Guess who went on a mini-road trip to Panama City Beach?!
That's right, we did. One perk of our new location is that we are only 2 hours from some gorgeous white-sandy beaches.
Truth be told, I'd been feeling a little burnt out on the 'bama. Life was feeling a little repetitive and this is exactly what we needed to spice it up. The fact that baby girl actually slept in the car for the first time in a long time really sweetened the road trip deal.
The hotel we stayed at was family friendly, but there weren't many kids around being that most schools down here are already back in session....jackpot.
The weather was picture perfect and comfortable, and this is coming from the girl that gets moody in the heat. We enjoyed hanging out by the pool and taking Mak for a swim. The child loves to kick kick kick, I could see her little diaper butt going up and down all the way from the other end of the pool.
Did I mention we started out the stay with some free drink coupons? Of course Mak came prepared with her own special cocktail.
As per usual, we stuffed our faces and then asked each other whyyyyyy we allowed ourselves to overeat again. But in the heat of the moment, countless shrimp and crab legs are impossible to turn down. We've all been there, am I right?
We enjoyed a walk along the beach before bed. The sand was heavenly. Like the kind you can actually go barefoot on without cutting your feet on rocks and shells.
At night the resort also put on some fun shows. There was a magician, there was a hula dancing show (the cutest hula girl is pictured below) and right before bed time they even brought out a huge outdoor movie screen and played a movie poolside.
In the morning we got up early (no need for an alarm clock when you've got a baby that is hungry every few hours...) and went down to the beach to take a dip in the gulf, and contraire to what the picture looks like below it was NOT a skinny dip, haha.
The little girl loved having her toes in the water, ass in the sand piggies in the sand, and she loved going in the Gulf, however, she did NOT like standing on the shore and having the water pull the sand away from under her feet. Gotta draw the line somewhere. Sheesh.
After hanging at the beach, we got some yummy breakfast and some of us took naps. Not going to name any names....
Then, I went and got a massage, a lovely much-appreciated birthday present from the hubs. It was just what I needed and daddy and daughter got some one on one time at the pool that ended like this...
We didn't want to leave. I must admit, the south is growing on me. This was a great overnight trip that I hope we can do again soon. We've heard great things about the beaches in Destin and want to check those out as well.
And I would like to end with a little PSA if you will. I'm going to have to assume that second to last bullet point had to be added after some sort of "incident." I have no words.
This little girl is forever on the go lately. She always wants to be doing something (she gets it from her daddy). Oh to have that energy...
By noon we've already played in her activity center, spent time on her playmat, played with toys and the dogs during tummy time, gone on a walk and helped with chores.
After all that, I usually panic for a moment and wonder to myself how I'm ever going to keep her occupied for the rest of the day...thank goodness for naps, story time, bath time and days at the pool.
Just the other day she scooted herself (backwards) across the entire living room and ended up under that table. It was hilarious peeking at her through the glass.
We also can't get enough of pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo.
I spy with my little eye someone's first freckle....
It's difficult to see in the photo, but it's real and it's there...right below her arm crease. When I first noticed it I thought I had spilled food on her, and I tried to wipe it away....oops.
I'm sure there will be more to come. She has her fair-skinned, freckle-face parents to thank for that.
I've already got my eye on these freckle-related items for the princess girl. Who doesn't love a little freckled cutie?
Makaela has been into "singing" lately. Depending on the situation she sings different "songs." Clearly this is her pumped-for-the-weekend song. What a voice, hahah.
She also does a little lullaby type "mmm mmm mmm" song before bed. It is darling.
Move over Rebecca Black.
You're welcome. I know you missed having that phenomenal jingle stuck in your head.
For anyone who may be having a case of the Mondays hopefully this video will make you smile. Warning: It is REALLY shaky, the good stuff is the audio :-)
Makaela has her first boyfriend....and he is of the K9 variety. I catch those two swapping spit multiple times a day. They border on inappropriate. Like that couple in HS that is always making out in the hall. Eww.
Taylor is a little jealous of this new romance, but CLEARLY Makaela is in love with her too. It's a bit of a love triangle. Makaela petslovingly grabs fist-fulls of their fur and they lick her toes, hands and face. Excessively.
I'm quite certain that she will say "Rocky" or "Tay-Tay" before she says "Dada" or "Mama." The girl is IN LOVE. She gets the biggest smile on her face watching these weirdos frolic around the house...which brings the biggest smile to my face.
Makaela had her 4 month well baby check up on Tuesday. She is growing into a big, strong girl. She weighed in at 15.7 lbs (82th percentile) and 26 inches (95th percentile) and she had a check in the right box for all the major developmental milestones they look for. Ain't no stoppin' her.
This was our first time at our new clinic and things went well. Everyone was very friendly. I'm sure the TRUE test of how happy we are with the facility will be when Mak is actually sick....which we hope doesn't happen for a verrrrrry long time.
Big girl got 4 shots and an oral vaccine. She loved the medicine in her mouth, and of course was SUCH a helper and held onto the nurse's hands to guide it into her mouth. Can't trust those nurses....gotta take things into our own hands. What a little control freak.
She cried for about 30 seconds after the shots....then she transitioned to sniffles and the pouty lip...then once the nurse told her she did a good job she shot her a smile. Phew.
The nurse advised that she would probably be extra sleepy (which sounded good to me at the time) and maybe a little fussy. She was right. Mak seemed a bit restless for two days and felt warm to me, however, every time I checked her temperature it was nothing to worry about (of course I was convinced the thermometer was broken the first 3 times). She just needed lots of extra snuggles and attention. I didn't mind tucking away my to-do list to love on her. I still can't wait till the day when I can take her to get ice cream after her shots, like my mom used to always do with me. Ice cream makes almost anything better.
This video was taken the day before the doctor visit. So sweet and unsuspecting. I feel evil!
The trip from Washington to Alabama was....long (and so is this post). I tried to tell myself it would be fun. I'd eat snacks, and listen to great music and audiobooks. I'd watch movies and Tim and I would play road trip games. Wellllll, Polly Positive those were great ideas in theory but then Rhonda Realist kicked in and the optimism faded after about a day and a half in the car. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a miserable trip by any means...it was just a long time to be confined to a seat everyday for a week straight. With a crap load of stuff. And two dogs. And a baby.
We traveled an average of 500 miles a day. There was a lot of "Yes!! Only 3 more hours!" We actually traded in both of our vehicles (yay for not having to figure out how we were going to get car #2 to 'bama) and got a GMC Acadia before the trip. It is spacious and wonderful and I'm not sure we would have survived the trip without it.
We thought Mak would do a lot of sleeping in the car but she really didn't. Boredom started to kick in for her around the time we got to Chicago. We did lots of rattle shaking, singing songs, making funny noises and funny faces, petting the puppies and eating.
Lots and lots of eating. Hey, even babies like to snack on the road! While I was stuffing my face with Hershey bars, Lays potato chips, and gulping down lots of pop and coffee, the little lady was downing an unheard of amount of milk. We brought some frozen milk that we kept in a cooler, but we could only use that until it thawed. Thankfully I was able to pump on the road, but there were times we didn't think the supply could keep up with the demand. We stopped at the store to buy formula just in case because we didn't like the idea of not having at least a back up bottle. The first formula stop was a fail...we went to open it to allow her to try it out and discovered it had an expiration date of April 2013. Um, yeah. Later we stopped to get more, but it didn't matter anyway because when we gave her a taste she made a ridiculous face and would not take it. Oh well. We made it without formula, but I had anxiety about supply the whole time.
The dogs did MUCH better than we expected. We knew Rocky would just sleep like a champ.
But we were worried about Taylor. They both had to go to the Vet before the trip to get up to date on shots and get health certificates, but Taylor also got a special prescription to help her with her travel anxiety. The stuff definitely worked, but our little puppy girl looked so dopy and had blood shot eyes the whole trip.
Fortunately, we got to visit some friends and family along the way, which really made this road trip seem like a vacation within the long journey.
We stayed the night in Missoula, Montana; Miles City, Montana (Did I mention what a huge frickin state Montana is!?!), Minneapolis, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan (not on the way but a great detour to see friends and family); Etowah, Tennessee and finally Dothan, Alabama y'all.
In Montana there were hardly any billboards, but when there were they were mostly for the Testicle Festival. Yes, you read that right. You can visit their website at www.testyfesty.com if you're curious...I would not lie. Miles City, Montana was special in other ways though because Makaela gave us her first REAL laugh there. It melted our hearts after a long day in the car.
Twins at a diner in Miles City
In North Dakota we had the best burgers of our life. And possibly the least expensive burgers of our life. We went to a place called Clara's. It was the ONLY restaurant within an 80 mile range. I may or may not have thrown a hissy fit and said I was not going to eat (the place looked a little terrifying from the outside!) When we walked in it looked like a big VFW hall. It was packed and I think EVERYONE in the restaurant turned to look at us when we walked in. We were clearly outsiders. I could hear them thinking "Oh there's some more big city folk passin' through." But man oh man am I glad we stopped because the burger was amazzzzzing. Ahh my mouth is watering as I type.
The next stop for sleep was all the way in Minneapolis. We were champs of the road that day. That was our longest stretch, but we decided to take advantage of little miss Mak's good behavior and our ambition to get to our new home sooner rather than later. We always had to search for pet-friendly hotels, and as the trip progressed learned that La Quinta Inn tended to work well for us. They were pretty much every where, they had free breakfast and were pet friendly without a pet fee! We were literally just stopping to sleep, so we didn't really care about any other amenities.
Minneapolis was cool because we were back in our Midwest roots territory. They had restaurants we missed which brought huge smiles to our faces and bellies. In fact Tim snuck out and got White Castle. The people in front of him ordered ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY sliders. I thanked him (and his bowels thanked him) for not ordering such an insane amount. After I went to sleep Tim got a little wild and decided to give himself a Joe Dirt makeover. It was super sexy to wake up to the next AM.
Our next stop was CHI-TOWN! This was our only truly planned stop of the trip. We had made arrangements to meet up with S and A and were beyond excited. They greeted us at our hotel with cupcakes and banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery. I mean...could life get any better? That night we ate at Giordano's for their famous deep dish pizza. It was the best deep dish OF MY LIFE. I wanted to eat the whole 10 lb pie. We love any time we get to spend with this couple. I wish we could be neighbors and have dinner dates and fun outings everyday. That is my dream lyfe.
A preview of Mak with long hair
Mak looks like she could be Chjanea's child. Am I right? Love that they were twinsies in matching colors.
Before we left S and A treated us to Big Star for some delicious tacos. Big Star is THE spot in Chicago right now and although there is normally an hour wait, we just strolled right in. Unheard of! Obviously, I feel pretty cool right now.
S also took some family photos for us, with her gorgeous neighborhood as the backdrop. Gosh I love that place and we l-o-v-e these photos!
And then we were on to Michigan! This was a last minute change of plan. We had some extra time, needed more of a break and heard that Tim's Nana was in town and it was her birthday. We knew we had to make the detour and we are SO happy we did. It gave us the opportunity to introduce Mak to some of our family and friends back home. Although we were only there for a short time, we squeezed in a lot of quality time.
When we got in, we headed straight over to Nana's house to surprise her and enjoy some cupcakes.
Clearly, it was instant love for Mak and her one and only Great-Grandma. We stayed the night at Tim's sister's house and Mak got to play with her cousin G. G was adorable with Mak; it was so fun to watch them play. G will make a great big sister one day!
Luckily since my aunt lives right down the street from Tim's sister, we also got to introduce Mak to her. It made my aunt feel really special, and we loved spending the time together even if it was short.
Later we visited C and A at their new place. C and me kept it a secret from A and totally surprised her when Tim, Mak and I walked through the door. Why oh why did I not get any pictures of the three of us ladies?!?! I suck! I did however get these hilarious shots of C's son J with Mak. Can we say love at first sight!? Haha. These two are getting married in about 25 years.
Before we left we met up with the Martins at Starbucks. They were so sweet to drive to the other side of town to spend a little time with us. I just adore them. Again, no photos. WTF Erin.
As much as we didn't want to say goodbye, we had to hit the road. Next stop, Tennessee. We were on a mission to make it to Tim's parents house to stay the night. Truth be told that was a VERY rough ride. Mak was NOT having it and we weren't sure we could make it all the way down there. Once Tim and I switched seats (I became the driver and he sat in back with Mak) things took a turn for the better. I think little one just needed some daddy time. We made it to Etowah, and got to enjoy time with Tim's parents. We ate some down home cookin' at a great little small town place. There was lots of gravy and cheese and butter and it was glorious. Oh, and Mak got to meet Papa's favorite friend. Yee-haw.
One week after we set off on our journey we made it to our new home in Alabama. It felt really good to be "home" (and to get out of that car!)
