Beach Photo Shoot

I love having two girls and dressing them the same on occasion, and dressing them in blue.  Especially these two.  With their eyes and light hair.  Love it.  I also love taking their pictures on the beach.  I got a couple cute ones this year.  And they actually cooperated for the most part.

Fun at Granny and Hapa's

Last stop on our whirlwind tour of the US.....Florida!

We went to the beach every single day!!!!!  We had to soak in as much vitamin D as we possibly could before heading back to Belgium.

The girls had so much fun at the beach.  It is definitely all of our happy place.  Even if we only go for about an 1 1/2 at a time. 

Here they look like sweet sisters, but only for a split second.  They were busy burying two horseshoe crabs that had washed ashore.  Always something to do and see at the beach!

Enjoying a tractor ride with Hapa. 

Click on this pic....you can see Audrey waving with her purple princess gloves on!

We had such a wonderful time in Florida!  Thank you Granny, Hapa and Beau!

Alley Cousins

 We were lucky to see Megan and Josh in both Georgia and Florida!

Our 2012 visit to Fernandina Beach

On Friday the 20th (of July) we left the hot, hot, hot mid-west and headed to warm and humid Florida.

Our trip to Florida was also full of family, friends, and shopping....but also the beach!!


The girls loved the beach!

I don't think they could get enough.  And it was especially nice to share the beach with their cousins, Megan and Josh, who just moved to Atlanta, and came down to spend a few days with us.

Doesn't this just scream FUN!

We also took a cruise to view Cumberland Island, GA, which is visible from the north end of Amelia Island.  Cumberland Island is a National Park today, but was once the vacation 'island' of the Carnegie family.  But it has a few inhabitants; the most popular are the wild horses.

It's such a beautiful place. It's also where John F. Kennedy, Jr. married Caroline Bessette.

We had a wonderful visit, albeit hot, to Florida.  Here is an album of all of our pictures:  FB 2012

Visit to Florida

I was a brave (crazy) girl and drove down to Florida with the girls last Thursday. What is normally a 6 hour drive took us 8 hours on the way down between potty and feeding stops. But both girls were really good, so it wasn't completely miserable.

Grace and Audrey's Maryland cousins were also in town - they are staying with Granny and Grandpa for THREE weeks.

We went to the beach every day for about an hour and a half. Just enough time. Although the first day, I literally had to drag Grace home kicking and screaming..... but she really enjoyed playing in the sand and sitting at the water's edge. Got washed over by one wave while trying to boogie board with Quinn, and decided she wasn't the sporting girl type!





We also feasted on crabs - my favorite thing when we're in Florida!



(You can really hear the true Audrey Caspermeyer in this video!)




Hmmm, how do I use these things?



Passing out the claws....



Another night, the kids all made pizza for dinner.



Future Food Network Stars.



And of course, we went to see the fireworks for the 4th!



It was a great visit. Grace loved hanging out with her big cousins and her Granny and Hapa.

The drive home was going even better then the ride down, in terms of length of time. But had an incident south of Atlanta where I had to slam on my brakes, and it caused my traction control system to kick in and do crazy things with my speedometer....... I got home safely, and took the car to the dealer this morning, and it turns out my transmission had overheated, so the incident was almost like a blessing in disguise. At least that's what I'm telling myself now....

Vacation

We were down on Amelia Island for the 4th this year visiting with Granny and Grandpa Alley. We decided to keep Grace up for the fireworks, and she loved it! The noise didn't bother her at all, and she enjoyed watching the fireworks up in the sky, as well as hamming it up for all of the people sitting around us in the little park on Ash Street. We need to remember that spot for future shows.

We spent a few days at the beach, and Grace had no fear. She loved running down to the waters' edge and letting the waves crash into her. The first day, she would lose her balance at the tiniest wave. But the second day, she was steady on her feet. And couldn't get enough.




Grace also loved the sand. Thankfully.



I've seen/heard of babies not liking the sand. What a nightmare that would be in the world's largest sandbox.


We also went to the Jacksonville Zoo one day. The zoo was really quite impressive - if I've been before (can't remember), it has changed. They have a giraffe exhibit where you can feed them. Our girl fell asleep right as we got to it. Oh well. Next time.


She loved the open air bird aviary exhibit and had no fear chasing and get close to the birds.


The zoo also had a baby chimp. So cute!!

We finished our trip with an afternoon, overnight, and morning in Savannah. We took a trolley tour of the city, and then had dinner with the Halls. Grace loves Natalie (Na Nee, as she calls her). The girls played and bathed together. Then the next morning, as they were off to work and school, we went down and explored some more of the city.

And we heard about Na Nee all day long, even the whole way home.....

We finished up with a detour home through Louisville, GA. I've been wanting to check out this quaint little town for forever - a co-worker of mine has opened an Art Gallery there. Everything was closed. :(