Eleven Months of Sweetness

Today our Macy Joy turns 11 months. That means just one more month until the big birthday! This does not make any sense to us. How could that much time have gone by? It just isn't possible.

Macy is now standing on her own and contemplating walking. She just hasn't quite decided to take that"big step".

She has begun to develop quite a sense of humor, too. She even has what we call her "fake laugh".

She is very sweet & loves to get up in our laps to snuggle. She began to blow kisses this week, and I'm hoping to get a video soon. She has 4 teeth now, so she likes to eat more good stuff.The child loves the outdoors, so we went out this morning & took a few shots. sueños dulces (sweet dreams)....or maybe crazy ones???

Beach Baby

Our weekend beach trip was wonderful! We went to Orange Beach, AL (which is right on the FL state line) and stayed at a resort we'd enjoyed back in the days when we could sleep-in & play as we pleased. It was a different kind of trip having Macy with us. No parasailing or snorkeling as before, but we had to agree it was so much more fun! Macy was not a fan of the sand. She didn't like being too close to the waves coming in either.

Seeing as this was a spur-of-the moment trip, we didn't have time to try & find someone to take photos. We thought we'd do it ourselves...with a only a tripod...and an infant. Need I say more? We didn't have any huge keepers, but I'll throw in a few for fun.

It was a bit overcast at times, but the cooler temperatures made it more enjoyable. In fact, after everyone cleared out on Labor Day, it was as though we had the whole place to ourselves! We sat out on the balcony at night listening to the ocean, and looking in on our little sleeping beauty. What a great way to celebrate two years of marriage! Some people weren't even ready to leave as check-out time rolled around!

Day Trip

Two weekends ago we loaded up on a Saturday morning and headed an hour and-a-half south to Gulfport and Biloxi. We didn't even think about it at the time, but it was the anniversary of when Hurricane Katrina hit 4 years ago. The coast has come a long way since that time, but it still has a ways to go. It is strange to think of the huge casinos being gone. You can still see many brick steps, chimneys, and huge oak trees that once belonged to beautiful, old, grand homes sitting alone now.Our first stop was Mary Mahoney's. Everyone around here knows about this amazing restaurant, but I first read of it in a John Grisham novel. The French house was built in the 1730s and was at one time home to the commander of the French territory. It survived Hurricane Katrina, when the water got as high as the mark you can see on the balcony in this picture.This tree sits outside and is over 2000 years old!
Being the history nerds we are, rather than spend most of the afternoon shopping at the outlet mall in Gulfport as planned, we stopped at Beauvoir instead. This beautiful place was the last home of Jefferson Davis. It suffered a great deal of damage from Katrina, but has just been reopened to the public. Macy loved the front porch, which has been completely rebuilt. It has a great view of the ocean.

These front doors survived with minimal damage & are original to the house.

What you see here is PAINTED...it isn't actual woodwork or anything. They had a color specialist come in after the hurricane & after 4 months of analysis going through layers and layers of paint, these are the colors they decided were most original.

A few more quick shots.

Did Macy enjoy the trip? Or will she one day cringe each time we pass a historical marker? Hopefully she will share our loved for history, although she may prefer we save places on the coast for months other than August!