Family Get-together 2009

Every year, my parents treat us to a trip somewhere to spend some time together. In 2006 it was Christmastime in NYC, 2007 was Thanksgiving in Maui (Kate was 12 weeks in the belly!!), In 2008 Vivi and Kate joined the family and our gathering was Thanksgiving in Atlanta, and this year we met at Seacrest/Rosemary Beach in Florida. It was a wonderful week and I can't believe I'm back home already. Why do fun times always fly by so quickly???

Kate was a great traveler for the 18 hour car-ride to FL. Luckily, we split it up by stopping in Memphis for the night. The ride home was only about 15 hours because we drove through the night and took a different route. Surprisingly, the drive wasn't bad at all. It also helped that Em and Eric rode with us for most of the way. Also, we discovered that Kate could be occupied for hours by a water bottle with a drinking spout and snapping lid...we had to change A LOT of pee pee diapers because she drank so much water but she was happy...thank goodness.

We were a little worried when Kate cried every time she touched any part of the sand or ocean at the beginning of the week. However, by the end of it, she ended up loving the sand and water. We were so happy and excited for her that she enjoyed the beach!! Most of all, she loved every bit of love and attention she received from her Granpa, DeDe, aunt, uncles and cousins...she's a pretty lucky little gal.

Get ready for an overload of pictures....I only took 200 so it was actually difficult to narrow it down to only this many. They are in no particular order and I ran out of time trying to explain each picture....I just had to get lots of shots to document Kate's first trip to the beach!! I absolutely love watching Kate in the outdoors...she is in a constant squint and her expressions just crack me up. Since most of these were taking outside, you can all see the squint that makes me squeal inside!!

The house had a pool so that was really nice for us to take afternoon swims once we got back from the beach. Kate loved the pool and her new floatie.

The Gardner family were also enjoying their family vacation just a few doors down so it was super fun to get to see them throughout the week. We went to their house for dinner one night and my Aunt Kaye made us all aprons...they are soooo cute...she is so creative!! This is the only picture I got. Unfortunately, it looks like Kate was knocking down the end of the line...so sorry Marni and Morgan!!!

A photographer got some pictures of us on the beach. In between shots, we took a few pictures of our own. What a beautiful setting.






UPDATE: I didn't want to post about one of the most exciting parts of the trip before I checked with Sherry. But....guess who showed up at the beach with a "Big Sister" t-shirt on?!?!? That's right...Vivi's going to be a big sister at the beginning of February. We're so excited for them and can't wait to meet Baby Lux #2!!!


What a vacation!!! I miss everyone so much already. The week has begun now and I have managed to get us almost entirely unpacked....still working on laundry though. Little Miss went to MDO today so that made it a lot easier to get things accomplished. Hope everyone had a fun 4th of July holiday. Have a great week!!!