Trip to the Beach (lots of pictures!)

It has taken me forever to find the time to make a post about our trip to the beach this year. It was our first time to take Emily with us, and it may be the last. She did not like anything about the beach. She did not like the water (there was some sea weed), she did not like the sand, she did not like that it was really hot, and she did not like the smell of the ocean--talk about a Debbie Downer! We had to bribe her to go to the beach with promises of putt-putt, movies, and the swimming pool. Even though she was a "miss priss" while we were there, we did still mange to have a good time. I took over 300 pictures, but here are a few of my favorites.

These first 2 were taken right before we went to dinner on our first night there (I know that I am huge!!). I am so glad to not ever have to take another vacation while being pregnant!






Richard's cousin Michelle meet us in Destin with her little boy Eli. Eli and Cooper are only 6 months apart in age, so they had a great time playing together all week! Eli is such a cute kid (and VERY well behaved)! These pictures are from the playground at Destin Commons. We made several visits to this playground while we were there.





Our next adventure was at Baytown Wharf. It is the neat little area that is really geared towards kids. I think we ended-up going there a few times too! These pictures are of the kids jumping on a trampoline while hooked-up to bungee cords. They had SO much fun! Cooper did a couple of flips and Emily went higher than anyone else there. She had the best time!







Our next stop was The Back Porch for some yummy food. The kids like it there because it is right on the beach and they have a playground too!!





One of the many pictures of Emily holding her nose....


One that would have been cute had she not been chewing gum...


I'm not sure what Cooper is doing here, but every time I try to take a picture of him he likes to act goofy.



After Back Porch we headed back to Baytown Wharf for dancing, more playgrounds, and fireworks! Eli is a really good dancer and he taught Cooper and Emily a few good moves!



Our next adventure was on a Pirate Cruise. It was not quite as exciting as I thought it was going to be, but the kids enjoyed it.


Each kid was "sworn" in to officially becoming a pirate.




What outing with Emily would be complete without holding her nose...


Both kids love to get a balloon animal too!



When we got off the boat there was a man with real birds to put on your shoulder. Cooper was really brave and let the birds sit on him.


Now some pictures from the beach. Cooper had a great time playing in the waves with his daddy and we even managed to get Emily out there for a little while.


Cooper also loved to ride the waves in his new boat.






We were at the beach for Emily's 3rd birthday. Here is a cute picture of her holding up 3 fingers!


Our last night at the beach we went out looking for crabs with our flashlights. The kids had fun even though they never found a crab! Here is a rare moment of my 2 crazy kids actually being nice to each other.

4th of July

Since it was kind of cloudy and overcast here we did not make it to the pool yesterday. First we went to Jump Zone so the kids could burn off some energy (I forgot to take my camera). We ended up staying for over 2 hours so Emily was very ready for nap when we got home.

Our big fun of the day was getting to drive around in our friends Jeep with the top off!! The kids thought it was so cool! It really was a lot of fun--thanks Amie and Alan for letting us borrow your Jeep! We drove around a couple of neighborhoods then we headed downtown for pizza and fireworks! The fireworks did not start until 9:30, so by the time we sat through traffic and got the kids cleaned-up I don't think they went to bed until 11:30. It was a late night but we had a great time!

I am still working on all of the pictures from the beach but I will be posting those pictures soon! We went and had some family pictures made the other day. Our old photographer has gotten WAY too expensive so we tried someone new. She did a pretty good job. I haven't seen all the proofs yet but she does have a few to look at posted on her blog. You can check them out by going to www.gretchendavisphotography.com and clicking on her blog--just scroll down till you see Cooper! I look terrible in the pictures but I thought the ones of the kids were cute.