Beach Family Photo Shoot

While vacationing on Anna Maria Island we knew we had to attempt some family beach pictures. Duh. So Saturday morning we all got dressed and ready and within minutes of when we were going to head out a storm blew in. Wah way wah. Thankfully later that afternoon the storm let up and we hit the beach for pictures. We used my tripod and camera remote and I'm actually really happy with how most of the pictures turned out despite it being extremely bright and very windy. Here's a look at some of my favorites from our family photo shoot and then of course I had to share some outtakes.

And here are some outtakes of the whole crew, which actually might be my favorites...

Aiden {9 Months}

My baby is now 9 months old. I have carried him in my arms as long as I carried him in my belly and that is just plain crazy and makes me want to cry big old mom tears. This month I truly feel like I've watched my baby start to turn into a little boy. He is throwing things like a boy, grunting like a boy and gets this little sneaky grin on his face when he is up to no good, but I can't help but laugh. He is so stinkin' cute.

This month Aiden has been working so hard to crawl. He gets up on all fours and sticks his but up in the air. He gets one leg going, but then that's it. Then he reverts back to his backward sliding and often ends up under a chair, but I have full confidence that this is the month he will start crawling. He is also pulling himself up on everything and is very motivated by our cat's tails. The cats are in for a rude awakening.

This month was full of firsts especially when it comes to traveling. He went on his first two road trips, one to Yellow Springs and the other to Columbus to visit Aunt Chelsey. He also rode on his first airplane and went on his first sailboat ride!

Aiden continues to be the sunshine of our lives. He is so easily entertained especially by sounds. The ZZZZ sound almost always makes him laugh. I swear the kid just loves to laugh.

He recognizes when his favorite songs come on now and even bops along with them. His favorites are: You are my Sunshine, Thomas the Train theme song and the Daniel Tiger theme song. He also loves listening to Brown Bear, Brown Bear and is instantly mesmerized by that first phrase.

A few stats about Aiden at nine months:

Weight: 17.7 pounds

Height: ?

Size clothes:  9 month and some 12 month

Sleeping: Please take me back to the days when my little guy would sleep for 6-7 hours in a row. I blame the tooth that is about to push it's way through, but I'm praying we start getting some consistent sleep again soon. Let's just say this mama misses sleep. A LOT.

Eating: I am proud to say that I have made it to the 9 month mark and am still breastfeeding. I consider it one of my greatest accomplishments and plan to continue until at least the one year mark. Besides a whole lot of mama's milk he is eating solids 2-3 times a day. His current favorite is oatmeal with berries. 

Random stuff only parents want to know:

Nicknames: Big chunks (Thanks Uncle Arjun), Beebo, Bubba Hunny

Likes: Twirling his hair while he eats, being on vacation, the pool, mega blocks, being read to, pulling the cats tails, riding in shopping carts, growling and grunting, pulling Mom's hair.

Dislikes: Avocado (is he really my child??), teething, laying still while he gets his diaper changed, not eating when we eat.

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

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

I feel like things are about to get crazy this month with a mobile baby...

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

Knowing we would be less than two hours away from Universal while on vacation, Drew and I knew that we had to make it a priority to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Harry Potter will always be a reminder of my pregnancy with Aiden being that I read almost the entire series and watched all 8 movies while pregnant with him. Shortly after I convinced my husband to do the same and we were instant fans/nerds. So this was the perfect time for us to go. My mother in law watched Aiden for the day so we left bright and early for Orlando and spent the entire day acting like kids ourselves in the park.

Of course our first stop was Diagon Alley and it did not disappoint. We rode the Gringotts ride and it was amazing. The bank was just like it was in the movies and we just so happened to get seated in the very front car. My sister in law and I were beyond excited about our luck on the first ride of the day. We explored the shops and soaked up all the magic we could before hoping on the train at King's Crossing.

At Wizarding Weasley's...Drew's favorite shop.

Kings Crossing!

If you've never been to Universal, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is in both of the parks. Diagon Alley is on one side and Hogsmeade is on the other and in order to ride The Hogwarts Express, you have to have a pass to both parks so I highly recommend doing that!

Once we got to Hogsmeade we stopped in at The Three Broomsticks for lunch. (So fun to say that!) The food was delicious and I loved the character of the place. I highly recommend it.

We let our food settle as we wandered around and the shops in Hogsmeade then we headed to the castle for another ride. The thing I loved about the Harry Potter rides were that even though we had to wait in lines, the lines took you on a tour of both the castle and the bank so I was never annoyed about a line or bored in line.

After our tour of Hogwarts we cooled off with some Butterbeer. Drew and I had made our own Butterbeer at home and it was delicious, but nothing compared to the real thing. We got ours frozen because it was extremely hot, but I hear the best way to drink Butterbeer is half frozen and half regular. How do you drink your Butterbeer?

The rest of our day at Universal was fun, but nothing at the park can top Harry Potter. We had a magical day and can't wait to take Aiden there someday when he is old enough to appreciate it.

Have you been to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter?

Did you love it?

Anniversary #6

This year we got to celebrate our anniversary at the beach! We went to a place called The Sandbar, had some drinks and walked along the beach until the sun went down. We talked about our next 6 years and how different things would be as we held hands and watched the sunset over the ocean. It was extra special because we spent our honeymoon on a beach just minutes from this one so we had fun thinking about us walking along the beach 6 years ago as newlyweds. A lot has changed including the kind of love we have for each other. Back then it was puppy love and while I'm still so in love with my husband it's a different kind of love.

6 years ago we were reminiscing about how awesome our wedding was.

Now we are talking about how awesome our son is.

6 years ago we had just finished re-doing the all pink bathroom of the house we were renting.

Now we own that house together.

6 years ago Drew was finishing up his Masters and I had just finished my first year of teaching.

Now Drew is teaching in the district we both went to and I am finishing my first year as Elementary Coordinator at our church.

6 years ago it was just the two of us.

Now it's the 3 of us.

Well actually it's the 5 of us including our cats.

I can't wait for the next 6 years with this guy by my side!

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?