To Love a Mockingbird

So here it is… the long awaited vacation post. Were should I begin? Oh yes, I guess the beginning would be good.

We pulled out of town at 7:38 on Saturday morning (or that was the time I first checked the clock and remember thinking “hmm, not too bad for getting 10 people awake, dressed, packed and out the door for the planned time 7:30″). I finally relaxed once we got on the road. All the stress of packing and getting everything together had me pretty up tight. We made it to our first stop, Bass Pro Shops , without and ounce of trouble.

Notice in this picture that the guys are the ones pushing the strollers. They weren’t wasting anytime getting in this store!

 The store was awesome (I just hate that now my husband knows exactly how close we live to it!). So we loaded up on t-shirts, stolen beer koozies (yes, I am very sorry Bass Pro people, my husband and my daughter put the beer koozies on the handles of the stroller and then just strolled right through the checkout without paying), and other stuff Eric bought that I have no idea what it is or what it is used for.  -side note: the stealing would be one of a few out of character things that would take place on this vacation that I am not too proud of (but that is the only one that you will hear about on here from me!).

So back on the road trying to outrun the cops , I asked Eric how long until our next stop which was to be an overnight stay at his aunts home. He unknowingly replied, “Oh we’ll be there in no time”. Figuring he knew what he was talking about, we opted not to order lunch but just drinks and thought we would grab a bite to eat when we stopped in a little while . However, you know that great thing called Karma (damn we should have paid for those koozies), well she showed up and had other plans for that in a little while attitude. Two minutes after we got on the interstate the traffic came to a crawl. Another 120 minutes later (that’s right- two hours), we had only moved FOUR miles! Let me tell you it is not fun when you are in the car with a hungry, annoyed, cranky husband and a two and a half year old who is being sustained on yogurt covered raisins alone and you are all watching (listening to) this for the 100th time. The quick little 3 hour trip that was planned for that day (you know, so the kids wouldn’t have to stay in the car for so long, ha ha) turned into a six hour my butt is hurting can we please get off of the road now ride.  

Once we got to Eric’s aunts house the stay was won.der.ful! I swear, we could have just vacationed there!

“Yeah Momma, we finally made it!”

Now, for a mid-morning photo session before we hit the road.

OK Tanner, me and you are gonna take a picture, just sit still right here

Not like that, come back

Hurry Momma, take the picture while I sit here and choke him!

 Sunday we got back on the road and had no complications in getting to our final destination!

As we started seeing beach for the first time, I said to Lucy “Look, there is the beach!” she screamed from the backseat, “It snowed!”.

 Once we unloaded the vehicles, we went up to our condo and unpacked just enough to get the swimsuits and “somescream” out to head down to the beach. After three months the child could no longer take any talk of the beach, she wanted proof that it actually existed.

 Lucy had fun on the beach but I believe that she enjoyed the pool even more. Probably because the pool involved parental interaction whereas the beach involved Momma laying on the beach towel ( hey, a girls gotta work on her tan, right?)

Our second night we went toLuLu’s which I thought was pretty cute because, you know, we have a LuLuand all. I may have went a tad overboard in the gift shop by purchasing a license plate for the front of my car but I have been driving around with nothing for almost a year and they do not make the one I actually want. (If anyone ever finds a Life is Good license plate please pick one up for me and I will reimburse you for your troubles at any cost!)

We had a great time at the restaurant even if we did have to wait two hours to be seated (if you are ever in the area and want to eat there don’t let that deter you, we were waiting for a table of 28!). They make it as cool and comfortable as possible and have plenty of things to do in the meantime. (like pose for pictures with your darling sister-in-law)

Lucy also had a great time dancing on the tables, well not really but pretty darn close. She loved dancing to the live music and also sipping on her “Milk Margarita”.

Dad, why are you trying to get in on my shot? Don’t you know that Mom only takes pictures of me?

Hmmm, decisions decisions

We had a great trip. Short but great. I enjoyed seeing Lucy experience the beach for the first time. I enjoyed seeing Eric get to see ALL of his family. I enjoyed me and Lindsey’s (my sister-in-law) conversation on the balcony until 2:00 in the morning. I enjoyed the Bourbon Slush almost to the point that I think I was scaring some of Eric’s family. I enjoyed watching Eric’s dad walk in to the closet that housed the air conditioning unit in our condo thinking that it was the exit. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist!) There were lots of laughs and lots of fun. This was a great vacation.