PCB 2011, Baby!

On the 3rd of July, we left bright and early in the morning for Panama City Beach!  My whole family is big into road tripping.  Me.  Not so much.  I think the idea of it sounds really fun.  But once I'm in the car for more than an hour I'm completely bored.  Luckily, Matt feels the same way.  So flying it was.

Enter Natalie's first flight.  

 

She did so great!  I decided to bring the boppy with me on the plane and it was the best decision I ever made.  It gave me a comfortable place to feed her and then she was able to fall asleep!  Girl slept almost the whole time on all the flights.  Passengers even complimented us!  Like we did anything...but it was nice to hear :)

Once we got settled in the condo, we headed downstairs for Natalie's first swim!  However, the girl was so pooped from her early morning flight that she fell asleep on the way down to the pool.  Ha!  I let her hang out with Grandma in the stroller and I got some much needed pool time with my sister and her hubs.  

But once she woke up, girl was ready to play!

She had so much fun!  The floatie we bought for her worked so well.  Until she discovered she could put her face down in it and suck up water.  Yeah.  That was awesome.  I finally decided to bring Sophie the Giraffe down to the pool with us so Natalie would be distracted with her and it worked.  Sophie, however, will never again squeak the same.  Ha!

We spent the rest of the vacation transitioning between the pool and the beach.  Natalie was not much of a beach fan, especially when Mama accidentally let a wave hit her.  Plus, the sand got EVERYWHERE!  We had to immediately hose Natalie off in the sink when we got back.  I don't think there was a spot on her body that wasn't covered in sand.

 

On the 4th, we watched fireworks from our balcony.  They shot them off from the pier and we had the best seat in the house.  And most importantly, Natalie didn't wake up at all!  We also celebrated with this yummy trifle my dad made.

I'm so grateful Natalie got to spend so much time with her family on this trip.  It's rare all of us get together, especially uninterrupted for a week so this trip was priceless.  

Plus, my sister got to experience Sonic for the first time!  We were happy to take her there.  Twice.  Maybe once right after we had Chick-fil-A.  Hey.  No judgies.  What are vacations for?

And yes, Matt did come.  I just realized he really wasn't in any pictures.  Ha!  He's not much of a beach vacation person.  He spent most of his time in the condo playing Monopoly on his iPad.  But as long as he wasn't working, he was happy as a clam.

Natalie took fantastic naps in her stroller by the pool everyday which allowed me some time to visit with my family and enjoy the weather myself.  She slept great in her pack 'n play and was just such a good little baby the whole time.  I will say, Matt and I were not fans of sharing a room with our little booger.  She's a loud sleeper and kept us up quite a bit.  And the early morning wake up calls weren't so much fun either.  But overall, she did a fabulous job during her very first vacation.  We can't wait to do it again!

 

Oh, did I forget to mention I chopped all my hair off??