Beach Bums

We just returned from our First Family Vacation. We have made several "mini" vacations over the past year - but this was our first real, "real" family vacation. We stayed in a house in Old Florida Village in Santa Rosa Beach, FL on Hwy 30A. It was a beautiful home located a few blocks from the beach. The weather was perfect for the most part. It did rain one day and a few times during the night, but it never put a damper on things. We played at the beach, the pool, we shopped, visited a water park in Niceville, FL and ate lots of great seafood.

Each morning Scott would drive down to the beach and set up the tent. He would then run back for his morning exercise and we would pack up the stroller and walk together for a fun day in the sand and sun. We did this so we could make a quick getaway in case Edie got cranky. All we would have to do was pack up the car and drive. However, Edie never did get cranky. She loved the beach - actually a lot more than I anticipated. She would play, take a nap under the tent, eat lunch, and then play more. She loved the water (salt water and all) she also loved to eat sand (a little more than I would have liked for her to). I thought the first time she got a hand full of sand she would think "oh that was a bad idea", but apparently she thought it was a great idea and she would eat more and more.

We ate A LOT of raw oysters. One of mine and Scott's favorite foods next to craw fish. We also cooked at home a few nights. We had a seafood market near our house so we rode the bikes down a few nights and picked up some seafood to cook at home and eat in. One night we cooked shrimp and afterwards I beat Scott in a game of Scrabble. The other night we devoured some excellent crab legs and watched a movie. On the other nights we met Gigi and Giddo for dinner at Stinky's (they came to the beach to and stayed in a condo in Destin). They surprised Edie with a Bear they had made for her at The Bear Factory. She was complete with hair bows, a bathing suit and a birth certificate. We named her Sunshine Bear. Edie loves to pull off all of her colorful bows.

Edie was a great travel companion. She never fussed one single time. We bought her a DVD player before we left so she could watch Baby Einstein videos (her favorite past time). She thought it was the MOST exciting thing in the world! EVERY time it would come on she acted as if she had just opened the best gift in the world! She was so cute and made some of the funniest facial expressions while in the car. We also stopped off at the Peach Park in Clanton and met Nannie for some ice cream and fried apple pie on the way home on Saturday. We had a great time at the beach and made lots of great memories. I can not wait to do it again!

We do have a few 1000 other photos to post. I will get these loaded ASAP - but for now, back to work :(