We took our first family vacation last month, and I swear it was the most grown-up I have ever felt in my life! Husband and I have spent the last 10 years planning lots of rock and roll getaways, but this was different. This time we planned, booked, and financed the entire vacation without the help (or company) of our parents. AND, we were responsible for a very mobile 18 month old monkey who ran wild on the Florida beaches, charming the pants off of anyone who passed our way. How grown-up is that??? We had an absolute blast. It was so much fun for us to be able to relax with our monkey for 5 whole days- no schedule, no routine, no stress. Just fun, fun, and more fun. And I know it was so much fun for monkey to have her mommy and daddy completely relaxed and focusing on her. Here's a recap...
Her first steps on the beach!
Checking it all out...
The baby pool may have been monkey's favorite part of the trip. She LOVED being able to run around in it without us holding on to her!
We only ventured out one night for dinner. We went down to Schooners and ate beachside. This is a picture I snapped of her eating her very 1st crab claw. She loved them! We showed her one time how to pull the meat off with her teeth and she got it immediately! It was too funny watching her eat them :)
After dinner, we walked down to the beach to snap a few pictures. It was pitch black and we couldn't see a thing. I wasn't even sure if I had monkey in the frame until the flash went off, and this is what I saw on the screen...
Poor baby! I quickly scooped her up and snapped this adorable picture...
We spent our days collecting sea shells...
Building sand castles...
and playing on the beach playground next door to our condo...
We visited Shipwreck Island and monkey had a blast! She was such a big girl and did all the kiddy area stuff by herself. She had no fear walking around in the water, even when it was up to her chin. She would just stretch her neck up and stand on her tippy toes and keep going!
We rushed down to the beach after the waterpark for our last sunset beachside. Monkey was sad to leave all the beach chairs that provided her with endless climbing opportunities...
Taking it all in until next year....
One last beach pic before we packed it all up...
Our condo had child size bunk beds in one of the closets, so husband and monkey spent our last evening playing this game...
I'm not sure she has ever had so much fun!
We had so much fun on our first family vacation, and it was so needed. After the month we had in August, we deperately needed a get away. It gave us time to reconnect as a family, and a short break from the stress surrounding Beck's illness and surgeries. I'm so thankful we were able to do this. After we put monkey to bed, I poured a glass of wine and went out to the balcony to join husband. We immediately heard a large boom, and looked to our right and saw this....
It's not a great picture, but there was a 30 minute gigantic fireworks display right on the beach next to our condo. What a perfect ending to a perfect vacation :)
