Rainy Saturday

Time to catch up on what has been going on around our house.

I would have to say one of the main things is RAIN!!  We finally have rain down here.  I would say it has been raining off and on for about a week and a half now.  After our sunny Saturday came our first rainy Saturday.  While it made me appreciate the sunshine we enjoyed doing different things for a Saturday.

Our day started with a yummy breakfast at Julwin's in Fairhope.  Julwin's is a cute little diner like restaurant that has pictures of old Fairhope all over - so neat!  They serve a good ole country breakfast.  I think we all left stuffed!

Then we ventured out to run errands.  Our last stop while we were out was the library.  This was Paige's first time to visit and we had a great time!  I had not been to children's section before and it had so many fun things for the kids to do - everything from books (obviously) to a puppet stage, to puzzles, to stuffed animals and other fun wall activities.  They also had doors so that if it got too loud they could shut the doors and not disburb the rest of the library patrons.

Paige loved picking out books and bringing them to the little table to read.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at home just goofing off.  Paige even colored us some pretty pictures.

Poor thing wanted to go swimming.  She put her floaties on and kept telling us "swimmy, swimmy".

To wrap up the day we went out for dinner.  We have come to realize we are the parents who get super worried about how our child acts out in public.  We want her to act perfect and when she doesn't we both get a little stressed out.  Eating out has become more challenging for us so we decided a fun family dinner at Chick-fil-a would work.  We topped it off with a trip to the ice cream store.

Yum, Yum!!

Here's to more sunny Saturdays and rain during the week (while we are stuck inside)!

Cutie Patootie

Do you think she enjoyed dinner?!?

Some Things Never Change

...like taking your picture in the airport before a big trip.

In the airport getting ready to board for our honeymoon 7 years ago

On the plane ready to take off for Punta Cana

Funny Bunny Paige

For all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fans out there -

We have our own Funny Bunny Paige (instead of Funny Bunny Pete)!!

You may not want to drink from a Momma G's cup at our house - ha!

Sunny Saturday

I really do think our newest thing is to go out to the pool as much as possible.  I have now put off laundry and cleaning so that we can spend more time together outside - ha!

This Saturday was no different and we were greeted with this little critter -

We thought we would change it up a little and bring the water table outside (instead of keeping it on the porch and set up the baby pool.

The baby pool was a first for us and it was not a huge hit, maybe next time she will like it.

Always on the go

After an eventful day in the sun, we brought part of the pool.  Actually, we got this float not knowing what size floaty stuff Paige would need and this float is too big for her, but too small for us.  So, it stays inside and she totes it around.  For awhile it was in her closet, you know the normal place you keep floats, then she found it and brought it out to share.  I guess it is easier to watch cartoons when you have a float to sit with.

Dinner with Friends

One of the things I like most about living down here is when old friends come to visit.  I love it when a friend comes down to the Gulf for vacation and then wants to see us while they are down here - it just means so much to us!  Friday night was one of those nights.  Our friends Jamye and Steve came down to the Grand with their daughter, Morgan, for a little getaway.  They were sweet enough to squeeze us in and come over for dinner Friday night.  Morgan is 3 months younger than Paige and the 2 of them were too cute together.

Paige took a little bit of time to warm up, but it wasn't too long before she was off running showing Morgan all around.

I have a feeling Paige was telling Morgan the "rules" of her playroom (see how that finger is pointed, not sure where she gets that from - ha!).

While Jamye and I talked about life, the guys talked their history and the girls played and played.  Next thing we knew, it was 10:30 pm!  I think we could all agree that time flies when you are having fun.  I  love friendships where you are able to pick up where we left off without skipping a beat!

How cute is she?!?

Jamye and Steve, we loved having you over and can't wait to see you this fall during football season!!

4th of July

As in true 4th of July fashion, we had our celebration last longer than just the 4th.

Paige kicked off the festivities with her parade at school.

** Parade pics provided by Nanny

Lady Liberty, aka Ms. Leah, with her sidekick, Lily

As my mom would say, only at a Southern parade would you see a local fire truck!

Paige and the other girls in her class being pulled by her new teacher, Ms. Charmaine

Sporting the shirt Ms. Charmaine made for her for the parade

Ellie and Madi got ready for the 4th too with their cute festive bows

After we got back in town we headed down to the beach to celebrate the 4th.

Reading with Nanny

Anxiously awaiting to go eat at Doc's in Orange Beach

On the actual 4th of July we took it easy and relaxed at home.  We also went to a neighborhood social and then met one of Brad's coworkers for fireworks.

This year we watched fireworks in Daphne and they did not disappoint!

Waiting on the fireworks. 

Paige was not scared nor interested in the fireworks.  I am glad she was scared but thought it was kind of funny that she could have cared less that they were going on.

Thank you to all the men and women who have served our country and continue to serve in the Armed Forces!

Paige's Version of Punta Cana

While Brad and I ventured off, Paige stayed home with my mom and Bill.  I am not really sure who had the best time.  From the moment Nanny and PaPaw steped off their plane all 3 were ready to go.

Paige's days were spent...

Playing dress up

Driving around town

Playing in the water table, or should I say getting soaked in the water table (perfect for the hot days!)

Enjoying time at school

Getting her holidays mixed up??  She is ready to go for her 4th of July parade while playing with her bunny ears from Easter.  Funny how she wasn't that interested in the ears at Easter but now loves them!  She now plays with them daily, wanting to put them on my head, her head or around her belly.

Riding in her school 4th of July parade

and the best part of all - getting spoiled by grandparents!!

Thank you Nanny and PaPaw for taking care of Paige so that we could enjoy our vacation!

Punta Cana or Bust

Where do I even begin?!? 

Last week Brad and I vacationed in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic at the Iberostar Grand Bavaro Hotel.  It was FABULOUS!!!  The trip was an adults-only trip with me, Brad, Brad's brother, Justin, and Justin's wife, Christina.

I couldn't really decide the best way to blog about the trip so please bear with me as I try to describe our journey to relaxation.

Our trip began early last Sunday morning from the Pensacola airport.

We were ready to enter the country with our customs and immigration paperwork ready to go.  Neither of us were really sure if we filled it out correctly, but after getting through customs we realized it didn't matter; they just wanted a record of our visit.

A view of the lovely Punta Cana airport.  It was all outdoors with thatch roofs and really big fans.  It reminded me what you would think a Hawaiian airport may look like.  When you first enter the airport you get in line to get your tourist card, $10 per person.  Then you proceed to the line where you turn in your tourist card.  It was kind of funny that no sooner did you get the card you were handing it back over.  After we got our luggage we went through customs.  This consisted of a guy shuffling us quickly through grabbing our customs paperwork.

On our way to the resort we had a "War Eagle" moment.  The couple we were riding with were wearing their Auburn gear.  Turns out the girl had graduated from Auburn and the couple lived in Birmingham.  You can't go on a trip without your "War Eagle" moment!

We arrived in paradise a little after Justin and Christina and they were able to give us the low down on the resort.  Above is the view from our room.

What was the rest of the trip filled with?  Eating, relaxing, more eating and more relaxing.

A typical day food-wise for Brad and me included a room service delivery of coffee (with the coffee always came a small plate of breads and pastries), breakfast at the huge buffet, lunch at the huge buffet, a mid-afternoon snack of nachos while playing bingo, another snack of cheese and bread while getting ready, then on to dinner with included 3 or 4 courses.  We finished off each night with an order from room service of pizza and either a club sandwich or ham sandwich.  Yes, we were little piggies. 

The breakfast buffet had pretty much anything you could possibly want.  There was sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, omelets, potatoes, other style eggs, all sorts of pastires, all sorts of fruit, all sorts of cereal and yogurt, and even some stuff that none of us would eat.  My typical breakfast included a ham and swiss hot pressed crossiant with a little bit of fruit.  I changed it up a little on a few days by having bacon and potatoes.  I think Brad's plate changed every day.

The lunch buffet was not your typical buffet.  It had anything and everything you could possibly want, some things you probably wouldn't want (cow tail??) and if you didn't see what you wanted you could order whatever you wanted.  I heard where some people had lobster with their lunch every day.  I pretty much stuck with hamburgers and nachos for the most part.  I am a creature of habit and once I find something I like, I stick with it. 

Dinner - yum!  Each night was a different experience.  We were all good about trying different things and I think we could all agree that the Japanese restaurant was our favorite.

So, what did we do during the day and at night?

Day - RELAXED!!!

Really, the resort had different things for you to do if you wanted throughout the day.  Your Star Friends would come around looking for "2 million people" to play whatever. 

Brad won the air riffle shooting contest the day he and Justin participated.  He won a great hat!

Brad with one of our favorite Star Friends, Jose Luis.

Christina and I did water aerobics one day.

Brad, Justin and Christina kayaked.  I stayed back to get my one book a year read.

Relaxing on the beach, where you (or maybe just met) had the chance of getting cold if you were in the shade.

And this is where we spent most of our time - in the pool!  Here we are chatting with some of the new friends we made.  As you can tell, Brad is not in the picture.  He turned into a little chatty cathy with all of his new friends.  I guess you can tell he has been hanging around me for a long time - I love it!

Night - a little of this and a little of that

The resort had a couple of shows in their theater while we were there.  We enjoyed the ones we went to.  Here Christina and I are posing with Michael Jackson after the Michael Jackson show.  Some of the other shows included a magic show, Dominican night (which we did not see) and Boogie Nights.

The other nights we were at the ship karoking and dancing (yes, Brad and I actually danced, probably a first for us, but hopefully not a last!).  The karoking was fun!  The other people may not have enjoyed but I didn't really care.  After hearing some of the others we agreed we needed an up beat song  to liven up the crowd.  So, we gave our best shot at "Sweet Home Alabama"!

There you have it - the short and sweet story of our relaxing vacation!  We missed Paige like crazy and we both talked about how we couldn't wait to get home to get our big Paige hugs (she gives the BEST hugs)!!!