Baby's First Lake Weekend

Sweet Memories: Michigan Edition

Back at the beginning of June, I packed this girl up and headed to Michigan! We met my momma part way and took Anna to where my mom is from and lots of family lives! This girl was a doll...charming everyone with her 8 mo.old self!

The most special part to me was Anna getting to meet and hang with her Gigi (my grandma DJ!) Here she is taking apart the ductwork in Gigi's house :).

DJ and I have a special bond with our babies...turns out Anna was born on the exact same day as my uncle Mike (this is Uncle Bob...don't seem to have a pic of Uncle Mike, darn it!) Anyway, DJ and I had babies on the exact same day...just 59 years apart! So we've been able to compare milestones. At Christmas, 2 month-old Anna was entranced with the lights the tree. Grandma remembered Mike was too, at his first Christmas, etc. She knew when Anna would start crawling, walking, etc.

Anna loved her Gigi. They're both pretty animated and had a ball chatting...

...and singing. (turns out they both loooove to sing :)

Gigi helped take care of miss Anna...
...and introduced baby to a one of her friends.
This is one of my all-time favorite photos of our four generations.
All-in-all, we were so pleased with how friendly Anna was and took to relatives she'd never met with no problem. Here she's hanging with Uncle Bob:

Cousin Nanea was SO excited to meet the baby, but didn't get there until after she gone to sleep (we "checked" on Anna several times). The next morning, we brought Anna over to play for a bit.

Memories to treasure, for sure!

Florida: Vaca, Sweet Vaca

It was a vacation that vacations are made of.

Her first feel of sand in her toes...

...and between her fingers.

Time spent on the beach...

Savoring the chance to take these chubby-cheeked smiles in.

Shoulder rides high in the sky...

Snuggles and photo ops...

Water play...
...and more beach-side snuggles. And a good friend? All the better.
Over-sunned smiles.
Time in the tent

and time exploring.
Toes in the pool...
Play time with Daddy...
And time spent taking it all in.

That?

That's the vacation vacation's are made of.

Florida Fun (& Firsts!)

Last week brought a flurry of fun and firsts in Florida!

I had to go for work, and it was going to be a looong trip! So, I loaded up the baby girl and brought her along.

Here is the happy baby on her first flight!


I was a bit nervous about flying with her by myself, but I had the good fortune to run into my friend Cathy! She was more than happy to hold Anna...

...and eventually put her to sleep! She slept a good portion of the flight and when she was awake, she was delightful! I think she likes to fly :).

When we arrived in Florida, Anna's Grandma joined us!

She spent lots of time playing with Anna...

...taking her for walks....

...and going swimming (another first!)

Freeing me up for a week of work!
Anna got to see the ocean for the first time.

She seemed to love being outside.

It must have been something about the warm air...sunshine...and the need for a hat...

That made this girl reallllly happy! :)

Of course, I had to take several photos in her new bathing suit...

...bathing suit cover-up...

...and in her diaper during playtime.

Grandma couldn't get over how much this baby....

Had grown!

And now understands why we generally just refer to her as "fat baby"

Anna was even able to finally meet my long time (and now blogging)

friend and co-worker, Katie!

After several days of enjoying the warm of Florida....

It was time to pack up the outdoor girl...

and bring her home to her very lonesome dad.

She fell asleep in the cab on the way to the airport...

But she woke up in time to let me know what she thought of the new security procedures:

Soon enough we were through security and ready to head home!


Lots of fun firsts!