A Little Winter Beach Vacation

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying this new year! We had a lovely time with family and thoroughly enjoyed watching our sweet Lucille experience her second Christmas. Most of the decorations are down now, but it still feels like Christmastime to me.... it'll fizzle once we get back into a normal schedule I'm sure.

We really felt the need to spend some quality time with our little family unit this break. Just the three of us. Michael is so busy at school that we don't get to see him nearly as much as we want and then when breaks come around we rarely get anytime with just us three. So, we went on a little winter beach vacation and it was exactly what we needed.

The stairs down to the beach. Seabrook is situated on a cliff.

We stayed in a little rental in the Seabrook community, which is something I've been wanting to do for so long. In fact, it was one of the locations I was looking at when Michael and I were planning our honeymoon. I'm glad we didn't go for our honeymoon, but it was the PERFECT place to go for a relaxing family getaway.

Lucy being careful not to fall on the uneven sand.

Lucy loved the beach as much as she did this past summer. She was all smiles. We walked down to the beach first thing in the morning each day and then again after lunch.

Lucy waiting for her French toast breakfast.

 

There was only one TINY grocery store and a little restaurant, but luckily we planned on preparing all our meal at the cottage and brought a big cooler of food. I even packed things like flour, sugar, and spices. 

 

This morning was literally the  most chatty she has ever been. Just talking away! She was standing on a chair and looking into the kitchen to watch me work.

Lucy was so happy the whole time we were there. She was just beaming. We didn't need to set up any gates and just gave her freedom.

Playing in her room.

 

She immediately claimed the second bedroom as her own and would gather her toys then climb up on the beds and play.

 



It was chilly, as we expected, but it didn't rain the whole time we were there. It was sunny and beautiful!

Michael had fun building fires each night after Lucy went to bed and I definitely enjoyed the luxury of a dishwasher. :)



We can't wait to go back!

Trip Home: The Baby Shower

This is part one of our trip home, I'll write another post for the wedding we went to. :)

I'm so glad that Michael and I were able to make a trip home before our baby girl arrives. We missed Washington so much! Especially Michael because he hadn't been home since Thanksgiving 2010. We did our best to see all the family and friends that we could, but there never seems to be enough time to see everyone! I think my favorite part about being home was being surrounded by people who love us and are so excited to meet our baby girl. :)

Needless to say, we're estatic to be moving closer to home by the end of the summer.

While we were home, my mom threw a baby shower for baby-girl-no-name (Yes, she's still nameless! Baby naming isn't an easy task!). It was such a wonderful gathering and I'm so thankful for everyone who came. My mom is pretty much the craftiest person I know... so the shower was amazing! Check out the sweet tissue paper poms she made for the decorations!

And this awesome diaper cake she made! Complete with 24 cloth pre-fold diapers, mittens, socks, a handmade receiving blanket (with beautiful crocheted edging), hairbows, and toys. :)

The Orting Bakery did a great job on the cake (I love the old-fashion look of it!) and it was carrot cake by the way! Delicious!

We were blessed with many beautiful gifts! I was also surprised by flowers from a friend who couldn't make it! (I can't wait to get started on the thank-you cards!)

I'm most thankful that I got to see faces that I didn't expect to be there! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you to those who traveled to come see us -- Katy who flew up from California, my grandparents who came home early from Arizona, and Michael's sister, Sarah, who is also in her third trimester and drove up from Oregon!

And obviously my mother deserves a big thanks for all the work she put into the shower!

{ I'd also like to give a shout out to my aunt Diane who took a ton of pictures for us at the shower! :) }