3 Ladies and a Baby go to the BEACH!

A few weeks back, Grayden and his Momma left Daddy at home and took off for the beach. One of my very best friends, Christa lives in Pensacola, Florida and is getting married in November! Christa and I began our friendship our freshman year of college, and it has continued to grow through graduation, weddings, babies, etc. She was in my wedding and now she has asked me to be in hers! YAY! Now, I wasn't about to make this trip alone with Grayden, and my other dear friend Heather (Schow) who is also in the wedding and the last amigo in our "3 amigos" trio, jumped at the chance to see Christa. And of course, who would turn down a chance to go to the beach!??

It was a great reunion. No matter how long the three of us go without seeing each other, it's as if nothing has changed from the days we spent at Lipscomb together. I really don't know what I'd do without these girls in my life. They are truly a blessing. We had a great visit, even if it was only for a weekend.

The trip to Florida was a long one. It's a 7 hour drive, which should be a piece of cake for me since I'm used to making 9 hour trips to Ohio and Michigan. However, I NEVER drive when we go to Ohio... except maybe for an hour. But, I offered to drive, since we were taking Grayden and I didn't want him making a huge mess in Heather's new car. The trip went well; Heather and I always find enough to talk about. Grayden was a good boy and really enjoyed Heather's attention. He did have one ridiculously long tantrum that caused him to lose his voice a few days later. He screamed for about 45 minutes straight, which was a little miserable, because we were stuck in rush hour traffic and weren't moving. But it may have been a bit of a blessing too, because just before he started screaming, the conversation between Heather and I had hit a bit of stall. So Grayden's temper tantrum timing was perfect. :)

Saturday was a very busy day. Grabbed delicious bagels at the awesome bagel shop, spent hours at David's Bridal trying on bridesmaid dresses (Grayden was very confused by all the mirrors there, he kept running into them. He always looked very confused afterwards...), spent some time laying out at the beach, spent time with Christa's family, took Grayden to to the beach for the VERY first time, and had a delicious dinner on the beach. Grayden wasn't really sure about the beach when we got there. He didn't want to walk on the sand and when I sat him down next to the water, he cried. He seemed very confused by the concept of sand and often looked at me, like "Mom, why is this stuff on my hands? I can't get it off..." But overall, I think he enjoyed himself. I know he really loved spending time with his "auntie" Christa and "auntie" Schow.

Here's some pictures of our trip!

Heather, Jen and Grayden

"Mom, what is this stuff??"

Christa and Heather