Beach Bound

Every summer my dad goes to a seminar in Destin called Divorce on the Beach. For years, we have let this be a good excuse to take a family trip to the beach and this year was no exception. My sister and brother weren't able to go so it was just us and my parents. Matt couldn't come down until Friday morning so Peyton and I rode down with my parents. I tried to warn my dad that traveling with a 7 month old required a lot of stuff but I don't think that he was quite prepared for just how much I had packed. He ended up driving Matt's Tahoe down because there was no way everything was going to fit into one of their cars. He also had to attach something to the trailer hitch to carry some of the luggage and strap P's stroller to the roof of the Tahoe. I think every single inch of that car was packed. Peyton did awesome in the car on the way down to Destin, taking a nap pretty early on into the trip.  Once we got to the beach and were settled, we used our down time to try on some sunglasses on P and let her try out a sippy cup for the first time.  She wasn't too into wearing the sunglasses but she was definitely all about chewing on them!

                                      

                          

Matt put his request in that I do all of my shopping on Thursday, that way he didn't miss Peyton's first time in the pool. I figured since he was basically telling me to go shopping I didn't need to pass this opportunity up. So before my dad's seminar started on Thursday afternoon, he hung out with P while my mom and I did a little shopping. Later on that night we went to one of our favorite places to eat, Red Bar. For those of you who have never eaten here, you have to try it next time you are in Destin. It is awesome! During dinner my mom decided that Peyton needed to try some of her mashed potatoes. I don't know what it is with this child, but unless it's her jarred baby food, she doesn't like it, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves......

Matt left Birmingham early on Friday and made it down to Destin around 9:30 am. After everyone got lathered up in sunscreen we headed out for Peyton's first time in the pool. I found this great baby float with a canopy and we put her in it and she was loving it. I just wish that the pictures I took could show you how Peyton was kicking her legs in that float. I think that her legs were kicking the entire time she was in it.

Since she seemed to enjoy the pool, we decided to try out her baby pool later on that afternoon. She started out sitting in the pool by herself and then I quickly smartened up and realized that this probably wasn't such a good idea since she can't seem to sit still for more than a few minutes. It turned out to be a good thing I got n the baby pool with her because before I knew it she had gone from sitting to her tummy. That child was all over the place, even putting her head in the water. It was so much fun watching her as she splashed the water with her hands and played with her toys.

On our way back from dinner Friday night, I decided to rub my finger on Peyton's bottom gum to feel for teeth(which I have done many times before and felt nothing) and to my surprise I felt it... Her first tooth!!! I was shocked! My mom had actually felt P's gums for teeth on Wednesday when we had first made it down to the beach and she had felt nothing. Then, less than two days later, here it was. Peyton has been showing signs of teething for a good 3 months so I'm kind of surprised it has taken this long for her first tooth to start coming in. And I'm even more surprised that none of us even knew it was happening. If it would only be that easy for all of her other teeth!

We finally headed out to the beach on Saturday morning. This was actually Peyton's second time to go to the beach but the last time it was the end of March/first of April and it was much cooler then. We were staying in a house across the street from the beach and by the time we got our sunscreen on and all of our stuff packed up, we realized that P was getting sleepy. We still went to the beach but didn't stay long because Peyton wasn't too into it. We went to the pool after lunch and had a good time playing in the water with GP and Granddad.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to the beach on Sunday and head back home.  At least we had our sweet Ellie to welcome us back!