Typhoon Tessie

"Mama, seriously?  I haven't even gotten on the plane yet and you're already mamarazzi-ing me."

Our first dinner at McGuire's

Emma touching one of many taxidermied critters on the wall in McGuire's.  This one was a moose.  You can also see all of the dollars on the ceiling. The color in the photo is true- this room (the Notre Dame room) has really red lighting.

This was our first attempt at the beach.  You can see the stormy weather behind us.

First time with toes in the sand

First waves

 

We were given a huge treat this week!  MawMaw and Pop gave Emma and I (unfortunately Zack had to work) a trip along with them to Pensacola.  What a gift!  We had a wonderful time.  Emma was amazing on her first flights.  She enjoyed being the welcoming committee- waving at everyone on the plane while boarding and once they were sat.  She munched on snacks and drank from her cup, which I am assuming helped with the ear-popping.  She did fantastic!

We were able to relax, eat at McGuire's everyday, swam at the pool, and even got to go to the beach for a quick visit.   She loved the pool, which was warm and fun to play in with her new floating palace (a super cool collapsible, inflatable floatie that she can be submerged safely to her armpits in and it has an adjustable cover to keep her out of the hot sun.  Awesome buy, MawMaw!).  She also liked going out to eat.  There was lots to see and taste and listen to at McGuire's.  The ocean was a treat for me, as I really wanted her to be able to experience it.  Unfortunately, the only day we could go was on Wednesday and there were big storms in the afternoon.  We went to the beach anyways and when we got there the lifeguards were of course herding everyone off of the beach due to the lightning.  Pop drove us around for a while and was able to get us back to the beach in between storms so that we could run down and get Emma's toes in the waves.  She didn't like the ocean as much as the pool (cold and unpredictable is my guess), but I was tickled to at least get to go for a little while.  Pop knew I really wanted to go and he made it happen!

Our last night there we were actually eating at the hotel (gearing up for our 4:45am wakeup to fly the next morning) and Emma decided to have a grand time with her dinner.  There was food EVERYWHERE!  On her, on her highchair, on the floor.  Everywhere.  I was occupied with making sure she got a full belly, as everything can be cleaned.  Pop was mortified at the mess and dubbed Emma little "Typhoon Tessie".  Such is the trial of a mama and her baby.  They're messy.  And unpredictable.  Typhoon Tessie, indeed.

Thank you, MawMaw and Pop, for gifting us with two fantastic days in Pensacola!

Emma still isn't walking, but is saying Mama and Dada and is working on "book".  She is a rockstar at standing and stands without hands and balances well and even dances and does baby jumps in place.  That's right- she'll dance and hop but won't walk.  She claps, loves putting items into containers and pulling them out, and lovessssssssss reading.  We go through 15 or so books a day, depending on the length of the books.