Beach Baby

We're baaack! Our family and my parents enjoyed a little R&R in Perdido Key, Florida this past week. It was a special first long vacation for Miller and his first excursion to the beach. Landon and I loaded up the car and headed to the beach last Saturday. Miller was excited because it was his first time to ride in the car seat facing forward. The world through the front windshield now greets him. He can see the action coming and not going. It was much easier to entertain and feed him with this new seat position. The only challenge on the trip was keeping Miller occupied and fed. He did beautifully for the most part, but let out an occasional high pitched scream that startled his driving daddy.
We arrived just in time to walk down to the surf and show Miller the ocean for the first time. On the way down to the ocean, Miller was taking it all in...the salty air smell, the wind on his face and the sound of the waves crashing. It's all so much to absorb. He stared at the waves for about 15 seconds before crying at his new crashing discovery. Miller was consoled by a hug and adjusted well to all of it.
The next morning, we got to dip Miller's tiny toes in the cold gulf water. He would only let us do this one foot at a time. The sand was a new texture on his feet! Miller happily played with his new beach toys on his towel while we all relaxed on the shore. Notice that the sand sifter really isn't for sand afterall. It's a mask!


Every morning Landon and my dad enjoyed a coffee break at the Waffle House. They joked that their girl friends expected them each day:) After breakfast while Miller napped, Grandmama, Landon and I enjoyed a morning stroll along the shore each day. We had our routine down. It was so nice of my parents to watch Miller during his afternoon nap while Landon and I enjoyed the pool.
Perdido Key is right on the border of Gulf Shores, so we enjoyed dining at some of the familiar restaurants we enjoyed way back when we spent several Spring Breaks in Gulf Shores. Sea N' Suds was a favorite of our family so we were happy to dine on their famous crab claws one night. We introduced Landon and Miller to Scoops, an old fashioned ice cream parlor. Miller enjoyed sampling chocolate ice cream for the first time. His face was priceless discovering this cold treat. With every new bite, he forgot that it was cold each time. We also enjoyed discovering The Warf...a new development to Gulf Shores with shopping,condos and restaurants.

Of course we ventured out at 5 p.m. every night with our little guy to avoid the crowds and eat before his bed time. To our surprise, we didn't have the wait time or crowds we've grown accustomed to in Destin because it wasn't as crowded this time of year. We kept Miller entertained each night at dinner feeding him rolled up wheat "bread balls". Poppy and Landon enjoyed playing the game of hide the bread balls to engage Miller in a little hide n' seek.

One of Poppy's favorite games to play with Miller is to "steam roll" him across the bed before he settles in for the night and play peek a boo with the blankets. Miller screeches and giggles the whole time in anticipation for the next roll bouncing up and down on his knees as if to say "More rolls Poppy!"

Miller showed us two new one year old accomplishments this week. He took his first steps on Tuesday! The condo had a coffee table in the middle of the room that Miller walked around and around. My mom kept encouraging him to come see her toy car. With such a tempting lure, Miller let go and took two steps and then a dive towards the couch. It was amazing to watch! He kept growing in his confidence each day. I always resisted having a coffee table so we could have more playing space but now I see the value in it. We still are quite a ways from independent walking, but it's a "step" in the right direction.
The other exciting milestone was his first word "car". That's pretty manly right? Miller has grown attached to a red rolling car lately. All of us kept repeating, "Miller, do you want your CAR?" Well, he picked up the sound of it and keeps saying "cah" after we ask him the famous question. He sounds like he is from Boston saying car without the "r" sound. It's precious. Miller is also carrying on little mini sentence conversations throughout the day that sound like "oi ga oh ah mm ay I da" etc. We act like he is asking for something and continue the conversation with him.
Today we're settling back into our normal day to day..unpacking, laundry and resting up for the weekend ahead. We loved our beach getaway!

For more beach pictures click on the Perdido Key album.