Happy Father's Day!

Today, was of course, Erik's first Father's Day. After being exhausted from our long trip, both of my boys decided to sleep in this morning. So, being Father's Day, I let them. Mills didn't wake until 9:00 and Erik slept a little later. I couldn't believe it. I had every intention of getting up as usual, and getting ready for church. I usually never set my alarm on Sundays, because Mills is bound to wake me up waaaay before time to leave, but this morning, I was fooled. REALLY fooled! After being so tired, we all needed the rest, and to tell you the truth, after Mills woke up, he took his bottle, and went right back to sleep until 11:30. Yep! I know...shame on me for skipping out today, but sometimes, you just need rest. I am still very tired, and honestly, I am ready to get back on schedule tomorrow morning, even though I'm dreading waking up and an extremely early hour.

Today's Father's Day festivities started this morning as my boys woke up. (the first time-ha!) Mills gave his daddy his gift, a nice new golf shirt and some golf balls. Later, after the second nap, we got dressed and headed out to my daddy's for a wonderful lunch...FISH! Mills ate very good! Everything was yummy!

We ended the day, with dinner at Mama B and Daddy B's house this evening. We had a great time, and I am stuffed. I've eaten more brownies today than I would like to admit.

I am very honored to be the wife to such a wonderful father. I am proud to say that he loves his baby boy with all of his heart and you can see it every time they are together. Erik can make Mills smile and laugh like no other. Mills lights up when he sees his daddy, and I can only smile when I hear him say, "Hey Daddy!" I look forward to the day when Erik and Mills can have their father-son bonding. Erik will at times look at Mills and say, "one of these days, we're going to be able to do this and that...." Nothing will make me more proud than to see Erik and Mills having their boy time!

Happy Father's Day our wonderful Daddy's!

Finally Home

We are home, unpacked, and Mills is in the bed...unhappy I should add. We woke up this morning at our usual time, after going to bed late last night. I had a little accident in which a very large item from our pantry dropped on my right middle toe. I went to bed in major pain with a feeling of 1000s of needles sticking in my toe. This morning, I woke up, still in pain, with a very swollen purple toe. Erik said that it may be broken, but what can you do for a broken toe? Nothing! Luckily the closer we got home today, the swelling has started to subside, and I can put a tiny bit of pressure on it. So, it may be that it is just brusied....VERY BADLY! All I kept thinking was, "How am I going to put a shoe on?" "How am I going to walk up and down the stairs when we get home?" Seriously, I can't tell you how bad it hurt. I would have like to have passed out!



I can't tell you how glad I am that we are home. A week away from home with a 10 month old can be challenging, but we did have fun. I am just ready to get back in to routine. It was nice walking in to a clean house with luggage full of clean clothes that only had to be removed and hung in the closets. Now, I can sit down, relax, and enjoy the comfort of my own living room.

Beach Day 7

We finally took a few beach pictures. No description needed. Just enjoy!

Beach Day 6

We headed out early to Foley for some shopping, but not before stopping by the lovely Chick-fil-A for an order of chicken minis and hash browns. Mills enjoyed them too! It was nothing less than another hot and humid day for us, so every time we entered one of the shops, I was relieved. It finally rained, scattered showers, and we were hoping that it may cool things down a bit, but I think it only made things more humid.



I was on a mission to start stocking up on a few 12-18 month sized clothes for Mills, since he is extremely low on them. Of course, he's not wearing that size yet, but we have plenty of 12 month outfits for him to wear now. So, why not start early? I didn't have much luck. I had planned on loading up at baby Gap and the Polo store. Actually, I didn't find anything his size at the Polo store and ended up with 2 shirts from the Gap. So, my mission wasn't exactly "accomplished." We had fun anyway.



Since we had been out all day, we decided to grill steaks for dinner. E & J went to the store and found some wonderful cuts of meat, potatoes, and a broccoli salad; and after finally finding the grills that none of the club employees seemed to know the location of???...we finally had dinner, settled in, and enjoyed our night.

Beach Day 5

It's HOT! Too hot for anyone much less a 10 month old to be outside. So, we stayed in today. Erik and Justin actually went and got a "foot rescue" at the spa this afternoon-ha! So, before they left, Amanda and I visited the gift boutique for a little shopping and ice cream.


UCA cheer camp is going on here at the club. It is way too hot for those girls to be out in this heat. I never remember it ever being this hot during our camps in Memphis, and it was July. Also, we were inside quite a bit. These girls have no inside. They all seem to be in good spirits...no pun intended.

The oil is steadily getting closer to the area, although it is still reporting tarballs only. I am sure that by the end of the next week, there may be a lot more. The President has been down here visiting the areas and resturants that serve fresh seafood. He came down our way yesterday and so our road was blocked off for an hour or so, until he passed through. I am sure that he was on his way down to the fort, which is where hundreds of clean up volunteers are stationed. We are seeing a lot of tractors and ATVs with men and women wearing very brightly colored shirts. The parking lot here that was full this weekend is becoming more and more empty.


We finished the night with dinner at Lulu's. Mills had his very first menu ordered meal, straight from the kids menu, of grilled chicken bites and Mandarin oranges. He loved the chicken, but not the oranges. I should have stuck with the mixed fruit or the baby green beans as a side, but he ate well. Lulu is donating all proceeds from t-shirt sales to help the children of the fishermen who have been devastated by the oil. How awesome! Now I can say that I've, "Been there, done that, and got the t-shirt!"

Mills has this new "thing" where he likes to lean over side-ways and sit back up...over and over and over again!



Daddy and Mills waiting at Lulu's...yes, they match.

Beach Day 4

A lazy day for us, we took it a little easy today, as we were exhausted from day 3. We have learned that hauling a 10 month old, along with all of his gear and ours, out to the sand, can be quite a chore, especially when nap time rolls around, and it is near triple digit temperatures. You know its hot, when someone tells you that their nephew's crocs melted in the car.


Mills took a good long nap this morning, as did I. We ate lunch, then headed down to the pool for some floating. Our little man loves his float and pool toys. We are looking forward to the day when Mills can walk and run around the beach without us having to "tote" him every where. The kids have been crab hunting at night and I love sitting on the balcony watching them. I told Erik that I can't wait until Mills will be able to do the same. There are just so many things a child can do here, but Mills is still way too young for any of them. We have been very patient with our little guy, and have lovingly catered to his wants and needs as a baby this week. We have enjoyed every minute of it, even though he has wearing us out-ha! He has been a chatter-box this week, and has learned to wave..finally. We even spotted tooth #3 coming in. So, I'm glad we brought the Tylenol and teething tablets.

Enjoying time on the balcony

The beach clean up crews were here this morning cleaning up tarballs at the edge of the water. The beaches are still beautiful and no one is afraid to go into the water, but unfortunately, the parking lot here is looking more and more desolate every day. When we arrived on Friday, it was packed, but today, there are tons of parking spaces and the condo and business owners here are in fear. It is so sad.

Tonight we were in for a little something "yummy" for dinner. We spotted a billboard advertising a Japanese Steakhouse (*of course one of our favs) and so we headed back in to town for some sushi and surf & turf. Mills enjoyed the peas from my fried rice, along with a few carrots. I also gave him a little bit of rice and some of my steak and chicken. He LOVED the steak! I couldn't pull it into smaller bites fast enough. He was rather excited, but impatient for the next bite.

Beach Day 3

Up and early again, we "lotioned-up" and headed for the beach. I was anxious to see how Mills would like the sand and the sound of the waves. We arrived out there early before it got scorching hot, reserved our places, and enjoyed our morning. Mills loved the water! Then, it got so hot that we barely made it back to the board walk without setting our feet on fire. Literally, I didn't think I was going to make it. I've never been on sand so hot, and I can't ever remember being at the beach in weather this hot.

There is no oil here, but tons of tarballs, which are harmless and more of a nuisance than anything. They didn't slow anyone down, but the club had a dispenser of Dawn at the showers, just in case anyone got them on their feet, legs, etc. We all did. I think there are more and more each day. When you step in to the water and the waves crash in, they are every where. Any where from the size of a pencil eraser to a half-dollar. A man and his family had collected sand in a bucket and brought it up to the showers so that they could mix it with the Dawn, making a pumice-like material to help scrub the tar off. He gladly shared some with me as his little girl held the hose and helped shower me off. She was too cute!

We did have a problem with "gnats" this morning as we settled in to our spot. I'll let you ask Justin about those! LOL!! We won't go there...at first I thought they were those pesky sand fleas, but they weren't.

We got a little hungry and went up for lunch, then enjoyed the view from the balcony, scoping out more dolphins than I could count. I, was of course, waiting on them to do something impressive, like jump out of the water, but it was not a show day for them. Nevertheless, they were beautiful to watch and I was glad to see them.

Erik, Justin, and Amanda have been excellent help with Mills and I actually got some "me-time" today. Wow! I was wanting to go down to the beach again, while J & A went to the pool. Erik wanted a nap, and so he and Mills took a good loooong one. I was encouraged to go and join the others, but opted for alone time on the beach and it was quite nice. Even though it felt like 200° out, I managed to get a little sun and be visited by a few nosy little crabs. Okay, so they weren't so little, but interesting, nonetheless.

We ended the night with dinner at the Original Oyster House, and this momma was happy enough to scarf down 1½ lbs. of crab legs. I left very satisfied!

Beach (Day 2)

So, let this be said, there is no sleeping-in on vacation either. But...I wouldn't trade a happy waking baby for anything. Up at 6, as usual, Mills had his bottle on the balcony, then we showered and headed to the Market Grill for a quick breakfast, and made a trip to the grocery for lunch and breakfast/snack items. Being new to the resort, we were still trying ot figure out where and what everthing was and so we opted for pool time and later a nap before heading out for dinner. To this point, I am still in awe of how much of a good baby we have. He is very happy, and of course gets fussy when he is tired, but who doesn't? It is in the upper 90s at this point and so, we were a little worn out. We still think that we are very lucky parents!!!