On May 14, the 3 of us traveled an entire 30 minutes to Rosemary Beach for a 3-night/4-day "stay-cation". Eric planned and booked this weekend as my 1st Mother's Day Gift from him and Lauren and I was so excited about going to my favorite spot on the Gulf Coast. We stayed in a carriage house within a 3 minute walk to the beach, pool, and restaurants. It was perfect and I couldn't have planned a better trip if I'd done it myself. :-)
Lauren even showed signs that she was having a fun time on vacation. She was a sweet little girl and swam in the gulf and pool (we went to each 4 times), played at two playgrounds, ate terrific food, and took it all in from the comfort of her new jogging stroller.
Our first night. Strolling on the beach and getting ready to watch the sunset. This is our new jogging stroller and we would highly recommend it to anyone in the market for one. It's a Joovy Zoom. And even fits in the trunk of my car with room for a few other things.
Just us...
...and our sweet baby. This is our favorite sippy cup from the Dollar General. Screws on tight with very minimal leaks. Yay!
Friday night sunset
Ahhhh...it's so pretty!
This was our first alone active vacation with Lauren. We've taken other trips with her, of course, but we've either been with others or we've stayed with friends where we've just relaxed inside. Well, who knew you could accomplish so much in one day when you wake up at 7am and get going! During our pre-baby days, we would have slept until 10am! Not now! We needed to get outside and enjoy the fresh air and sites and our days felt like we filled them up! Gigi would have been so proud of us getting so much done! I know I would do more of this from our very own house, but without sidewalks and a busy road in and out of the airport, this isn't as easy so I think my favorite part of this entire trip was being to stroll around and be outside...easily.
Playing on the slide at Alys Beach. Her first slide.
"Man, I love vacation!"
After our long stroll, we let Lauren finish a nap while we sat outside Wild Olives Cafe.
There was a terrific pool near the house and Lauren enjoyed every minute of it.
She met 2 older little girls at the pool. On our last morning there, this little girl walked over and said "Hey Lauren, are you having a good vacation?" So cute! She crawled back and forth across the top step of the pool all weekend.
Lauren is in the stage where she has no knowledge that the world or pools or lakes or the salt water filled Gulf is full of danger...she has no fear of anything!! We have to watch her so close! This would seem like a no-brainer for parents, but has caught me a little off-guard as I apparently am a non-chalant mommy. The picture above is her crawling right into the baby deep water while I take a picture. No crying though, just a face of "what the heck just happened?!!"
This little face with pooched out lips is a fairly new one for her. It seems to go with no particular feeling, but just a new face!
Loving the sand
Here's our set-up at the beach
Beautiful beaches
Crawling right towards the waves. I was certain that the salt water and waves would bother her, but no way!! She even got splashed a few times and kept going!
Loves playing in the surf with Daddy. He's her best playmate at the beach.
She crawled up and down the beach leaving her little mark behind her
On Saturday night, we called and made reservations at Paradise. "Yes, we need reservations for 2 adults and a baby outside at 7pm." "Okay. But we don't have high chairs or booster seats for children or a children's menu," says the hostess. "Okay. We'll see you at 7" says Mommy. Sooooo, we strolled up to the nicest, white-table clothed restaurant on 30A with our 10-1/2 month old in her jogging stroller dressed in her most Southern monogrammed dress, travel high chair, and mosquito lantern and checked in. We put her little placemat on top of the white linen, lantern under the table, stroller out of sight and ordered a nice bottle of wine. An hour and a half later, all 3 of our servers and surrounding fellow diners were pleasantly surprised that Lauren was a well-behaved little baby who loved to eat for an hour solid and wave to everybody around her.
Who says you can't go to a fancy restaurant with Lauren? Actually, I would be a little nervous to do it again for fear of having a sub-par performance from our little LEB but it was well-worth the praises from everyone as we strolled ourselves out of the restaurant at 8:30pm. :-)
Yes, one of Mommy's favorite dresses
On Sunday, we started our day at the beach again and as soon as Lauren could see the Gulf and waves, she started clapping! She was excited to be back and was ready to play with her Daddy!
"Okay, Daddy, let's do it!"
Sandy baby
Swinging away after a morning at the beach and pool
If you didn't already, Lauren's lovey is her bunny. She sucks on it's ears to fall asleep or right after she wakes up from a nap.
The Berry's can't go anywhere without going to a Mexican Restaurant. Lauren enjoying guacamole.
Lauren has definitely mastered the sippy cup...as long as someone is holding it for her. She hasn't quite gotten the concept that you have to tilt it back and hold your head back to get the water out.
Sunday afternoon
Tired eyes after a full of day of the beach twice, the pool twice and the playground
So hard to crawl with a skirt
Sweet Lauren taking a bath
One last trip to the beach on Monday morning
This little girl is definitely a beach baby!!
"Come on, Mommy! Follow us!!"
She fell asleep so fast on the ride home. We all 3 had such a great weekend of relaxing and enjoying playing with a very happy baby. It was a very nice, sweet Mother's Day Gift weekend. One that we will always remember.
