Much Needed Vacation

We were on vacation last week in Myrtle Beach, SC. Me, Johnny, Mom, Dad, and Madi all piled in a van at 4:30 Sunday morning and drove 9 hours. Madi did great on the ride down there...it helped that she slept almost the whole way! Once she woke up we stopped for breakfast at Bojangles...Dad was going to have a heart attack if we didn't get Bojangles!!

Madi absolutely LOVED the water! I wish she hadn't gotten the tubes in her ears before vacation...she would have loved to underwater. That is the first thing she tried to do...stick her whole face in the water! It was definitely a different vacation than I've ever had...there was not a lot of relaxation with a 15 month in tow. I'm used to laying by the pool and reading...definitely did not happen this time! But I LOVED every minute of it.

One of Madi's favorite pool games!

We ate a lot of good seafood (I learned that I do not like crab cakes) - Johnny and Dad almost ate themselves to death on crab legs at the Giant Crab. Even Madi got a bite of crab meat from Poppie - she loved it - immediately starting signing "more".

Me and Madi outside our room - it was such a treat to get to spend an entire week with her!

We took pictures on the beach on Friday night. By the time we got there we had to rush to snap the pictures as a storm was quickly approaching.

Madi's favorite spot...in the sand!

Me and Mom...the wind did a number on our hair!

Madi with her two favorite people...Grammie and Poppie

And of course I saved the best for last...my favorite two pictures of Madi from the entire week. These were shot on the beach on our last day. She was having so much fun playing in the sand.

The more it splashes in her face the better she likes it!

"I give up! We're going back to Crossville!"

On this day Mom and I almost had to kill two young guys who decided to play football two feet from where Madi was playing. I had already told them once to find somewhere else to play their game when the ball whizzed by Madi's head - missing her by inches. We were so mad! Mom grabbed the football and I could tell she was trying to decide what to do with it. Since her hardest throw would only get the ball to the edge of the water anyway, she decided to give it back to them. Moments later, Poppie came back from his walk - needless to say the guys put the football up for the remainder of the day!

This vacation was a learning experience for me. I learned that once a baby is in your life - it is absolutely no longer about you and/or what you would like to do! But the best part...you don't even think about that. There were moments each day that I counted it an honor to be doing whatever my Madi girl wanted to do...whatever brought a smile to that sweet face!

Thanks Mom and Dad for inviting us - we had such a great time! We love you!

And we love our Madi girl...give her a kiss for us!