Satellite Beach, FL

We went back and forth, back and forth, and then back and forth once more on wether or not to take a trip to FL in the summer. Charles' work has a rule that he has to ask for time off a month in advance, which usually means we don't get the opportunity to fly standby as things can change so quickly in that time frame, and it's so much cheaper to buy tickets if it's in advance. One day, though, we looked at the flights and they looked wide open. The widest they could get. So, he asked for the week off and we decided that if they filled up we'd have a staycation. We took the trip about 8 weeks after my second surgery (I think). There was enough space on each of the four flights for us to have a whole row. This allowed us to take Em's carseat onboard and a lot of privacy when it came to nursing her which was obvisouly incredibly nice.

Lounging by the pool, playing in the sand at the beach, and having lots of grandma and grandpa, and great grandma time made the trip so worth while. The first time we took her to the beach she took to the sand and water immediately. Em started crawling at 5 months, but despite knowing she can she still hadn't graduated to hands and knees crawling vs army crawling. The second she moved from the towel to the sand though, she popped right up and did it. Towards the end of our time at the beach Charles took Eliza out to the waves until one swept her and him under (oops). We went home and the next day when we went to the beach she was definitely hesitant to trust the water again. I had to hold her above the tide as it slowly rolled in and let her dip her toes in until she gained her confidence back. We had stopped at a board store and grabbed a nice large floppy hat and a rash guard sized 4T- which fit her perfectly as a dress! As much as I love the mountains, Eliza was pretty freaking adorable as a beach babe.

Other than spending time at the beach, Charles and I saw the Martian on a date, I had a belated baby shower, and we ate at Cafe Margaux (of course), as well as taking a cruise on the boat. Everything was so peaceful and relaxing, and Eliza cut her first tooth!

^^All in all, there were lots of Eliza-passed-out-in-the-middle-of-the-day moments. I need to scrounge up a few more photos that I know exist- like her on her other Great Grandma's lap, and her in her ginormous floppy hat in a rash guard. It was such a good trip, despite having to brave using those electric chairs in Target and almost taking out an aisle.