Vacation? Not So Much!

Let me just start off by saying that family vacation definitely takes on new meaning with a baby! There is no sleeping in every morning, or staying out on the beach under the umbrella all day. We still had a great time, just different! Ever since I was a little girl, maybe 10 or 11 years old, my family has taken our summer vacation to Ormond Beach, FL. Ormond is just north of Daytona, but far enough away to not be crazy crowded. It is a very family oriented place. After feeling out some different places, we settled on one particular condo complex and started staying there at the same time every year. Turns out, there were several families with kids our age that stayed there at the same time. So we kind of "grew up" together at the beach. I used to get so excited every year to see my beach friends. Well, this year we went in August, instead of July and stayed at a different place, because we needed a 3 bedroom and there isn't one at our usual place. It was so not crowded, which was nice because we never had to wait at a restuarant! I had not been to Ormond since the summer before dental school, so it had been 7 years. I love it there and so does my family. Cameron got pretty sick of us always talking about Ormond, so I think he's kind of over it and could not care less if he ever goes back. Oh, well! His loss!

I love how wide the beach is at high tide. Lots of room for Reese to crawl around!

It rained a lot in the afternoon and it was really neat to see a storm come up on the water. There were always a few shrimping boats out there that just stayed and rode out the storms.

One afternoon after the storm, there was a gorgeous full arch rainbow over the water.

If you look very closely you can see it was a double raindbow! It was so pretty since it was still so dark over the water.

The condo was very nice! It was 3 BR, 3 BA and had an extra little room that was a study, which worked great for Reese's pack n' play. Reese really liked exploring and could usually be found in the corner of the kitchen pulling bags and boxes of ziplocs off the shelf.

Reese did a lot better with the beach this time. He loved crawling along the shoreline and splashing in the tide pools...as long as he was away from the waves. Still a little unsure about the waves and noise! But he sure did enjoy trying to eat the shells and seaweed.

Feeling the wet sand.

Hey, this is actually fun!!

Off I go!

Our good family friend, Ashlee (at http://www.acrossthebranch.com/) and her hubby, Brad, and little girl, Blair were down there at the same time for a little while. Blair was so sweet and loved sharing her toys with Reese. Reese, on the other hand, was not so willing to share! He could use some lessons from Blair!

One of Reese's favorite games was to climb on the foot of my chaise lounge and then climb off it. One time he tried to do that with noone sitting in the chair and ended up face-planting in the sand. He was so pitiful, but it was just too funny to not take a picture!

Swimming like a big boy!

Playing with Aunt Emmie.

It was definitely different, but we still had a good time. Now, if only I got a vacation to recover from my vacation!