The Farrell Family: Your First Trip to the Beach!!

Well, Ella my little beach bunny, I was very reluctant to take a 10-month-old to the beach, but boy was I surprised at the outcome!

Somewhat last minute, your daddy and I decided to join our good friends Tyler, Veronica and our godchild Breanna at Perdido Key, Florida. We all stayed in a two bedroom condo called the Windemere. It was really nice with a beautiful long balcony view of the Gulf. The water was crystal clear, the waves were big, and the weather was GORGEOUS.

This was your daddy and my first real vacation with you, which is always a learning experience. We bought some speakers for your carseat so we wouldn't have to listen to kid's videos the WHOLE way there. They worked like a charm once we got the extension for the cord...but your daddy is quite the technical guru! One thing we DID forget was to bring the rest of your DVDs, so unfortunately we listened to the Wiggles the WHOLE way there and the WHOLE way back. Your daddy and I know ALL the words to every song....

Thinking all you would want to do is eat the sand, I borrowed a neat sheet from your Aunt Shelly and we hauled the play yard all the way to Fl. Your first morning on the beach, we just plopped you on the sand to see what you would do. You LOVED the sand. You just kept looking at it so intently, running it through your hands. It was sooo funny to look at because you were concentrating so hard on it. You did that for a LOOONG time too. After that, we went into the water. I was so afraid you'd get saltwater in your mouth or eyes and start screaming. But daddy brought you out in that water, and you loved it. You splashed it around, and daddy always found a way to get those waves to splash you in the face. You just smiled or sat there with no expression at all...as if you were trying to figure out where the heck we were and what this was!! You sucked your thumb a lot, I guess to suck the saltwater off. Gross.

You also loved the pool, which mommy enjoyed a lot too. It was very refreshing, and with the weather being so nice, it was just sooo relaxing. We spent almost every morning on the beach, and our afternoons in the pool or napping. It was great.

You and Breanna had a blast too. Breanna was 2 and a half, and I thought the age difference might keep yall from having fun. But she treated you like a little sister...yall would run up and down the condo screaming at the top of yall lungs. I am sure our neighbors loooved that. At night, we would all get dolled up and go out to eat. One night, at Cottons, you were so tired! You were in your high chair eating baked potato pieces, and you started crying. I picked you up, and you immediately fell asleep on my shoulder. You slept there the rest of the meal. You are so funny.

One night we decided to take family pictures, which really came out great. How can you go wrong with a background like that??

On fourth of July we got some other great shots of you. You looked so cute in your little patriotic dress. And of course, daddy couldn't help but put you in the water, which resulted in you tumbling around in the waves IN your pretty dress. Oh well.