Pomp and Circumstance

Last weekend we had ourselves a little road trip down to Florida for Brian's (Joe's littlest brother) graduation from high school. Congratulations Brian! On Thursday, May 15 we left the house at 2pm and off we went on our 10 hour drive to West Palm Beach. It's always and adventure so here's some of the highlights.

We ALWAYS stop at Cracker Barrel for a book on tape. (Did you know you can rent those suckers for like 3 dollars a week or something like that and then just return them when you're done? I know Mom, the library is free, but we don't have time for all that!) So we stopped to get a little road noise and while Joe was perusing the selections, Sierra and I settled into our rockers for a rest. We were exhausted. We'd been on the road for like an hour!

Yes, Joe dressed her today and yes, everyone at CB thought she was a little dude but hey, I think she's freakin' cute despite the fact that she could pass for the cutest little man ever. Gosh she's cute.

So off we went with no end in sight. Sierra didn't sleep a wink! She knows long, no-end-in-sight road trips are exhilarating and she didn't want to miss a minute, so she skipped her nap. She did great playing with all her toys and relaxing in her car seat. FINALLY we got to stop again (way after dark) when Joe decided we were starving.

Steak-N-Shake? I really pride myself on how cute my kid is but OMG she is a total boy sometimes. We had a great time eating our fries and place mats and crayons. Family dinner at its finest? (and really, can her nostrils get any bigger? they are like canyons on her face. "Hellllllllooooooo in there") She's so cute!We got in really, really, really late but Sierra was up bright and early, and this is how she greeted us every morning... "Hello Mommy and Daddy! Are you up there?! Are you awake?" She is so silly. She would just stand there talking to herself until I moved and acknowledged that I was in fact alive (unfortunately) and not still sleeping. Sometimes Sierra and I have our best times right when she wakes up and Daddy is still asleep. That means breakfast! Ummmm...delicious. Who wouldn't want to wake up to that face everyday? Hello...me! That's why she has her own room.

We did a lot of chillin' while we were in Florida! 3 of Joe's 5 brothers (I know, 6 boys, kill me now) live in FL. David, James, and little Brian. We were hoping to get to spend tons of time with everyone but with work, oral surgery, graduation, bird-flu, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah we didn't get a whole heck of a lot of time to hang out with the boys. Well, not as much as Joe would have liked but just the right amount of time for me. =) Symptom of coming from a small family...lots of people yelling simultaneously make me nervous.

We did get to go to Uncle Demitrious' first soccer game of the season. He is our 6-year-old nephew and the toughest, nicest, sweetest, buck-toothest kid you'll ever meet. He asked me to be his girlfriend this weekend and I said yes! We don't have a picture of him in his uniform but he was awesome! Of course we got pictures of the babies, tho. And they didn't win but he showed us some sweet moves. They were victorious this past weekend though, 4-1!

Jayden is Demitrious' sister. 15-months-old and Sierra is as big as her! Actually, Sierra is bigger than several babies down in Florida, and we think it has something to do with the water. My kid is a chunky hoss. Jayden is a little cutie. She's this cute little thing with these adorable blue eyes and toothy grin. She's definitely a keeper.

Sierra wasn't much for the game so she hung out with Jayden on the blanket and basked in the sun with her hat and SPF 50 of course! (What kind of mother do you think I am? Don't answer that!) She did like banging on the bleachers though. Sounds excite the heck out of her. Our little future Stomp member!

Sierra is such a little lover. All weekend she hugged and open-mouth kissed little Jayden. That's just what she does to other kids, and we think it's cute. I think Joe's Dad captured a few of those pictures so I might get around to posting them but we'll see. You know me.

Since Joe and I are the pastiest people you'll ever meet (ok just me) we were hoping to get ample time in the sun but that didn't happen. We did get to go to the beach though for two short sessions and Sierra LOVED it! This is the first time I've let her go onto the sand and into the water. But I have the necessary supplies for my Fair Skinned Sweetie - Sun Suit with matching hat and of course SPF 50 lathered all over her body. Here's some before and during shots.

She had to kiss the dog good-bye...side bar...Joe's Mom and Dad have two BIG DOGS. Sierra LOVES them. She screamed at them and tried to kiss them, poke them, pet them, and crawl on them. They usually weren't having it but she tried SO HARD to be by them all the time. I thought they were going to scare her you-know-what-less but she thought they were so freakin' cool!

Yummy, Sand!

First you look at it...
Then you taste it...

Then you Vogue!


Sierra LOVED going in the water. We weren't quite sure how she would react but OMG she loved it. She loves the bath and it's kind of the same thing (only much COLDER) so I thought she would like it, but not this much. She loved wading deep with me and Joe, she liked sitting on the beach with us, but best of all she loved wave crawling! So exciting!



We had a great time and Brian's graduation was awesome. We were so proud of him that we forgot to take any pictures... Suck!

We were sad to leave the beach but happy to be heading home at the end of our trip. We were even more happy that we could stop and take pictures with this 13 foot stuffed croc! Huh? And freakin' old as you can see from the deterioration of the thing. We love stuff like this, World's Largest Ball of Twine, here we come!