Our Vacation: Florida Fun!

After arriving to Rosemary Beach, Florida with overcast, gloomy weather, we were very happy to wake up to a beautiful sunny day on Tuesday! Perfect for our plans of going to the pool and beach!

Little D started the day off with some fruit while wearing her "Kiss me I'm Irish" bib, because it was St. Patrick's Day!

Then we were off to the pool for Darby's first dip!


She loved her little ladybug floaty!



Then Darby took a nap to recharge her energy for the lunchtime move to the beach!

It was BEAUTIFUL! Darby had a blast playing with her sand toys!



Andy and Eric played some frisbee!

Darby even shared her sand toys with Aunt Emi!

Wednesday was more of the same. This time we started at the beach and moved to the pool after lunch! Here is Darby with her legs covered in the sand! She didn't know what to think about it!

A quick dip in the ocean with Papa. The water was pretty cold, and Darby wasn't very impressed!


After spending the morning and part of the early afternoon at the beach, we headed to the pool for some more fun!

Then it was back to our flat for dinner and to pack up to leave on Thursday. It went by SO fast!

Stay tuned for our last morning in Florida and more!

Our Vacation: 1st Day in Florida

On Monday (the 16th) we packed up and drove from Atlanta to Rosemary Beach, Florida. The weather was rainy and really dreary, but we all agreed it was OK since it was basically a traveling day! It took about 6 hours (we stopped for breakfast at a Waffle House and at the Florida welcome center for some orange juice!). We watched a few movies on the way and Darby was a good little traveler!

Here we are at the Florida welcome center, Darby's 3rd US state and my 49th!


Rosemary Beach is a community where some people vacation and some people live. After visiting, Eric and I both agree that if the summer heat isn't too unbearable there, we are definitely retiring there one day!

We rented a flat (like an apartment) for 3 nights, on the top floor of this building. This picture was actually taken as we left on Thursday, but I wanted to show you now what it looked like from the outside (hence the blue sky). Our flat was the one with the balcony on the top left. We LOVED it!

My sister and Andy were nice enough to let us have the master bedroom so we wouldn't be cramped with Darby's packnplay. It worked out perfectly with the king sized bed too since Darby joined us to snuggle every morning - early morning!


Rosemary Beach has 4 pools, a private beach, playgrounds, a fitness center, cute shops, restaurants and lots of grassy areas to play on. After we unloaded the car and got settled we went out for a walk. First we walked to the Cabana Pool, that also has a playground. Darby LOVES to swing, so we just had to let her enjoy her first Florida swing ride! Of course she had a great time. (So did Eric and Andy!)

Even though it was so gloomy, it wasn't raining so we walked on to the beach. Regardless of the dark clouds, it was still pretty!



Darby's first time sitting on the Florida sand!

She is such a cool baby with her Papa's sunglasses on!

After our walk around Rosemary Beach, we came back and made dinner in our flat. Emi and Andy cooked yummy dinners for us every night! Darby enjoyed her baby food, and a few bites of my meal too! She was always so happy (to put it mildly!) in the highchair that Emi and Andy bought. Here are some pictures I snapped of her squealing and singing the first night after dinner. Obviously, I hadn't washed her up yet from eating, thus the prunes and food all over her face!

Up next ... a beautiful day filled with fun at the beach and pool!

Our Vacation: Georgia Aquarium Day!

I've decided to post about our vacation in a several different posts, rather then just one.

We flew in to Atlanta on the 14th, to surprisingly rainy and pretty miserable weather! It was so great having my sister and brother in law there at the airport to greet us! They had everything we needed for Darby, so literally all we brought was her! (and a few small things like books and her elephant she sleeps with). We installed the car seat, which took all 4 of us, and we were on our way! (When does installing a car seat become easy!?)

After some sleep (we were so tired!), on Sunday we went to the Georgia Aquarium. The biggest in the world! Darby loved looking at all the fish and beluga whales. I have to say it was a pretty impressive aquarium! Here are a few pictures from our day at the Georgia aquarium:










After we got home from the aquarium, Darby played with Emi and Andy's 2 dogs, Strider and Sammy. They are Australian Shepard/black lab mixes, big doggies but total loves! Sammy wanted to lick Darby's face the every second she was in the room! Darby loves dogs so of course she was so happy they were there.

Here's Darby enjoying a little snack of cheese puffs and juice in the high chair Emi and Andy got. I love this high chair, and so did Darby! She was always SO happy in it, as you'll see in some pictures to come!
After her snack, my sisters best friend Kerri came by for a visit. In 2007 Kerri and her family adopted a little girl from China, Lexi. She is a doll! Darby gave her a big kiss as soon as they met. Little Lexi sang "Happy Birthday" to Darby, and a few other songs from her Kinder Music program she goes to with Kerri. It was so nice finally getting to meet them after following her blog and hearing about them from my sister. A BIG thanks to Kerri for letting us use Lexi's stroller and toys while we were there! Darby loved the stroller and so did we! THANK YOU!
After the visit and dinner, Darby had her bath and went to bed!
Next up... our trip to Florida! Stay tuned!

Havin' A Blast!

Our trip so far has been SO much fun, and we are NOT ready for it to come to an end (which seems to be FAST approaching much to our dismay). We went to the Georgia Aquarium on Sunday, which is the biggest aquarium in the world! It was really neat, and the beluga whales were so pretty. Our 4 days in Florida at Rosemary Beach were WONDERFUL. Darby LOVED the beach and pool and the weather was awesome. We are back in Georgia now, arrived here around 11pm eastern time. Totally pooped and wishing we were still at Rosemary Beach!!

Tomorrow we are taking Darby to visit the Cabbage Patch Kids, BabyLand General Hospital and then to a park for awhile. It has been great spending time with Emily and Andy, and it always makes us wish we lived MUCH closer to them. Darby is really going to miss her Aunt and Uncle, she has such a great time with them!

I have taken a TON of pictures (really, I maxed out my memory card and had to go through and eliminate some!) so once we are home and settled, I will post more details and pictures from our trip!

Darby's Debut Acting Role!

Back in January, Darby filmed (along with my best friend Angela) an instructional video for the Dream On Me Portable Crib, sold at BabiesRus, Walmart and Amazon.com. The video appears on each website. CLICK HERE and then click on "view demo" under the picture of the crib to see the video. (Be sure to turn up your volume if you want to hear the instructions too!)

Darby cooperated SO well during the filming. She's a natural if you ask me! :o)

More Darby & Kaeli

Like I said in the last post, the interaction between Kaeli (4yr old neighbor) and Darby is too cute for words. Today I took some pictures of them in their tutu's (I made Kaeli one too).

The pictures pretty much speak for themselves.

For those of you who asked about how to make a no sew tutu, THIS is a really good tutorial.

I can't believe Darby will be 8 months on Tuesday! She is really growing up way to quickly. We will be celebrating her 8 month birthday in Florida! On Saturday morning we are off to visit my sister and brother in law in Atlanta, and then from there going to Florida for a few nights. We are very excited for our first vacation with little D. I am crossing my fingers that she is a happy traveler during the 5 hour plane ride! She is starting to cut her first tooth, so that should make it interesting!