A Merry Christmas

Merry (late) Christmas!

After almost 100 pictures (at least!) one finally turned out.  I know it's normal to take a lot of pictures, but I would think...or hope that I could get a few more than just 1 turn out.  I love snapping pictures, but since little B is getting wiser older she's learning how to move at the perfect moment for that blurrrrred affect.  Smarty pants.

Anyways, Merry (late) Christmas!

We were able to spend Christmas morning in a tropical paradise.  Well...close enough.  Florida!  How I loved waking up in the morning, looking out the window at a palm tree.  Yes, a palm tree.  We decided to venture down to Florida to spend Christmas with his Grandparents that reside there in the winter.  My in-laws also came down.  It was such a nice and relaxing time.    We had somy fun adventures, and hours upon hours of relaxing as a family. 

The drive down seemed like it took forever...but 21 hours straight is kind of forever in a car with a 16 month old (even though she did great). 

I think I'd be embaressed to tell you how many graham crackers she ate...how many movies she watched...how many pacifiers we had in the back seat for her...BUT we made it!  And we all still loved eachother by time we arrived. 

Bonus.

Golfing is one of those things for my man.  I think he would eat, sleep, breathe golf if he could. It was the first thing he did as soon as he got out of the car.  Unpacked his golf clubs.  Went out back. Hit them clear over the canal on the other side of the road in the picture. 

Not bad.

 I hope no one is blinded by my our pastiness.  No need for wearing shorts in Michigan at the end of December.  That's besides the point.  I love these HUGE trees! They're found everywhere on Boca Grande. 

 Golf carts are the easiest way to navigate on the island since it's so small.  There's specific roads just for the golf carts that make it really nice and convenient. Little B got to be captain with Daddy since she wasn't a fan of anything the first part of the trip.  Including golf cart rides.  It took about 3 days for her to adjust to everything and be the happy little B she usually is. 

 This is the hotel that we stayed at...and just steps out of our room was a canal off of the ocean.  Which is so beautiful and relaxing and wonderful...however, it is a non stop chasing and holding hands with a toddler who has no interest in those things.  That's a pretty exhausting rest.
 

 We went to bed really early that night, try to recover from the long trip still.  That led to a early wake up.  I mean a early wake up.  Like 4 am early.  I haven't been up at that time (thankfully!) since Little B was a new born.  We decided to go fishing.  We had a baby monitor that reached perfectly and a fishing pole.  I wanted just to sit next to Kaleb and chat.  After he casted out a few times with no success, I thought it would be fun to do the same. I wanted to be cool.  He put the line out and told me to hold it while he went to go get a pole for me.  Sure enough, as soon as he left my line got snagged.  UGH!  Not cool!  Then it started to move...and I got excited.  Kaleb came over to see me and the pole struggling.  He couldn't believe it.  He had spend about 2 hours the night before fishing with not much luck.  I just go in there with a line that was already out for me and hold the pole and I snagged a fish.  Ha!  It still makes me smile.  That is me and my man holding my big catch of the day! 

 Drum roll please...

 These are the first pictures I've posted since I chopped my hair off.  That should be another post in itself.  It's taken a few months of adjustment to it.  But it's been fun.  Something different.  Something unique for me. 

 Ice cream is always a favorite for Baleigh.  She was pretty stoked when Grandma bought her her first ice cream cone.  What a cute mess she was!

 It always nice to see beautiful flowers.  But there's something about seeing them outside at the end of December that brings real joy.  You really makes you stop and enjoy them all. 

 On Christmas day we saw this manger scene that you could walk around.  Baleigh was so interested in all the animals...and the baby.  She loves babies.  She loved baby Jesus. 

 We spent lots of time at the beach.  We were able to stay at a house right on the ocean with family.  It. Was. Amazing.   Nothing better than walking out to that white warm sand to that beautiful water whenever you wanted to.  The waves crashing at night was the most perfect noise to drift to sleep by.  Oh, and I love the few curls that Baleigh had with the humidity.  Perfect. 

 

We loved shelling in the early morning.  Finding all of those treasures the ocean left behind was so much fun.  I have a few crafts that I want to tackle with some of the shells that we found. My favorite shells were the coquina shells.  The have such amazing colors and designs on them.

We woke up Christmas day in Florida.  We did it before.  I swore I would never do it again with kids.  But there we were.  No snow.  80 degrees.  We had a wonderful time together.  With family.  Our family.  We went to the beach after a big Christmas Luncheon at the Grandparents church.  We hiked for a few miles on the beach.  It was so beautiful.  And that sunset made the trip worth it.  God has such wonderful things for us to enjoy.  I'm so thankful for that. 

I love my family.  I love our time that we're able to spend together just enjoying life.