spring break in florida: part one!

So for me, no family vacation ever really feels complete until I blog about it. It’s always therapeutic for me since I hate leaving my family and I always miss them so much. It’s closure for me to write about our times together, and this time is no exception.

In some ways, it becomes harder and harder to leave because as Alana gets older, she is increasingly aware that we are leaving Nana and Papa’s house in Fort Lauderdale and we won’t be seeing them again for a while. She was VERY sad to leave, and as we drove north on Sunday, she mentioned (many times) how much she will miss them. So we talked about the fun we’d had. The beach. The pool. The sand & water table. The book reading with Nana. The toys at Nana’s house. Hanging with Papa. How much we love Nana and Papa. And we talked about how, Lord willing, we will see them again before too long.

It occurred to me that Sierra was ten weeks old as we went to Florida for the first time, just like Alana was ten weeks old when she first crossed the state line! So in light of this being Sierra’s first time in my home state, we pulled off at the Florida Welcome Center and snapped a few photos. It’s strange looking at these photos now that we are a family of four!

Here is Alana when she was only ten weeks old (terrible quality, taken with a point and shoot at night – but a memory nonetheless!):

And here is Sierra, also at ten weeks old:

One of the first things I do when we arrive is to get our camera out, make sure there is an 8-gig memory card inside, and put it on my parents dining room table so that I can quickly and easily grab it all throughout the week. I’m always glad I make photos a priority when I look back over the memories. There are definitely moments that are missed, but the photos we do take make me happy – even though they are not comprehensive.

Rich grabbed a couple of photos on day 1.

Me and the girls: 

All four of the girls 

Here is my mom with Sierra, who is growing like crazy, and very different from Alana! From day 1, Alana has been VERY petite for her age, always below the 10th percentile for weight and height, and sometimes off the chart (on the low end) altogether. But Sierra is my little chubShe’s in the 75th percentile for weight and height, and is outgrowing her 3 month clothes alreadyI’m thinking that she will grow into Alana’s clothes around the time Alana grows out of them – even though there are 3 years between them! Ha! 

Adorableness in the car before doing some shopping at Sawgrass Mills Mall

This was Sierra’s first time in my parents backyard and she seemed to love the warm Florida weather! It was so fun for me to have all the help with the girls, and particularly exciting to have someone else to interact with Sierra so that I could grab some smiling photosShe had started smiling at two months and I had yet to capture her contagious grin on camera! I just snapped away, happy that she was so happy and thrilled to be documenting her joy!

Rich took these of me and Alana, and I love them. We were just on the street outside my parents home, and you can see the stereotypical bright, sunny Florida skies giving way to the rain clouds. I love Florida and I love the weather.

And I love my ‘Lana.  

We have so much fun in Nana and Papa’s backyard that we actually don’t go to the beach that often! It’s only 15 minutes east but we only went twice during our week-long stay.

This was the first trip, and Alana was in HEAVEN. Granted, she is scared of the water, but she will love it in time. She was just overjoyed to have so much sand at her disposal

I love this first shot because she had no idea I had the camera…she was just running around, plopped down, and sat like this for a split second. I am getting quicker with my camera, since Alana is not still for ANY amount of time! I just love how sweet and innocent and adorable she looks in this photo. 

I’m so proud of my mom, who was willing to brave my big camera to get some shots of me with Sierra, since it was her first time at the beach! Thank you mom! Way to go! 

The next day I grabbed a few photos of Rich and Alana having some cute moments…

Don’t let this sweet little feminine photo fool you…

She loves to play in dirt and she thinks there is nothing better than rocks and sticks. Look at her filthy hands!

And to conclude part one of our trip, here is an image that Rich took of me…

And a Rich and Alana self-portrait in my glasses

Stay tuned for part two, coming right up!