Last weekend, we took our very first vacation with both kids. Our friends invited us to their beach house for the weekend in Gulf Shores, and since my sister lives just about an hour away, we took her up on her offer to keep the rugrats for the weekend while we went and played. So we decided to head down a day early and attempt a day/night in a hotel at the beach with Georgia and Ryland. It's about a 6-7 hour drive without stops, so it was a pretty long drive - but it actually went better than we would've thought! We stopped every 2 hours, once at a rest stop and once at Cracker Barrel. Georgia was great and Ryland was....Ryland. Easy going as ever.
When we got to the hotel, the first thing we did was head next door to a souvenir shop to get G some beach toys. She was super ready to go play and not a huge fan of getting sunscreen applied.
She had the. best. time. She's only had a couple of swimming lessons, but they've really helped her confidence in the water. She LOVED it, and she even let us dunk her under a few times without freaking out!
This next picture is for no reason except to share her baby cheeks.
And this one is for her curls. I mean, come on. The cuteness.
We headed down to the beach for just a short time. It was tough with just the 2 of us to take all our junk and handle the babies. I imagine it will be easier when Ryland is walking, but it didn't take long for us to realize what a hassle it was! Regardless, we had a really fun time exposing G to the sand and ocean for the first time. She was adorable.
She wasn't too sure of the sand, but loved being in the waves.
Ryland was so sleepy and tired, he couldn't have cared less, so he and I just hung on the towel and watched daddy and G play in the water for awhile.
We played with her sand toys a little bit, but she really didn't like how it stuck to her hands and skin! Maybe next year she'll appreciate the coolness of sand castles a little more. This time, my hopes of building an architectural miracle were completely dashed.
We headed in after about a half hour of beach time because all 4 of us were completely exhausted. Here's a tip: DO NOT go on vacation without a baby carrier. What was I thinking?! My arms are still sore.
We had a pretty nice evening despite an over-tired toddler. Our first attempt at a restaurant was awful - couldn't even get seated, so we ended up paying about double at a really nice place, but the server was extremely kind to us and the food was amazing, so it was all worth it in the end. Vanessa at The Cobalt got a nice tip from us because she really made the evening. (Here's a tip: Be nice to young parents struggling with 2 little ones -- who I must say are not even bad while out because we are quite strict. Our server the next day at Jim & Nick's on the road was NOT so nice. VERY frustrating!!!)
Anyway, on Friday we killed some time in Daphne/Mobile while we waited for my sister to get home from work to drop off the kids. We went to Bass Pro Shops, which was tons of fun for G to see the big fish and animals (she didn't like the target shooting, though - scared her!) We also dropped by the USS Alabama so that I could feed Ryland while Nathan walked around the grounds with G and took some pictures. She was especially fond of the seagulls. Nathan told her that if she could catch one, we'd keep it. I watched her chase them in the parking lot for a good 10 minutes - hilarious.
All in all, successful vacation! We borrowed a new van from Nathan's uncle for the trip and I'm hesitant to admit that I see the genius in owning a van, especially if you like to travel. Ugh. I also see the reasoning behind "big" family trips -- it used to sound stressful to me for the company, but geez, with little kids, a few extra hands would go a long way. We're really thankful for my sister and brother-in-law for keeping the babes while we got to get away for a couple nights. Two COMPLETE nights of sleep in a row did momma good. Now I just need a vacation from vacation....
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