We're back!

!What a wonderful week! It was so nice to spend this many days with my family, especially Mark and Lucy. We see each other every day but it was nice to be able to put work aside and just focus on the most important thing in life - our family. We were pretty worried about how the ride down would be. Eight hours in a car with an 8-month-old who gets very bored in her car seat would not be fun for anyone. We decided to drive straight through the night and boy did we make a good decision! The ride down and back home were a breeze. Lucy slept the entire way except once when we woke her up around 12:30am both times to give her a bottle and she went straight back to sleep. It couldn't have gone any smoother. (Well, except the lack of sleep we got but we managed!) Lucy absolutely loved the beach! Her favorite part was sitting by the water and having the waves come up and splash her. She thought it was hilarious!

 

We stayed in a really nice resort called Ocean Lakes and it was one block from the beach. It was a quick walk or an even quicker golf cart ride. Lucy loved going for rides on the golf cart!

 

They had a big pool that of course my little water baby loved..

 

And they had a little splash park for the kids that she loved even more! She got in her float and since she could touch the ground, she would take off across the pool. It was so funny!

 

On one of the days we were there we decided to take a break from the sun and take Lucy to Ripley's Aquarium. I think she was more into watching all the kids and people there but she did seem to take quite an interest at the big fishies too.

 

We even went out to eat a couple of times. We went to Hard Rock Cafe at Broadway at the Beach one night. Lucy loved Broadway at the Beach. They had a princess store and she got all glitter-fied from the princess and got a balloon from the ice cream store that she loved the most. We were out until after 10pm and she hung the entire time, just as happy as ever. Another night we went to Dick's in North Myrtle Beach and it was quite the experience! The food was not so great (what was I thinking ordering crab cakes in SC?!) but the experience was fun, nonetheless. We also went to Carlos & Charlies for lunch one day. I've always wanted to go to one and the food was so delicious!

 

Lucy got to ride the merry-go-round at Broadway at the Beach and she loved it! She held on for dear life but she laughed the entire time!

 

There was also an arcade at the resort that Lucy thought was very cool! They had a motorcycle there that was so much fun to ride! Afterwards, we stopped by the park on the way home and Lucy got to do one of her favorite things.. swing on the swing!

 

And just some other random pictures from the week...

 

As you can see, we had a great time! Yesterday, the last day of our vacation, we decided to hit the outlets and we got Lucy a lot of new fall clothes for great prices. I swear, once you have a kid you no longer buy anything for yourself! She's so worth it though. :) Mark and I got to sit up with my brother and Marina a few of the nights and play cards and drink a few beers. So we really did get a good, relaxing vacation! Now it's back to reality. I've been home and cleaning and un-packing all day. Everyone is so worn out (even the dog!) and the entire house is sleeping besides me. Now I'm off to finish unpacking (ugh, the absolute worst when it comes to traveling!).

 Hope everyone has a great week!

Packin' up & headin' out!

We packed what felt like our entire house and headed down to Myrtle Beach for a week! We drove through the night last night and got here at 5:30am. Poor Mark is now sleeping on the beach until we can check-in. Lucy did great and slept the entire time. I wish I could post pics from my phone, but don't worry.. There will be picture overload once we get back. Until then I'm going to enjoy this time with my family, take it all in, and make lasting memories. :) Cya in a week!

Sunday funday

This is how I spent my Sunday. Wine tasting at Running Hare Vineyard with 5 girlfriends and lots of yummy food. Jealous, huh? It sure was fun. :)

So my friends moms' started a club 20-some years ago called "Club No". (No rules, no spouses, no kids) For years now my friends and I have always mocked them and said the "new generation" had their own club - Club Yes. (Y = young, E = energetic, S = sexy) It wasn't until recently where we all decided why not really form Club Yes and plan fun outings. So we did just that. If we have to form a club as a way to get a bunch of girlfriends together then so be it! 

When we were brainstorming on where to go on our first initial outing, I immediately suggested wine tasting at a vineyard. One, because I am on a wine kick these days and two, I've always wanted to go to a vineyard and do a wine tasting. It just seemed like something fun to do and thankfully everyone was all for the idea and we locked a date in place.

Besides it being so incredibly hot and humid, it turned out to be a really nice, fun day. We all brought food for a picnic lunch and honestly had people pointing and laughing at our table because the amount of food we brought for 6 of us was a little overboard. But hey, it was all so good and we needed extra food to soak up that wine!

So here's to Club Yes! I'm so glad we finally pulled the plunge. I hope to be posting about many future outings. 

P.S. We were missing 2 members who couldn't make it.. so hopefully you'll see Crystal and Sara at the next one!

I'm BACK!

After 2 months, I'm FINALLY back! Things got super busy for me there for awhile so I needed a little break to just get caught up. But I'm finally back.. with a new template and all. :) Let me just give a quick recap of my past 2 months. In my last post Lucy had just turned 6 months. She is now 8 months and has a lot of new little tricks up her sleeve! She started crawling around 6 1/2 months and within a day or two was pulling herself up. She's been "couch surfing" for a few weeks now so I think within the next several weeks we will definitely have a walker on our hands. Can you believe it? It's still hard to believe how fast these past 8 months have flown by. She is going to be 1 before I know it! Now I know you all want some recent pictures and of course I got 'em so here they are...

Isn't she SO big?! She really is the sweetest, funniest, happiest, most loving baby. She is starting to say words now (da-da being her favorite) and always learning new things. Right now she picks up anything and everything and puts it to her ear like a telephone. It's really fun to play with her now! She is now eating a lot of table foods and less baby food. Her favorite foods are green beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, cheese, puffs, graham crackers and chicken noodle baby food. She also got her ears pierced by her pediatrician at her 6-month appointment. Thankfully they healed wonderfully and I have never had a single issue with them. Besides Lucy, there were lot of other things that happened in the last 2 months. Like...

 - I graduated from UMUC with my bachelors degree in Business Administration!! Finally. All of that hard work finally paid off. I can't tell you how nice it feels to have finally finished and accomplished that goal I set out for myself so many years ago.

- Mark turned the big 2-9 on June 22nd. It's his last year of his twenties! He also celebrated his first Father's Day just a few days before.

 - Lucy got to celebrate her first 4th of July and even stayed up late enough to watch the fireworks for the first time. She surprisingly hung out like a trooper and watched the entire show!

 - One of my very best friends, Lisa, got engaged and asked me to be her maid of honor and I couldn't be any more thrilled for her and excited to play such an important part of her big day!

Well I think I covered all the important things the best I could. Continue to check back because now that I have more time on my hands, thanks to not having to worry about school work anymore, I plan to update as frequently as possible! Tomorrow I'm going wine tasting at a local vineyard with some girlfriends so I'm off to get a good nights sleep... :)