Our first family vacation {Anna Maria Island}

We are home from a sweet and very memorable first family vacation. We spent a week on Anna Maria Island in Florida with my husband's family and had the best time. All 9 of us stayed together in a house just minutes from the beach with access to our own private pool. It was a little slice of paradise.

I took over 400 pictures and will obviously not be sharing them all in this post, but this is fair warning: this post does contains lots and lots of pictures mostly of a cute little chubby baby on the beach.

Let's start with Aiden's first experience with the ocean. Little man was intrigued by the ocean. He was very content just sitting and digging in the sand and surprisingly didn't eat any of it! He didn't mind the waves (except for when he got a wave to the face...he can thank his Dad for that one. Haha)

Aiden's Grams, Aunts and Uncles spoiled him with lots of attention and playtime every day. We are so blessed to have people who love our little guy so much and who will be ridiculous just to make him laugh. And I apologize to them all for having Daniel Tiger songs in their head all week long.

We spent a few days exploring different places like Myakkah State Park where we saw Alligators and walked along a trail with a canopy walk. We also visited the historic fishing village of Cortez, Anna Maria pier and several new restaurants and shops.

Myakkah State Park where my husband went head to head with an Alligator

Anna Maria Pier

Dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant

Ice cream at Dips

Seafood Shack in the historic fishing village of Cortez

While we had fun exploring the island, most of our time was spent on the beach or in our amazing pool. We took turns cooking dinners so most of our evenings were spent around the house, which was awesome for Drew and I since Aiden usually goes to bed between 8 and 9. Let me just say we had a house full of top notch chefs and every dinner we had was full of fresh seafood and delicious drinks! The meal Drew and I made can be found here. Trust me, it's a keeper!

I really did not want to see this vacation come to an end. It was full of family time, good food, lots of firsts for baby and some memories that I will cherish forever. I have a few more vacation related posts coming your way including our trip to Universal, family beach pictures and a sail boat ride in honor of my father in law.

Have you ever been to Anna Maria Island?

Wild about Grams!

 For my Mother in law's birthday some of us got together and spent the day at the Cincinnati Zoo! We ate lunch overlooking Africa, watched the Polar bears play in the water and saw some baby monkeys.

After a full day at the zoo (and some necessary caffeine from Starbucks) we grilled out and had ice cream cake to finish off the birthday celebrations. 

I love all the time we've been getting to spend with family lately. Next up...a week together on the beach! Happy Birthday Grams!

Young's Dairy {Aiden's First Road Trip Part 2}

We ended Aiden's first road trip with our favorite stop in Yellow Springs, Young's Dairy. It is a working dairy farm where they make their own ice cream! It is the perfect place for family fun. They have putt putt, batting cages, slides, and a petting zoo. Aiden was intrigued by the goats...he has no choice, he will be a lover of animals like his parents. ;)

We left with full bellies and full hearts. Aiden's first road trip was a success! We can't wait to go on many more adventures with our little man! 

Have you been road trippin' lately?

Hippy Town USA {Aiden's first road trip Part 1}

A few years ago Drew and I stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in the town of Yellow Springs on a whim and loved it so we put it on our Summer Bucket list this year to go back with Aiden. This town is hard to explain...it is out in the middle of the country, and is full of hippies, which is why I had Aiden wearing his Free Hugs shirt. Haha.  There are people on the sidewalks smoking, shirtless and strumming guitars. The buildings are full of color and the town is very eclectic. It's a town like no other.

Our first stop in Yellow Springs was the Sunrise Cafe where everything is organic and made from scratch. The inside of the restaurant is adorable. The walls are painted and the light covers are old coffee tins. Drew and I split their chocolate french toast and an omelet with artichokes and sun dried tomatoes. Both were delicious and I'm drooling just thinking about them again. I highly recommend this place if you are ever in the area.

After brunch we visited Drew's favorite place in Yellow Springs...Mr. Fub's Toy Store. Growing up this toy store was always featured on PBS and Drew always dreamt of going there so it was fun for us to take Aiden and of course we had to pick out a few toys for him. 

After our bellies were full we headed to John Bryan State Park to do some hiking. The trail we hiked was pretty and Aiden slept the entire hike back to the car. He's one happy camper I tell ya.

After our hike we headed to our favorite place in Yellow Springs, but that is in a separate post because this post has reached it's photo capacity for the day...

Aiden {8 Months}

Wasn't I just posting Aiden's 7 month post? I can't believe I now have an 8 month old (technically an almost 8 and a half month old.) He continues to be such a sweet little guy and is almost always happy and content. He is really only fussy when he is hungry or tired. Currently he is working SO hard to be mobile. He is rolling and scooting around like a little ninja baby, but he is not successfully crawling forward yet. Right now he is scooting backward, but I feel we are just days away from the real deal so Drew and I went shopping for some baby proofing items. Now where to put all the stuff in baskets under our coffee table? Help!

As soon as Aiden hit 7 months he decided he wanted to start sleeping on his side, which freaked me out at first because I don't like looking on the video monitor and seeing him so close to sleeping on his belly. I'm fine with it now, but it took some getting used to. It's so funny seeing your child's quirks. What all of the sudden one night made him want to be a side sleeper like his mama? Now whenever we put him to sleep it has to be on his side.  Speaking of sleep, let's just say we aren't getting very much of it these days. We are blaming a growth spurt.

This month Aiden has all sorts of new tricks including puffing up his cheeks and blowing out, (which we find hilarious) drinking out of a cup (regular and sippy cup), waving and pulling up on things. We are still waiting to see some teeth come through, but this breastfeeding mama is not going to complain about that one! He is a great eater and is up for trying anything. His favorite puree of the moment is a blueberry and cherry mix.

Aiden still loves listening to music. If he is upset as soon as I start singing or we put on classical music he is totally fine. Do we have a future Motzart on our hands? He also continues to be a nature loving baby, which we absolutely love, love, love. He loves going on hikes with us or simply sitting on the front porch and listening to stories. We love seeing what he is interested in and seeing more of his personality come through each month. We are just smitten with this little guy.

A few stats about Aiden at eight months:

Weight: 17 pounds 8 ounces

Height: ?

Size clothes:  9 month

Sleeping: Things have gotten a little crazy in the sleep department this month. Please sleep, child! He goes to bed in between 8 and 9 every night and then is consistently waking up around midnight, then again around 2 then 4 then he sleeps until around 6:30. Sometimes he wakes up less than that, but Drew and I are thankful Aiden is so stinkin' sweet. As soon as he smiles (and we get some caffeine) we instantly forget his bad sleeping habits.

Eating: Still drinking mama's milk every 3ish hours and then is also eating solids twice a day. I'm still making all his food and am having fun mixing some flavors together. He is also drinking water and some diluted apple juice out of a sippy cup or sometimes straight from my glass. New foods this month-apple, cinnamon oatmeal, prunes, blueberries and cherries. Next up...trying some meat and a few new recipes from this awesome baby food cookbook.

Random stuff only parents want to know:

Nicknames: Baby Hunny, Bubba, Beebo, 

Likes: Family hikes, Having his feet tickled, Being outside, Snuggling with mama, laughing at Dad, being read to, homemade popsicles, swimming.

Dislikes:  Not being able to poop, waiting to be fed, not being included in adult conversations and apparently sleeping at night is now something he hates. #wecouldsleepfordays #sendcoffee

         One Month Update          Two Month Update         Three Month Update        Four Month Update

         Five Month Update          Six Month Update         Seven Month Update        Eight Month Update

Month 9 here we go...

Splash Park Photoshoot

I have always loved summer time...BBQs, the pool, ice cream runs, etc. But having my own little guy makes me love it even more and in a whole new way. Since Drew teaches and has summers off we have been making the most of the sunny days together and are outside as often as possible. Our favorite park just happens to be within 5 minutes of our house and has a mini splash park making it the perfect outing in between Aiden's nap times! It also makes a fun place to try out my new camera especially since I have the best models of all time.

How are you staying cool this summer??