2010 Beach Vacation

WOW! What a GREAT vacation we all had 2 weeks ago! Due to the oil spill in the gulf, instead of going to Gulf Shores, we ended up in Daytona Beach. It was great! The weather was PERFECT the whole time and we never once saw a rain drop! We even got to see a space shuttle taking flight over the ocean!

Our room was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! 3,000 square foot of absolute beauty!!! We literally felt like we were royalty! Haha! (not really, but it sounded nice) The décor was great! There were closets galore, and we even had our own private entrance off the elevator. The balcony was AWESOME with a built in grill on the balcony for private personal use. The master suite (which I claimed…haha!) was stunning and even had 5 closets (2 being HUGE)! We even made one of the closets a bedroom for Carter with all of his toys and his pack-n-play! The bathroom that was attached was even nicer! The kitchen was solid granite countertops, beautiful tile floors, and state of the art appliances!!! I can’t even begin to tell you JUST how nice this place was! We never at one time felt cramped!!!! There were 7 of us and we had MORE THAN PLENTY room!!! Wow! If you're planning to go to Daytona, the place to stay is Ocean Vistas…

Carter had an absolute blast! He was HILARIOUS on the beach! He acted as if he owned the world while there! He loved running and jumping through the water and when it knocked him down, it was NO BIG DEAL! He got up, laughed, took a deep breath and went for it again! Haha! He loved the pool as well! He’s just a little fish which I love!

All in all, we had a great time! I was so blessed to get to spend a solid week with my whole entire immediate family! We can’t wait to go back and do it all again!!!



Look at my little rock star jamming on the beach!!!


We attempted to take family beach pictures. They didn't turn out NEAR as good as last years.


I thought this was sweet...


And this one even sweeter. I love Carter pointing in this pic!


I was really hoping for a better Mommy/Son picture, but he just wasn't cooperating!

Look how amazing our bed was...and SOOOO comfy!

Carter being a beach bum! Isn't this the CUTEST swim suit ever!

I loved this picture of Mom and Dad in their tooooo cooooooool ray-bans!!!

Gosh, I love him!!!!!!!!

How sweet!

All decked out for dinner with his sperrys on!

Carter learned how to fly a kite too!

He seriously is flying this ON HIS OWN!

Graham helping him get the kite in the air... Notice the kite at the top of the pic!

Chad and Unkie looking sharp!!!

Look at the look on his face. Can you tell he is saying "mommy, hurry, I want to go to the beach!!!!"

I SOOOOOO love him!

Toasting time!!!!

He was looking up to see the airplane here....

Carter LOVED planning with all of his sand toys.... and he had TONS of them!

He was by far the CUTEST thing on the beach!!!

Running after mommy as I was trying to get ahead enough for a good picture!

Aaaaaaand, he off!

Meeting mother ocean!

Taking a walk on the beach! His favorite thing to do!

Playing with two of his favorite guys!

Running with Unkie

Ditto

I think this is the ONLY picture that we had made together! haha!

He's givin' it all he's got!!!

This is my FAVORITE picture of the WHOLE trip!!!

Carter eating his ice cream!!!

He loved the superman popsicles!

Mommy and Carter buying icecream... another favorite part of his trip.

Mazzie singing to Carter under the canopy on the beach... He was pooped!

We had to hit up the Krispy Kream Donut shop! Carter was sporting their hat while he enjoyed his sprinkle donut!!!

Bucket head!

The Krispy Kreme boys...

Mazzie and Carter enjoying the BEAUTIFUL pool!

Takin a dip!

It was SUCH a great trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Disney World! Where MY Dreams Come True!!!!

So in the fashion of myself....and probably MANY other people.... I HATE for vacations to end! So, when we went to the beach, on Friday (the day before we were to come home) my wheels started turning and I started plotting "Just how can I get this vacation to last a little longer?"!!! Well, being that I am VERY determined (call it stubborn if you want) and I usually find a way to get my way (haha), our vacation didn't end on Saturday as originally planned!

As you know, we were in Daytona Beach... Which is only 90 minutes from Disney World... Come on people!!! When you are only 90 minutes away from Disney World, and you have a two year old that loves the man with the big ears, then you HAVE to take the baby to see MICKEY MOUSE!!!!! And so.... That's just what we did!

Here are several pictures to document the memories of our day! We had SUCH a blast and it was DEFINITELY ALL WORTH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!



Just arriving... In line to get our tickets!!! Carter has no clue at this time what he is about to witness!!!


I LOVE it when sweet people offer to take pictures of us so that I don't have to ask!


So, after standing in line for over an hour and getting Carter's anticipation all built up (haha-yeah right!), he finally laid his eyes on the REAL MICKEY MOUSE! I love the look on his face! Is it not priceless! He was COMPLETELY in shock!


He couldn't take his eyes off of Mickey Mouse!

Family Picture! Carter wouldn't get down to have a picture by himself! I love this picture of him just staring at Mickey Mouse!

Daddy, Carter, and Donald Duck! At this time we were in Frontierland, therefore, Donald was dressed up like a pioneer. Aren't they cute!

Okay, so these next few pictures I have to explain something... As we walked up Mainstreet we could tell that a show was beginning at the castle, so we hurried up to let Carter see. Well, at this point we had only been in the park for about 20 minutes...so he had not yet seen a REAL Mickey ANYWHERE! Low and behold, all of the characters were in this particular show, and there was Carter's favorite....MICKEY!!! Graham threw Carter on his shoulders so he could see and this is where I started taking pictures... How adorable are they! You can see the disbelief in Carter's face! "Mickey IS real!"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the picture below, I can't believe I am going to admit this (Graham doesn't even know this...) But, anyway, If you will look closely, you can see Mickey and the rest of the characters on the stage. Well, I am behind the guys for TWO reasons. The first, to get a cute picture of the boys watching the show with the castle in the picture as well, and the other reason....well, because I was crying! haha! I was literally doing all I could do to hold back the tears but I just couldn't. It just touched my heart to see my sweet baby boy BELIEVE in all that he was seeing. It was as if a dream of his was coming true! The look on his face just touched me. Then, I cried too because I was so thankful to the LORD for blessing us in a such a way that we could take Carter to Disney. It was just a world of emotions...and it TOTALLY got to me.... Okay, Okay, you can call me a dork, Geez leave me alone!!!! haha!




Carter was also excited to meet Tigger and Pooh. BUT, he would NOT get down or let either of them hold him. He MEANT that I was going to be in the picture with him!

My man and I in front of one of the most BEAUTIFUL places in the WORLD! Cinderella's Castle!


Another Family picture!!!

Years ago, when I was little, my mom and I had a picture that we love made in (almost) this very spot... Therefore, I had to get one of me and my little one!

This picture was made for the SOLE reason to document Carter's EXHAUSTED face! Bless his heart, you can tell that he had SUCH a busy day and was SOOOO tired!

I loved this picture! This is on the way back to Rome the next day. You can tell that Carter is still re-couping from all the excitement. He fell asleep LITERALLY playing his guitar in the back seat! SOOOOO precious!!!