More from the beach

We had a fun experience today - we were at the park with some friends and suddenly the sky just opened up and started pouring buckets. Megan thought it was hysterical to get so wet - I on the otherhand was just trying to get to the car before my boot got soaked. We got home and we had a "beach moment" flashback. I got Megan out of the car and put her down and she RAN into the rain. She took about 5 steps out and started laughing and twirling with her hands out to catch the rain. She was in heaven. So of course, I let her play... until a big clap of thunder brought her running back into the garage.

I say it was a "beach moment" flashback because one evening we went to a neighboring beach community (Rosemary Beach) and played in their fountains. It's a family tradition and I wondered if Megan would be scared.... silly concern.

Drenched and loving it...
notice that it's getting dark and Megan is one of the only ones left running around out there.

Of course the next day we were back on the beach and Megan was back in the raft. She was practicing swimming in her few inches of water. That is her sweet cousin Daniel in the background going to get more water for her.
Then when the raft got taken out on the waves, Granddad was there to keep her company. Megan is telling him all about what's going on.
Boogie board babe..
My view...
Yeah, assuming you are noting the foot in the grocery bag. That's how I got to our beach spot and kept sand out of my beloved book. Fortunately our house was on the beach and not very far from the water at all so it wasn't a bad walk. I so know I see a sandbox in our future. Maybe I'll find out at the consignment sale I'm heading to tomorrow morning.

Cousins sharing sand toys. Megan tried to terrorize Anna, but Anna was a good cousin and still shared her beach toys.In dry sand or wet sand... Megan was bound and determined to play...

Now wait for it.......Wait for it......Even in the waves, Megan would dig and dig. We only lost the shovel once.
Our last night we went a little past Grayton Beach to a place called Elmo's. It's extremely family friendly and decorated with lots of - yeah you guessed it - Elmo's.
It was really hard to get a shot of all the grandkids together. Note the really cute matching dresses that Megan and Anna have on. I'm proud they were part of my summer sewing projects and turned out to be absolutely adorable.

Megan and Uncle Kevin (my brother).
Can you tell Megan had fun on Elmo's famous tire swing horse. It's always a hit with every kid that walks into the place. Megan was ready to ride off into the sunset.

And then... it was time to say bye to the beach... :^(

And now we are back. It was such a great trip. Megan loved the beach - every aspect of it from the sand to the waves so we are already looking forward to our next trip.

Sad News

Over the past several months I've mentioned a little girl - Sidney Markie who needed your prayers. She's only a few months younger than Megan in in her short life had to undergo a multi-organ transplant. I was catching up with blogs after a week off and was so stricken to find out that she lost the battle last week. My heart is so mourning with Sidney's family. I cannot imagine suffering the loss of a child. Please say a prayer for Sidney's family.

The Beach

OK - this might be long - and might incorporate a couple of posts - but here's our trip at a glance....
Getting to the beach was easier than I anticipated with some great nephew's for Megan's entertainment...
(Thanks Daniel and Justin for being such great sports in the car!)
Once we got there - we had a great setup. The house was right on the beach in Seagrove FL and we had our unbrellas up and waiting for us.I brought along our little pool to give Megan a fun place to play. It attracted a few others (me included since I couldn't walk in the water with my broken foot).But I have to say - she honestly didn't spend much time in the pool. She liked to be in the raft even more. We put some water in it and put it on an incline and it became her own personal slide. I think she prefered it because it was so bouncy. In this picture you can see her making her boat sound (bbbbuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm). And when the cousins took the boat out for a spin in the waves, Grandma and Granddad were always near by.
Megan loved the sand...Sometimes she "loved in" a little too much. Why sand on her face doesn't bother her is beyond me...The beach included walks with Granddad and Dad. Downtime with Dad under the umbrella....and snuggles when Megan got tired...

Some downtime inside with Grandma...
Morning laughs with Aunt Kelly... Popsicles with Daniel, Justin and Anna...More beach time.....
Lots of fun in the waves....
And some time watching Daniel fly the kite.

There is more to come.... stay tuned!

Tax Free Holidays

For my GA friends.... Don't forget about the tax-free weekend coming up (July 31-August 3).
I just double checked and the exemption still includes diapers (disposable and cloth)!!!!! So if you are wanting to stock up on some diapers - they are tax free this weekend.

Vacation!

We had a little hiatus last week and we headed for the beach with my family. It was such a blast. Last time we had the "Big Family Beach Trip" Megan was just 4 months old. So she didn't really get the whole beach experience.

This year.... She soaked it all up!
And she loved every minute of it. She's quite fearless when it comes to water. She'd let the waves wash over her toes and as soon as they started to recede, she'd start chasing them. We had huge waves while we were there so she was overcome with waves several times during her escapades. We were always right there to grab her before she really went tumbling and she always screamed with delight.
She'd even sit at the edge and play in the sand and just laugh when the waves would try to knock her over. One wave totally took her in a few feet - head over heels - and she just laughed and laughed. I was much more panicked than she was.

As for being at the beach with my broken foot... not too bad, just inconvenient. Believe it or not, there were others at the beach with similar bags over their feet as they walked through the sand as well. :^)
I just got back from the Dr.'s and my foot is healing up. I'm in the boot for another week then I get to start transitioning to an athletic shoe. Then in 2 weeks I have another set of x-rays to see how my foot is taking life outside the boot. woohoo!!!!

I have lots of beach pictures and memories to share so I'll try to get them on there later today.

Sniff

It's summer!!!!
Take some time out to stop and smell the roses (or petunia's - whatever is handy).

Bed Head

This is our new definition of bed-head.....
Wow, do those curls get out of control after a nap! And the picture really doesn't do it justice.

What a week

Being limited in my travels has made this a long week.....
Foot update (for anyone interested) - it's healing nicely but the x-ray this time showed that it was a pretty severe fracture (that was cool to see the bone actually healing) so I'm in the boot for 2-4 more weeks. Ugh. But hey - it's better than a cast.

So what do Megan and I do when we are homebound????
Fill up the baby pool!!!!!

And splash!!!!

And Sit!!!!I wish I could've gotton a picture of Megan on her tummy today - trying to swim. It was hysterical. And after some refreshing pool time.....
Yummy popsicles. Yeah - I have to strip her down or else everything gets stained to a fare ye well. yeah - I'm that mom with a half naked baby sitting in the front yard sucking on a stick. :^)

This week our Natalie came up and drove us to dinner to meet up with Tom. As we waited in the parking lot, Megan got to check out the car from a new perspective.

Sale!

Just an fyi...... The Children's Place is having their end of the year clearance on-line..... I just got shoes for Megan for the next 3 sizes and even got a great pair for $1.99. They are selling out fast - I looked at the site last night but didn't "shop" till just a bit ago and in less than 14 hours they were out of stock of a lot of stuff. But it might be worth checking it out.

Use this code: FA78 for an additional 15% off.



Happy shopping....

Oh yeah and consignment sales start in a week!

I'm looking for the Little People A to Z learning zoo - if anyone sees it.

Nibble Nibble

This weekend we made a trek up to visit Tom's old roomate (one of them) and his family. We live aways from each other so we don't get to visit to often. Megan had fun playing with Hannah (who is exactly 4 months older) but was a little out of sorts due to a really messed up schedule. She was flexible and rolled with it (for the most part)....

She and Hannah danced and giggled...
And we had a great time in their pool. Both the girls love the water and were kicking and paddling like the pros.
The unfortunate part of the reunion was that Megan has found a new way to handle her displeasure when she's hungry and tired... biting. Poor Hannah was the recipient of not one but two chomps from Megan. The first one left little marks but a lot of tears (and I really think she was going for the chip that Hannah had in her hand), but the second was a bit more vicious and left a bruise. We are soooo sorry Hannah! This was our first biting incident - but now I'm sooo worried that it will continue on.

So when I dropped Megan off at the nursery on Sunday I let them know about out little chomping mishap and warned them that by the end of the day she's hungry and tired and that's what started out little chomping episodes the day before.

I just happened to be working in the room next to Megan's and about 20 minutes before we were to be headed home I heard some serious crying... I actually thought it was Megan so I peeked in and learned it wasn't Megan.... it was a little friend who Megan had "nibbled" on earlier. He was fine but evidently when Megan started to head his way to check out his toy he just melted down for fear of what was to come... oh dear. She looks so innocent - but she's got teeth! And evidently, she's not afraid to use them!

Things that make you laugh

Breakfast is one of our most fun times of day. I don't know if it's because Megan is in such a good mood after getting a good nights sleep, or if it's because she always finds a way to make us laugh??

Case and point.... I looked away for just a second and turned back to see this....

Now how Megan got cheerios stuck to her forhead was a complete mystery to me. And in a perfect little stack of 2, with a little bit of milk stuck in the middle. It was priceless.

Tom cleared up the mystery - she had gotton tired of trying to get cheerios with her spoon and bent over and ate/licked them right out of the bottom of the bowl... a few hitched a ride out of the bowl on her forehead.

My little cowgirl!

When I say "Cowgirl", I take it literally...

Why is Megan a cowgirl?????
Friday was Chick-fil-a's cow appreciation day - so of course we wanted to show our appreciation (and free food is always a plus!) so we headed to a nearby chick-fil-a to meet up with some other cowboys and cowgirls....

Megan was eager to make sure that Jackson knew where his nose was.

And no visit by a cowgirl is complete without a ride on the invisible horse...

Actually, this was Megan doing her little dance - but it looks like she's trying to saddle up. I think perhaps a vivid imagination is in our future.

It's HOT!

So everyone needs a refreshing break with some water fun...
"Hey dude, didn't I kiss you earlier?"


Now for the moms who weren't in the water... it was HOT!