Girls Weekend!

About 6 months ago my good friends from my sorority, ZTA, asked me to come on a girls weekend trip to Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  Why Ft. Lauderdale you ask?  Good question, because no one could seem to answer that question other than there were cheap flights.  And, I must have been asked this question 15 times.  But, that was the destination everyone decided on.  I'm not going to lie when they first asked, I was almost positive I was not going to go.  There is no way I could leave Brady for 3 nights!  But, as the dates of the trip approached I started to change my mind.  Maybe I needed a good girls weekend?  I hadn't seen some of these girls since we graduated!  I knew I would be kicking myself if I missed out.  So, last minute I decided I was going and booked my flight.  As the date to leave quickly approached I starting have some anxiety about being away from Brady.  My flight was scheduled to leave Thursday at 10:30am.  I packed my bags the night before, and my dad picked me up in the morning to take me to the airport.  I was really doing it- going on a girls trip where I had 3 days to lay on the beach, drink wine, and have some good gossip sessions and laughs.  I teared up a little bit when putting Brady down for his morning nap, but I knew I could do it.  It would be good for me.


We got to the airport, and I was ready to go.  And then....my flight was cancelled.  Seriously?  This always happens to me.  The earliest flight they could get me on was at 6:15pm...out of Charlotte- UGH!  So, I left the airport and went home.  I spent some time with Brady and then Paul drove me BACK to the airport at 2pm.  Well, when I got there I started to have second thoughts about this night time flight out of Charlotte.  I decided instead to change my flight to the next morning at 6:45am.  So I went BACK home and spent the night in my own bed.  Friday morning my dad picked me up at the crack of dawn and off we went to the airport for the THIRD time.  Thank goodness this time everything worked out, and I made it to Ft. Lauderdale by 10:30am. It was perfect timing because the girls were just heading out the beach.

Bliss!

We lucked out and the weather was beautiful the whole time we were there.  A little hot, but perfect beach weather.  The people on the beach on the other hand, not so beautiful. We discovered that Ft. Lauderdale is trashier than Myrtle Beach, if you can imagine.  No offense to anyone from Myrtle Beach, but come on you know the parts I'm talking about...


We had lunch at some place that was "home of the swings".  The tables were literally swings.  Cool idea, highly overrated.

Stephanie, Andrea, me, and Samantha

After lunch, I went back to the room to rest for a little while since I had been up since 5am.  I knew I better rest up to keep up with these girls for our night out.  There were 8 of us on the trip.  I am the only one with a baby, and only 1 of 2 that are married.  So, I knew I better dig down and find my inner college freshman to keep up with this crowd.  We all got ready at the hotel and headed to dinner Friday night.  We decided to do a nice dinner since it was Jewell's birthday.

On the way to dinner with Sammy!

Stephanie, Andrea, Peters, me, and Jewell (the birthday girl and my fellow married woman) at dinner.

The whole group! (Do I have gorgeous friends or what?)

Andrea, me, Cady Nell, and Samantha

After dinner we headed out to the bars!  I can't tell you the last time I have been to a bar...I'm so lame I know.  But this old married mama hung with the best of them and stayed out until 2am.  I must have had a target on my back that said, "please nasty men in the bar come talk to me," because I was like a magnet.  It never failed that when guys tried to approach our group they came up to either me or Jewell (the only 2 married women).  

The whole crew at the bar.

Samantha and Cady Nell

Me and Stephanie- my college roommate and BFF!

Dancing queens

The next day I slept in until 9am- say what?! It was awesome.  Although, I didn't really catch up on sleep considering I went to bed at 2:45.  The early risers got up and went out to the beach.

Sandy beach toes!

Jewell, Mary-Kate, and I

That night we decided to just do a casual dinner, so we went to a local pizza place.  It was really good! After dinner I decided I was not going to go out, because I had an early flight, and honestly one night at the bars was plenty for me!  So, Jewell and I headed back to the hotel.  About 30 minutes later, the rest of the crew strolled in.  They decided to get ice-cream instead of going to the bar.  Sounds good to me! 

Mary-Kate and I having cocktails at the bar before dinner.

Sunday morning, I got up, ate breakfast, and caught a cab by myself to the airport.  I was so ready to see my boys, but I am SO GLAD that I went on the trip.  I had a BLAST.  I absolutely love each and every girl on the trip, and we just picked up where we left off like we see each other everyday.  I picked up a little gift for Brady in the airport, Mickey Mouse, his favorite!  It felt so good to get my baby boy in my arms.  He had a great weekend with Daddy.  Paul was so sweet to let me go on the trip and keep Brady all weekend.

The Beach: Part 3

The next day we thought we would try the pool instead of the beach.  We took the golf cart up to the Wild Dunes pool after Brady ate some lunch and Uncle D finished working.

He loved riding in the golf cart!

Helping Daddy drive!

He had a blast at the pool!  He was really kicking his feet and splashing around.  He liked looking at all the people at the pool too.

He would not keep the hat on his head.

Stealing Uncle D's sunglasses off his head was such a fun game! 

Got 'em!

Throwing him in the air- so fun!

Swimming from Uncle D to Mommy. 

He really was kicking his feet and reaching his arms out.  He would even put his face in the water. 

Good job buddy! 

Kisses for Mommy.  Makes my heart melt every time.

After the pool we had a tired little guy.  So, we rode home and he went right down for a nap.  After his nap, he woke up and his Mimi  was here!

He has grown quite a lot since she last saw him.

Shortly after, Brady went night night, and we picked up take out from the Kickin Chicken and enjoyed eating at the house.  The next day, we were supposed to head back to Columbia, but we were having such a good time we wanted to stay one more day.  So, we called the my office, the doggy sitter, the baby sitter, and told them all we were going to stay another night.  We had to say goodbye to Dustin.  But, I am already trying to convince him to come for Brady's 1st birthday party.  I think he's going to crack ;).  It started thundering, so we just stayed inside most of the day and invited Rut, Maggie, and the kiddos over for dinner.  The kids played, we rode the golf cart, and ate Paul's famous steaks for dinner.  It was great!

High five!

William was so proud of himself for holding both babies. "Put Caroline right here mommy." 

Golf cart riding!  We didn't see any gators on our ride, but we did see some deer!

These two like to eat!

I just love her little blonde curls.  So adorable!

Playing with Uncle Rut! 

"Look at me standing up!"

Best friends!

Every picture I tried to take of William ended up like this...

If you can't tell from the pictures, we had a great time at the beach!  I told my dad we needed to make it an annual trip.  I think he agreed :).  It's hard to believe next year Brady will be running out on the beach.  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family.  I think Brady is one lucky boy!

The Beach: Part 2

After a day on the beach and a good nap, we went and met my mom, Tom, and Grandparents for dinner at Water's Edge on Shem Creek.  I was a little worried about how Brady was going to do, because he already had a big day.  But, he did great, and the restaurant got our food out really quickly.  The food was great, and we had a great view.  (Side note- Gerber Puffs are a genius creation.  They are pretty much like eating air, but they can keep Brady entertained - long enough for Mommy to eat her meal and keep him occupied.) 

Heading out for dinner!

Great view! (I'm taking a picture on my cell phone while Paul is taking one on our Nikon.  You can never have too many ;).)

Brady and Coco checking out Shem Creek and the boats.

Love these boys!!

My mom's side of the family: Geno, Dustin, Grandma Fran, Brady, Mom, me, and Paul.

Sibling love

I asked Dustin if it was weird seeing his little sister as a mom, and he said, "No, I gave up on you being my little sister in college.  You turned into my big sister."  After dinner even though it was way past Brady's bed time, he played on the porch with Waldo for a little bit before hitting the hay.

The next morning, Brady woke up and had his bottle in our bed. 

Then, my dad, step mom, brother, and husband all decided to go play golf.  But, that was cool with me. Brady took his morning nap, and while he slept I sat on the porch enjoying the ocean view getting a little work done.  It was so nice to have some peace and quiet.

After Brady woke up from his nap, my mom came over and we went out to the beach.

After having fun on the beach, Brady was ready for his afternoon nap, and Paul, Dustin, and I went running errands.  Specifically we wanted to go to Cosco to get diapers and formula.  Who knew Cosco doesn't sell Pampers...but, we did get PLENTY of formula,  hopefully enough to last until Brady is ready for whole milk! After that, my dad and Francine made some delish shrimp and grits.  So, we ate that while Brady snoozed upstairs.  I was so impressed with how well he did on his morning/afternoon naps and bedtime.  I don't think he fussed one time when we put him down.  I think he was too worn out from all the fun to try to fight it!  Part 3 (the final part I promise) tomorrow...