THE BEACH!

So the Conners are back after a WONDERFUL week at the beach! As I said in my last post, we went to Sunset Beach, NC. We left on the 4th, and got back yesterday!
In the first picture, you can see Ella 'helping' us pack! Actually, the bags you see to the right were packed and she was unpacking them and had found a box of her oatmeal, that she decided to dump all over the floor while Adam and I were in other rooms getting things done! We were able to laugh about that one though, because she had spent the day with her grandmother and great-grandmother while Adam and I could pack (in peace :0))


Here is Ella's very first steps onto the beach. I must admit, Adam and I had heard stories from friends of their children hating the sand on their feet and being miserable, so we really weren't sure what to expect, but Ella absolutely loved it! To her it was like a big sand box and she had a blast! She was unsure of the ocean at first, but by the last day, she was literally lying on her stomach in the ocean!!

While we were there, we actually met a few couples that had children right around Ella's age. One couple had two daughters (2 and 3) and she had one of these little tiny pools that they could play in (because they too were a little unsure of the ocean at first)...and Ella enjoyed playing in it so much we got her one too. It worked out great though, because we did have a couple days of rain...and we could put this little pool in the 'carport' area under the deck and she had a great time playing!!

Also, to pass the time on the rainy/overcast days we went to the aquarium and to an 'Alligator Adventure' park - we had a great time at both! We also shopped a little and took Ella to a little mini-carnival at Barefoot Landing.

So on one of the days it had been a little over cast, we decided to take an evening walk along the beach and got this pic of Ella - beautiful!!

Here she is getting a little more brave. This day, she busied herself by running from the sand into the water - she must have done that 100 times!!

As I said - she did NOT mind the sand on her feet, and she even enjoyed being buried!! We dug a hole so that we could bury Adam and she got in it instead...she laughed!!

So for our last night, we decided to go out to eat for a last 'hurrah!', and we found a place called 'Ella's'!! It was SOOO cute and we hope to make it a tradition!

For the most part, Ella was a great traveler! We only stopped twice (for a 6 1/2 hour trip) both ways, which I thought was great - for some reason I pictured stopping every 2 hrs or so - but after lunch we were able to go longer stretches while she took her nap!

On the way home yesterday, we made our final stop 'Chuck E Cheese' so Ella could run around and play - she LOVED this ride that went up and around - she rode it LOTS!

And that's our trip without being too long and boring with stories. It was SUCH a great trip and so wonderful for us to spend time as a family away from home. It's amazing how your priorities change when you have a child because we totally wanted to do things that would be fun for her - and her smiles and laughs are what made it fun for us. Adam and I have had great conversations about wanting to have wonderful experiences for Ella as she is growing up, so that she can look back at pictures and eventually have fun memories of her childhood - I feel like we're off to a great start!

Unit next time...