Happy 3rd Birthday Lyla Kade

Oh my Lil Bit.  I will be honest, the day you were born you kinda looked like a bulldog.  You were so swollen and wrinkled, and I got a little nervous, but look at how beautiful you have become.  You have become the sweetest, most loving, cuddley little girl I could ever imagine.  Thinking back to the day I found out your were a girl and comparing it to now is pretty funny.  I am still clueless about how to fix your hair and I'm pretty bad at keeping your finger nails painted like you'd prefer and YOUR girliness hasn't rubbed off on me much, but I think all in all, we are doing MUCH better than I imagined. 

I wish I could bottle up all the little things you do right now and keep them around forever!  For example, you call your brother, "Bub" you say "Yes" with the same accent my student from BRAZIL does, you always tell me that I'm nice or if I don't give you your way you say "Mom, that's not very nice." You always want me to pat your back at night, cover you up when you are cold on the couch. And although you are (finally) potty trained, you'd still prefer me to help you every time and hold your hands while you go.  You LOVE Max and Ruby and Dora and your bunny you got for Easter is one of your "best friends."  You ask to be called "PIncess Lyla" and tell me your (school) best friend is "Parber" (Parker Ramsey) You love playing on the Iphone or Ipad and you'll cheer for anything that sounds exciting. 

You flutter around.  You always have.  You're a little pigeon toed and you have tiny feet and you just flutter.  You are still my cautious child.  For the first time last week you climbed up onto the big playset, went down the slide and fell so of course you were done with that.  I bet you it'll be at least 3 months before you risk that again, because you are OBSESSED with not having "boo boo's" and if you even have the TINIEST cut/scrape you have to show EVERYONE!  And EVERYONE is your new friend, REAL friends, cashiers, it doesn't matter, you will show them your boo boo and then ask them to dance, or show them your pretty dress.  My mom says I was the same way.  It is just so strange because you have been so quiet and shy until recently....

But you have turned into a butterfly my sweet Lyla.  Keep fluttering.  Keep letting everyone be your best friends, keep giving hugs and kisses, and keep changing, growing, and blossoming into the little girl that I never imagined being able to create.  Keep bringing joy and smiles to all who cross your path.  This world needs butterflys.  It needs joy. It needs hugs and love.  And my sweet girl, you can give it all it needs. 

Florida Summer 2012

So, last summer my friend Jenni and I got a wild hair to go to the beach, so in May we planned a trip for June to Mexico City Beach.  Since we only had a month to plan/save we decided to just share it all- the duplex, the car ride, hotel rooms, you name it.  So just under a month after booking we loaded up three kids and two adults and a ton of stuff before sunrise and took off!

We wanted to make the trip down as much of an adventure as possible, so the first day we drove down to New Orleans.  No one had ever been but me and I haven't been since Katrina, so I was pretty excited to see how things looked.  We stayed out by the airport, dropped off our luggage and headed in to eat at Mothers, a well known Po'Boy place.  After a yummy dinner we went to explore Burben Street before the sun went down.  Unfortunatly, we didn't QUIET make it and ended up seeing a little more than we wanted, but the kids loved catching beads and dancing to music.

Side note: One thing that made me sad was it didn't SOUND as much like New Orleans.  Before Katrina there were street musicians at every corner and the night and mornind we spent there we only heard TWO. 

The next morning we loaded back up and took off to eat beignnets at Cafe Du Monde, YUM! It was a beautiful rainy morning and we loved it! But we were itching for the beach so we got out of town pretty quick....

The rest of the day was spent driving, driving driving and finally, we arrived at the beach! I was SO relieved when we saw our condo.  It was RIGHT on the beach, so close, we could let the big boys play on the sand and we could sit on our porch and still see them.  We spent the rest of the week watching our kids play in the sand, hunt craps, we watched dolphins swim around us in the ocean, stepped around sting rays, played on the playground at the bar and grill next door, cheered on our Thunder who were in the NBA finals (but they lost), and cooking out, laying out, going on runs, and having a relaxing good time.

We did take a couple of little trips along the way.  One afternoon we loaded up and went into Panama City to go to Gulf World, it's like a minature Sea World.  The kids LOVED petting all the marine life! Lyla was scared of the birds, but loved everything else.  J and Dono golfed a little and we all ate out a couple of nights.  We even got date nights by watching each others kids. 

Overall, the beach is the PERFECT place to vaca with young kids.  At least mine.  They never tire of the sand, the ocean, and finding sea shells.  They are two cute little beach bums!