Our Trip to South Florida

My mother and stepdad got a new couch... that means we got a "new" couch too! Their hand-me-down is our new comfy spot! Very exciting! We had to plan an impromptu trip to South Florida in order to retrieve it, so we made a little vacation out of it!

We left Thursday night and stayed through Sunday and drove a Uhaul back! On Thursday and Friday we spent time with the Myers in Palm Beach Gardens and had a BLAST! The beach trip on Friday was a definite highlight! Here are some tips for a fun and safe time courtesy of the Myer Fam!

First things first: you MUST wear sunscreen at the beach in Florida.

Mommies must keep an eye on their babies, and their hubbies too to make sure no sharks come (okay, so that's a little ridiculous, but common, you never know!).

You must convince little ones that the waves are your friends when mommy and daddy are with you.

You should always check out your surroundings.

You should have a Papa John with you to show you some fun games: like putting shells and other beach goodies into a bucket!

You should bring a skim board to catch some waves.

Snuggle up for a family photo while the little one is little (that will change when you blink your eyes after the shudder snaps!)

Teach your baby how to spell their name in the sand, look how well Aaron did!

Tell your baby that you "heart" them... better yet, show them!

Allow them to walk away when their done being "hearted."

Find some beach treasure.

Then find some more.

Write your initials in shells.

AJ stand for Aaron Joseph!

On Friday after a nap and a yummy family lunch we went to the mall with Nana and Papa John and Aaron rode his first carousel! First with Mommy and then with Nana!

Nana is so much fun!

We had a WONDERFUL time in Miami too, but I have to wait till Joey sends me the pictures to post them. We went to the zoo and Aaron got a kiss from a little girl in the splash park, saw all kinds of animals, got hooted and hollered at by monkeys, rode in a bike-carriage thing, and fed a giraffe all by himself!

After the zoo we went in MeeMee and Poppy's pool and that was lots of fun too! Aaron practices his newly acquired breath control skills from his ISR lessons. Gotta love that boy. After dunking him under water he comes up smiling and laughing! What a hoot!

These are the couches in their new home and the rearranged furniture that really opens up our living room!

Before (well... long before, we'd changed it since then):

After:

Before (same deal, this is a little while ago):

After:

Here is some footage of Aaron's first swim lesson! I am so proud of the progress he is making, he is such a big boy! He cried a lot at first, but always stopped crying to give a high five when it was requested of him! :0)

*Plug: if you are interested in infant swim resource (ISR) this is a link to them: ISR SWIM

There is not yet one case of a child who graduated from ISR drowning. It's pricey, but I think it's worth the money personally.

Blessings!