Florida in Instagrams

We just got back from Florida.  

We spent a little less than a week visiting Mr. D's family.  

And even though it seemed like a quick visit we sure packed a lot in.  

Orlando, Sea World, Painting Eggs, Easter Sunday, Family time, and so many memories.

 Linking Here:
a {little} dash of ash
a good life

Our Christmas

We spent Christmas day in our home.

We were so excited to set out The Girl's gifts.

She LOVED her stroller and Baby Stella.

It was so rewarding to see her eyes light up when she saw her new toys.

 This year was a lot more fun than last.

The Girl was healthy, and totally into opening her gifts.

She was so excited about each item.

We bought her a back pack, and as you can see from the photos she didn't take it off.

We also got her Minnie Mouse stick on earrings.  

These took me back to my childhood.

People keep asking me if I am going to pierce her ears or not.  

I have really been going back and forth on this so for now we are sticking with the stickers.

Then it was off to Florida to visit family.

Travelling took a lot out of us but as always it was worth every second.

We love being with family and The Girl LOVED all the attention.

New Years was low key.

The Hubby and I got away during the day to shop and go on a date.

We had smoked pork for dinner (Hubby's fav) and spent time with our family and The Girl.

The next day we stopped by the Gator Bowl pep-rally!

Go Gators!

And got to watch the game with other Gator fans.

All and all a great Holiday!

It's Game Day...

Today is game day...how do I know that? 

Well as I sit here and type I can hear The Boss saying "Go Gators" 

(sounds a little more like "Go Gago" but we know what she means).

One of her Game Day uniforms

While my favourite things about fall are apple picking, the weather and fall decor,

The Hubby lives for his Florida Gators and college game day!

Teaching The Girl to tackle! Hilarious!

Over the years this is something that I too have come to love.

While I can't stand the idea of being trapped in the house all day on a beautiful fall day,

I usually drag the hubby away from the TV during the "unimportant match ups"

promising to return him in time for his Gators.

Funny how perspective changes.  

As I child we never watched college football (I'm Canadian, it is meek in comparison)

We would attend a University game in our city once a year,

when my Mom was away and Dad was in charge.

But now our tradition is football, family time and football food on fall Saturdays.

Here's a secret to why I love it,

While The Boss naps and again once she is in bed, I sit on the floor and craft.

Quality time with the hubby...he's happy and so I am!

After all, Friday night is date night in our house, by Saturday we have nothing left to talk about! 

Delays...

...are the story of my life! (This post is no exception)

We just returned from Florida, and with the exception of an impromptu visit to Atlanta (don't ever fly with me I am bad luck), we had an amazing time!!!!  We flew to Mr. D's home town and dropped The Boss off at her grandparents.  Mr. D and I then continued on to Orlando where we spent three days together reminding ourselves how fun we are.  It is incredible how much you let your marriage slide when you add a baby.  We focus so much of our time and effort on The Boss that we forget to spend time together.  We always get along, but a marriage needs to be more than getting along...it needs to be romantic getaways where you remember why you chose each other.

We spent time in the sunshine....

...took the boat over to city walk where we ate dinner and enjoyed the night life, 

...and finished the weekend off with the first Gator game of the 2011 season! 

It was like a second honeymoon.  Our time was spent talking about how we need to do this every year, and missing The Girl.  After three days away we were super anxious to get back and see her.  Unfortunately for us (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) the anxious feelings were not reciprocated.    The Boss had the best time with her grandparents and did not miss us for even a minute.

Some of the highlights of our trip were meeting our good friends we went to school with for lunch and dinner, sleeping in, sun-tanning laying down with my eyes shut, catching a nap and the Karaoke bar we found.  We stayed at Loews Royal Pacifica Resort at Universal Studios.  It was the perfect balance of romantic getaway and night life.   The first night we were there we stumbled across Rising Star at City Walk a local Karaoke bar.  This is the stage where the live band and back up singers await the next Star...um, not your average Karaoke bar.  The people that sang were awesome.  We chose not to sing, not that we would've either way, but this place was way out of our league.  We just enjoyed listening to all the other singers and singing along with our favourites.  I was so impressed with their talent.  If you are ever in the area this is definitely a place to check out we could've stayed there for hours.

Another highlight started with frustration and ended with a relaxing fun visit.  We were flying from Jacksonville to Atlanta, Atlanta to home, but thanks to all the hurricanes and tropical storms hitting Atlanta our flight into Atlanta was delayed forcing us to miss our connection.  We landed in Atlanta and 3 hours later (1:30 am I might add) we were tucking ourselves in to an Atlanta hotel.  While this was a long and frustrating process The Hubby decided to make the best of it and called his brother who is interning in Atlanta who we haven't seen since Christmas.  We met up with him and headed to the Georgia Aquarium.  The Boss went CRAZY.  She loved this place..."fiss, fiss, fiss" (fish) all day long.  So, what nearly gave me an ulcer turned into another full day of family fun and an impromptu visit.  Funny how things just work out sometime.

We had a wonderful time and feel blessed and refreshed having been able to getaway.

Florida, We Miss You Already

We just got home from Florida!  Other then our flight being cancelled and rescheduled from last night to today (resulting in a full on meltdown by The Boss...yes we were those people, and we are very sorry if you were on our flight) the trip was wonderful.  We love visiting our family and soak up every second in the sun.  As always it was so sad to leave but we will be back in less than 8 weeks.  I am still getting the pictures together but wanted to share some of the highlights.

We went shopping, played in the pools, spent a day at Sea World, visited family and friends, introduced the girl to fireworks, shopped some more,  and swam even more!  If you are ever in the Orlando area (we spent 3 days there) be sure to check out both the Prime and Premium Outlets...amazing!

The flight there, she was an angle (this was her 4th trip on a plane, she knows the drill).  There is no photo evidence of the flight home...we are trying to pretend it didn't happen.

Sorry...iphone photos.

If you can't read the bag it's a Coach bag, and yes this was his purchase not mine!

We fed the dolphins at Sea World.  This was really special for so many reasons but especially because the Hubby and I did this together four years ago when I came to Florida to meet his family.  They took me to Sea World and we fed the dolphins because I love them and it has always been my dream to swim with them (I have since also swam with them). We have a picture, almost exactly like this one, of me and hubby before we knew we would be a family.

There were a number of moments on this trip where there was nowhere else in the world I would rather be.  This was one such moment.  In fact, as we watched The Boss run and squeal having the time of her life,  my father-in-law said to me "This right here is worth every penny".   I agreed.  The weather wasn't great while we were in Orlando but the moments as a family were.  The Boss is growing so fast and I just love every single second and the time we get with her.

Lessons Learned in Florida

This was my first trip to Florida without my Hubby!  I was travelling with my Mom, but since Mr. D and I travel often I definitely missed our perfectly choreographed trek through the airport.  We are like a well oiled machine keeping track of passports, boarding passes, navigating the metal detectors with a diaper bag and stroller, on the run diaper changes and feeding the Girl on the plane.  However, we did make it and I was proud of us.

We had a wonderful time and I could not have asked for better weather if I had have ordered it for myself!  Here are a few lessons learned.

1. You look like a total tourist when you land in high 80 degree temperatures in jeans and sweaters.

2. Your Baby also deserves some relaxation.  The Boss loved soaking in her "marble" tubs.

3. Bring your own sheets for the crib...the ones provided by the hotel don't look like the brand new perfect set your baby is used to.

 4. Cribs on wheels ROCK...the Boss LOVED watching us get ready for the day in her moveable "cage".

5. Use your time wisely, feed Baby while waiting for the shows to start.  You have to be at the shows 30 min. ahead of time to ensure you get a seat, so keep Baby entertained and re-vitalized for the next activity.

6. Save your money and take your baby to the SPCA rather than Sea World.  She loved the "Pet's Ahoy" show featuring cats and dogs...she had no idea who Shamu is.

7. You can never have too many changes of clothing for your Baby at a theme park.

 8. Playing with a baby in the water inevitably leads to getting soaked.

9.  My days of sunbathing by the pool edge are long gone.  Someone wants to play, and that means Mommy has to go swimming. (Do you love my new bathing suit I picked up at Target? Yes, this is one of the ones I blogged about here, only with white bottoms)

10. American shopping is the BEST!!!

11. Save valuable shopping time by letting Baby self-sooth and fall asleep in her stroller....I think the beautiful breeze helped, and she loved having bare feet.

12. Even Baby's hair suffers in the humidity.

13. Missing naps, late bedtimes and an awkward feeding schedule ultimately leads to a major meltdown even from the very best Babies.

14. Getting off a plane from Orlando and being greeted by snow and freezing temperatures SUCKS. (I know you don't feel bad for me, at least I got a week in the sun.)

15. I would do it all again in a second!  We had a wonderful time.