Vacation 2012

This year we decided to head back to one of our most favorite places on earth, Greersferry, Arkansas! My parents have a log cabin nestled at the foot of a mountain right on the crystal clear waters. I love this place and miss it tremendously. We used to spend so much time there so it was great to get back. It was especially great to take Isaiah to a place that we had already made so many memories. Isaiah's favorite part of the trip was taking a "ride"! Every morning he woke up ready to "ride". Whether it was the four wheelers or the golf cart, he was H-A-P-P-Y. Thank you so much "Haha" for letting us borrow the golf cart after you left. Isaiah is still talking about "Haha car".

Here I am with my little buddy on one of our morning rides! Love this kid to pieces!

My favorite part of the trip was being with family and cruising the lake on the boats. We took Dad's bass boat out several times but Isaiah wasn't a fan of having to sit so long, especially in his bulky life jacket. Thanks to the Sharps we were able to cruise in comfort on the pontoon boat. Thank you Dave and Mary for being so generous. We had an amazing time on the boat. Bass Boating (Isaiah did love to play with Cappy's fancy GPS computers and drive the boat)

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Pontooning

The sunsets and views here are breathtaking. My pictures do it no justice but here are some of my favorites.

We keep my Pawpaw's truck at the lake so I threw Isaiah in his Bama gear (even though pawpaw was an Auburn fan) and let him play in the truck (I used this opportunity as a photo session). He had a blast and wanted to get in every day after that. This truck is from the 70's and I am still amazed at what good shape Pawpaw kept it in. He really took care of things.

We spent a lot of time just hanging out down at the lake and splashing around in the water. Isaiah showed off his swimming skills and Cappy showed off his fishing skills. I don't think Isaiah knew what to think about the fish that Cappy and Daddy were catching. GranDebbie (AKA Puppy) and I sure knew what to think....time to cook that stuff up! We had a yummy fish fry one afternoon (garage style) and then a nice cedar planked fish dinner one night.

Cappy and Puppy also made us some homemade ice cream. MMM MMM good!

I should also mention that this was Isaiah's FIRST time flying on an airplane and I took ZERO pictures. OOOPS! Thank you so much to my mom and dad (Cappy and Puppy) for a wonderful, amazing, fun, adventurous, memory making vacation. We can't thank you enough. A great time was had by all and I hope we are able to do it again soon. Love you both and love the roost!

***sidenote***Michael and I escaped for an afternoon date and hiked a mountain. It was amazing and the views were spectacular. That will be a blog all of its own! Stay tuned.

Picture Perfect

Have you ever planned an outing as a family and dreamed of how much fun it would be? Your child(ren) would behave perfectly, nothing would go wrong, birds would dance and sing perfectly overhead and all would be right with the world? Then you hit the ground running and it slowly begins to unravel one thread at a time? This is reality with children! Sometimes though, God blesses us and our perfect dreams as parents come to life. THIS WAS THAT DAY! I have said many times in the last week that besides the day Isaiah was born, this has been my favorite day just the three of us. We have been stuck in a constant state of "go here, do this, be this, check this off the list, plan this, meeting here, meeting there, etc." that we haven't stopped to just be us. So this past Saturday we loaded up our beach gear and took off to Indian Rocks Beach. This has been my favorite beach in central Florida since we moved here. The crowd is always just the right size, it has easy beach access and it's full of local families trying to enjoy life. The beach is a favorite for Mike and me so we couldn't wait to enjoy it with our little guy. He has not been back to the Gulf since last summer when we went to Cape San Blas with my family. Back then he had just learned to crawl so it was a much different experience. We packed so much stuff it was almost comical. So upon arriving it took us a bit to get set up but Isaiah just hopped in a chair, munched on some lunch and took in the beautiful surroundings. Once we were finished we hit the ground running. Isaiah had so much fun just running around, digging holes, swimming, jumping waves, hunting for shells and chasing the birds. He was all smiles! After about five hours of going hard, Isaiah finally crawled up in my arms and crashed! If you know anything about him you know what a gift this was. He never goes to sleep other places. I guess the ocean provided his white noise and I gave him my ipod with his favorite tunes playing. I loved sitting under that umbrella with my sweet boy in my arms, looking out at one of God's most beatiful creations. I thanked Him over and over that day. Isaiah even stayed sleeping when I moved him to his chair. WOW! This was my special time to finish a book I had been reading and Mike got to take a little nap as well. We stayed at the beach until 7:30 that night. 8 hours of beaching it! Isaiah was such a trooper. After we loaded the car and got cleaned up we went to dinner. I was super nervous as going out to eat is not one of Isaiah's favorite things to do, but he was an angel! We ordered him some grouper bites and applesauce and he was in seafood heaven. I guess he was born with his parents' love for the beach. Thank goodness! I love this little guy, I love my husband and I love the beach. This was my picture perfect day and I give all the thanks to God. I hope everyone will take the time to do something you love to do as a family. You won't be sorry and your kids will walk away with some great memories and a great sense of family. A few of my faves:

What's Isaiah Doing?

Our little guy loves to talk. I swear in the last week he has gotten even more clear and he is now putting two words together. Here's what he's saying these days: (2 word phrases) "I sorry, thank you, wake up, Mommy no, roll tide, hot dog". (new words) "taxi, hippo, Megan, Mike, milk, water, truck, boo, einstein (when he wants a baby einstein movie), spoon, circle" I just love listening to him and helping him learn new skills. He is also starting to put puzzles back together and match shapes. I am also excited about his upcoming swim lessons. I have already taught him to hold on to the side of the pool and climb down to the steps he can also swim with just a fun noodle. I don't think he ready to potty train yet but he is beginning to show interest. He will say "pee" and climb up on the potty with his clothes on. If you take his pants off he gets a little upset so I just let him hang out for now. He has started eating with a fork much better and is brushing his own teeth. Just wanted to jot these things down while they were on my mind.