Florida!

My family went on vacation for a week in Destin, Florida over the 4th of July.

Trinity had to work, so Genevieve and I traveled with my parents.

I felt like a teen mother with my child.  

My parents are slow drivers and they don't like to go very far in one stretch.  We made it to Northern Alabama the day we left, which was about 6 1/2 hours of driving.

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  Mother follows  a strict gluten free diet, so her dinner consisted of wine.

I'm kidding.

She had tortilla chips too.

We stayed at our neighbors' condo for the week.  It was absolutely beautiful and was right on the beach.  That was perfect for my beach bum mother and my equally beach bum child.  

Katie, Chip, and Caroline met us there on Saturday.

I compulsively covered and sunscreened my daughter.

She loved it.  

The water was stunning.

Robby X2 and Meghan arrived on Sunday.  Everyone immediately commenced baby squeezing.  

MY NEPHEW DOES NOT CRY.

He coos and smiles.

Constantly.

G was a very good baby.

Robby is beyond perfect.

He even let us put hats on him.

I was very concerned that Genevieve would be all peanut butter and jealous of Robby, particularly when YaYa loved on him.

I was shocked that she was not at all PB&J.

She paid attention to him and was actually a big helper.  She fetched toys and diapers and played with him a lot.

One morning Chip retrieved the paddle board for me to try.  I paddled around a bit last summer at Jamie's lake house, but the ocean has quite a bit of motion in it.  

I probably played with it for about 30 minutes, and it was hard as hell.  

When I practice yoga, balance is definitely my strength.  Not so here, people. I got up and stayed up many times, but also took more than a few topples into the waves.  After that I decided I had exercised more than enough for the week.  

Since I was in Virginia for my 38th birthday, Bob wanted us to celebrate my birthday with a dinner out.  

We went to a restaurant in Baytowne Wharf that I did not realize was all outdoor seating.  My peeps were about to pass out and Li'l Robby appeared to be quite uncomfortable, so G led the way and found a little diner with air conditioning.  

Everyone was much happier with that option.

Sister braided my hair as a birthday gift.

As if!

I received Nordstrom gift cards from my siblings because they are great like that.  

G found a carousel and it was game on. 

My mother practically pitched a tent on the beach.  She rarely left.  We even brought her a baby to tend to.

The waves made a sandbar each day.

Isn't that water incredible?

We watched fireworks on the beach for the 4th.  

Some of them were a bit loud.

We took a break from the beach one day and perused the outdoor shopping mall.  We had lunch at Tommy Bahamas and it was seriously good.  

Our waitress brought macaroni and cheese with an umbrella in it so G was pretty excited.  

Babies like Bob's mustache.

Little known fact:  I have never seen my father without a mustache.  He has had one my entire life.  

Genevieve found the splash pad fountains and had a ball.  It was so hot outside!

Every morning we beached it, 

and then we had lunch and Genevieve and I did this for at least 2 hours.  Then back to the beach!

We enjoyed an evening in Rosemary Beach, site of two former family vacations.  

I broke my no exercise pledge and yogacized in the entry hallway one morning.  Mother sat on the bench with Robby and watched.  G  stuck stickers on me, so it was totally zen.  

Sister's family left on Tuesday, and the rest of us did not leave until the following Saturday.  Mother was bereft and said no less than a dozen times, "I can't believe I didn't get a picture with my grandchildren on the beach!"

Oh, but you did, mother.

Other than the major issue of missing Caroline, she totally nailed it.  

It was a wonderful trip but we missed Trinity.

Our next trip is to San Francisco!