had a hard time adjusting to new sleeping conditions.  She is very observant so she always notices when things are different.  Instead of going to sleep so easily like she does at home, it was quite the effort to get her to relax and go to sleep for each nap and bedtime.  As the week went on it did get better, but it was hard on her and us! I did resort to nursing her to sleep most of the week which we both liked!  And thankfully, after coming home on Sunday, by Tuesday, she was back to her old routine of going to sleep so easily!

In addition to the sleeping troubles, Annie was also cutting 4 new teeth on the top.  Poor, poor baby.  She had a runny nose all week and was a little more fussy than her usual happy self.  She did not feel good:(  Thankfully, by the end of the week, she had cut all 4 teeth and was feeling a little better.  

Thank you Mom and Dad for everything and a wonderful week together!