Rosemary Beach 2015 Part 3

Since I had a 20 week baby bump, my beach vacation was a little different this year.  No wine or fruity drinks for me!  Instead, I tried to get lots of naps and reading in....two things that won't be happening much in the near future.  :)

Gordon and I usually try to go on a couple of dates while we are in RB.  Date nights only happen about once a month when we are at home so this is our chance to get a little extra us time in!!  For whatever reason, this year we just had one lunch date.  After putting William down for a nap, on Mother's Day, we headed over to Cowgirl Kitchen for a quick lunch.  I was a little sad to miss out on the free mimosas they were serving mamas, but made up for it by eating chips and queso.  :)  

Most of our time was spent on the beach this year!  We did have a couple of lunch's at George's (another favorite....best Sesame Crab and Avocado Salad), took lots of bike rides, Gordon went deep sea fishing with his brothers, we had our annual family shrimp boil and fish fry at the house and this year we celebrated Emily's 30th birthday with a grown up night out (big thanks to the nanny service we've used for the past 3 years)!  My mother in law arranged a fabulous dinner at Cafe Tango for the birthday celebration.  You can click here for their address.  It's located in the cutest little cottage and is by reservation only (so call in advance if you want to go).  Everything was delish!

This year, William got a little friend to play with!  His new cousin was as cute as can be.  Thankfully, William was gentle with her and super sweet.  I know they will have a blast together in the years to come.   

We spent every evening looking for crabs this year!  Little William is fascinated by them.  When we'd dump them back in the ocean he'd say, "Bye, bye.  Crab go back home to see his mama!"  

Catching crabs with Daddy | Hanging with his mimi and grandad | Checking out the sand flea

Found one! | Practicing his little gym moves | San Destin for lunch while daddy was out fishing

Annual Fish Fry | The boys playing games on the beach

We always come back home refreshed and rejuvenated!  Only 8 months until we get to go back again!!! :)

Rosemary Beach 2015 Part Two

Looking at all of these beach pictures sure is making me want to take a vacation.  With baby girl's arrival quickly approaching that won't be happening...so for now, I'll just enjoy these sweet pictures.

This was, by far, our best trip to the beach with William!  Our days basically revolved around this little guy and what he wanted to do....and that was play at the beach.  Next year will be a bit different since we'll have Anna Grace's schedule to work around.  So, this year we played, played and played some more. William always tells us "I'm happy!"  During our time at the beach he probably said it every 10 minutes.  :)  Melt. My. Heart.  I think he loved being with mama and daddy all day long, not having to go to school, not having to rush off to here and there, rarely having to get in the car, no errands to run, lots of playing, bike rides, staying up late, ice cream every day, a pool in our backyard, and lots of family to play with.  Seeing him so happy makes us so happy.  

    

Day 1: loving the sand |  Caption: "Listen here guys, I'm not leaving this beach for a nap!" | Who can say no to those blue eyes | I'm a fish too! | Buried in the sand | Snack time on the beach is the best

Our days as a family of three are numbered.  I'm so excited and ready to meet Anna Grace, but a little nervous about what our "new normal" will be like.  We've had 3.5 fabulous years getting to love on just this little guy...and that's all about to change.  I know it's going to be even better.  :)  Some days will be hard for William (and me too, I'm sure).  I just hope he always knows how much we've enjoyed our time with him.  He made us parents.  He's brought us an unimaginable amount of joy.  Anna Grace will get her "time alone" with Gordon and myself when this little dude heads off to college one day.  Until then, we will be a big happy family of four!  God is good.  We are blessed.  

Rosemary Beach 2015

I'm always pleasantly surprised when the time comes around for us to board the plane for Rosemary Beach.  Time goes by so fast!!  It's hard to believe that this was our 5th trip to Rosemary Beach for the annual Gooding summer vacation (and our 4th year to take William).  This was, by far, the best year we've had with William at the beach.  His first year he was only a few months old.  I was pumping every 3 hours....as soon as I'd get down to the beach it was time to head back home to pump again.  William's second year wasn't much better.  He would eat the sand, we'd put him in the water, he'd be sticky and just cry from there.  Last year he finally started having fun, but this year he was a true beach bum!!!  This child would have stayed on the beach all day and night if we let him.  

As always, I took a million pictures.  So, I'll do a few "Rosemary Beach 2015" posts.  Here are a few of the family pictures we got!        

The 20 week baby bump was perfect!  Not too big and not too small.  At this stage I was getting a little restless about all that's included in "pelvic rest".  For a person that enjoys exercising and being in shape it's been hard.  In the end, it's obviously very worth it...but I'll be glad to get back into shape.  I'm sad to say that just our walks on the beach made my lower legs hurt.  LOL.    

This was how most of our days went:

8:00 Up and out of bed for breakfast, playing around the house and getting lotioned up for the beach

10-12:30  Beach Time

12:30-1:30  Home to wash off and then off to lunch

2-4:00  Nap time (this is super late for him..there may have been a few breaks downs during dessert :)

On the days we didn't have dinner plans away from the house we headed back to the beach after nap time.  Every evening, after the sun went down, was spent crabbing!  The little man rarely went to be before 10:00.  YIKES!  Every morning, when the sun came up, William would run in our room saying, "The suns up!  I go to the beach."  I'm sad to say the sun comes up around 5:30am in RB.  Luckily, he would lay down with us and fall back to sleep for a couple of hours.   

Too busy playing to take a picture |  Baby Bump  |  Kisses for AG  |  Again, more interested in the sand on his hand  |  Taking it easy out on our balcony  |  Breakfast and Bike Ride

I can hardly wait to get Anna Grace out there in a little ruffly bathing suit!  Here's to hoping she'll take her morning nap under an umbrella while big brother plays.

Rosemary Beach Family Pictures

If you know the Gooding men, you know they are not big fans of taking pictures.  But, with the new addition to the family, Baby K, the mimi of the family decided they needed to be done.  :)  I'm so glad we went through with the photography session......because, the pictures we got are fabulous!  Ashley Nichole did a wonderful job.  She did a great job with the little ones and we got the pictures back a month after they were taken.   Here are a few of my favorites.

20 week baby bump

The Gooding Guys

Sweet picture of William doing what he loves with his Mimi and Grandad keeping an eye on him!

Our time at Rosemary Beach is so much fun!  It is family friendly and absolutely beautiful. It doesn't hurt that our little guy is a beaching loving baby!  More to come on our week on 30A,  :)  

   

Rosemary Beach 2014 Part 2

Every year a conversation comes up about where our annual Gooding vacation should be....and every year the "Gooding kids" give the same answer, Rosemary Beach.  We've all fallen in love with this quaint little town at the end of 30A.  There's not much traffic, you can walk or ride your bike to any where you want to go, it's quiet, the beach is beautiful and it's family friendly.  We love everything about Rosemary Beach!

We pretty much stuck to our normal places to eat/drink but did try out a couple of new places.  One night we hired a nanny service (Nanny Can) to watch the little man.  We had the best adult night out!  We started the night out with drinks at The Pearl.  This hotel is beautiful with breathtaking views of the ocean.  It would be the perfect place to stay with your hubby for a long weekend.  This year we got to enjoy a concert in the park.  Well, Gordon and I didn't since we were out on a date, but William and the rest of the family did!  William loves guitars and music so he was in heaven!  Apparently, he danced the night away.  :)

Here are some links to places to check out in Rosemary Beach (that I didn't post last year).

The Pearl- new hotel, perfect place for happy hour
Paradis- great restaurant for adult night out, the Sriracha margarita is to die for!
Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt- William went here everyday with his grandparents
The Donut Hole- new restaurant with more than just donuts
Sugar Shak- we spent a lot of time here this year.....being the only grandchild is rough for William :)

William was a HUGE fan of his bike seat.  He would tell us he wanted to go for a ride and would point to his head (he knew he had to wear the helmet).  If it was up to William (and me), we'd live at the beach all year long.  What's not to like?  Sun, bike rides, playing in the water, sand castles, lots of ice cream eating, going to the candy store everyday, and getting loved on by his family all day long.  Our reservations are already made for next year.....we can hardly wait for May 2015!!!!!

4th Annual RB Vacation

FiNaLLy!!!  I've finally gone through the 200 pictures we took while we were in Rosemary Beach back in May.  I'm sure Gordon and William are sick of my picture taking but I doubt I'll be changing any time soon.  The memories are too precious!

We had the best week in Rosemary Beach for the 4th annual Gooding Beach Vacation.  I was so much more relaxed this year.....knock on wood....things with William are getting easier in so many ways.  William's first year to the beach was hard just because he was so tiny and I was having to pump every three hours.  As soon as I would finish up and get down to the beach it was nearly time to head back up.  Last year was better but still not as easy as this year.  There was a lot of sand eating last year and he actually preferred to be at the house pool playing instead of the beach.  This year was perfect!  William loved the sand, by the fifth day he was mesmerized by the ocean, his grandparents spoiled him with ice cream everyday, Gordon and I got lots of us time and we all got much needed R&R.

As you can see, William became quite the beach baby!  He played, played and played some more.  We would usually head down to the beach an hour after breakfast.  William would play for an hour, eat a squeezy pouch, we'd go for a walk, he'd have another little snack, play for a little bit more and then we'd head up for lunch and naptime.  During that time Gordon and I had 2 -3 hours of peaceful beach time.  

We even went crabbing one night.  William still talks about the crab that bit his daddy's finger.  He says, "da beach, daddy, OUCH!" when he sees a picture of a crab.  The Gooding guys spent most of there days playing games on the beach.  William was pretty interested in the bean bag toss game.  

• Brandon and Ashley did a fabulous job, as usual, on the fish fry and shrimp boil dinners we had a home!
• William loved going on bike rides.
• Checking Aly Beach out with Daddy.
• My little man. 
• This. Melts. My. Heart.
• Playing with Uncle Grant. 
• Taking it all in with Aunt Em. 
• Those baby blues will get ya!
• Dinner at George's. 

Rosemary Beach is a little piece of Heaven on Earth!!  {more pics coming tomorrow}

Our First Trip To RB

Our first trip to Rosemary Beach was in May 2011.  I hadn't started blogging yet so I thought I'd add some old photos!  I'd hate to forget our 1st annual Gooding beach vacation!

 Things haven't changed much over the last several years.  Rosemary Beach is still beautiful as ever!  There has been a little bit of growth but it's still a nice quiet area.  Lots of kids, lots of bike riding and lots of good food.  

Since 2011 we've added 2 Goodings to the group.  William and Emily!  Gordon and I had been married 8 months on our first trip and Emily and Grant were just dating.  Can you believe how fabulous the water is?!?!  Breath taking. The boys did their first shrimp boil together and the picture of the girls was taking after riding our bikes from Rosemary Beach to Seaside.  I still can't believe we made the trip there and back (with a stop at Bud & Alleys in between).....if I tried it now I'd probably pass out and get run over by a car.  

The Gooding Family

Such happy memories with some pretty awesome people!!!

Not In College Anymore

....and thank goodness for that because I hate test taking!!  In October 2006 I took the CPHON exam (certified pediatric hematology oncology nurse exam) for the first time.  This should have been my last time but like a dummy I let my certification expire in 2010.  I was so busy planning our wedding and buying our first home that it just wasn't on the top of my priority list.  So, a year ago I decided I'd give the test another go.  Things have changed a little bit from 2006.  Husband, toddler, a job at a different hospital and 10 years out of college....it was definitely challenging to get back into "study mode" a month ago when I started preparing for the exam!   
Yesterday was the big day!  I dropped William off at daycare, grabbed a cup of coffee at Starbucks and headed downtown to take the CPHON exam.  185 questions and 100 minutes later I was thrilled to see PASS pop up on the screen.  YIPPEEE!!  I will not be letting this one expire because test taking is for the birds.
Back in 2006 I was a single gal living in Midtown.  I celebrated that night at my one of my favorite restaurants, Ibiza, with a college guy friend (at the time Gordon was just a college memory that hadn't reappeared in my life).  Now nearly 8 years later I celebrated with my guys at home and then had a celebratory drink with one of my favorite co-workers out here in the burbs! 
I'm so happy to have passed and to have the test behind me.  Now I can focus on enjoying SUMMERTIME with lots of pool time, trips to the lake, reading and catching up on blogging!

Up next....our annual trip to Rosemary Beach!!  Here are the links to two of our past trips to 30A.

{RB1}{RB2}{RB3}



The Beach is in Our Near Future

Our next annual beach trip with the Gooding family is right around the corner!!  So, I figured I should finally post the beach pictures we had taken last July.  The files for each of these pictures is huge....for whichever reason they look a little blurry and the colors look blah since I uploaded them on the blog?!?!  Who knows.  It's better than nothing.  :) 

I LOVE these pictures.  Great memories and a few of them really captured William's silly personality.  The photographer we used was sweet but it took her nearly 4 months to get me the digital files and 10 months for the actual prints that we ordered.  She did a good job but I wouldn't use her again.   

Daddy's Little Buddy

The Gooding Guys

2013 Christmas Card

Sweet Baby Toes

The Goodings ~ July 2013

Silly Little Guy!

15 months old

Happy Baby Boy

I can't believe these pictures were taken nearly a year ago!  Time needs to slow down.  I can hardly wait to sink my toes into the sand in a few weeks!!  I'm even more excited to see how William does this year (and to get some sun on this body).  We are going to have a blast.  :)

Rosemary Beach Part 2

Here's part 2 of our Rosemary Beach Vacation!

Life doesn't get much better than this!  Gordon and I had a fun lunch date at a neaby sushi place that was super yummy.  We also had a breakfast date at our favorite little café.  It's so nice to spend timetogether without any distractions.  We sure do love time with our little buddy but you gotta have some alone adult time every once in a while.  And let's be honest....William's grandparents love alone time with him too! 

If we weren't eating or at the beach you could find us doing this.....

 



 

I'm by no means an expect on 30A (my sister in law is though!) but I thought I'd post some of our favorite places. 

 

Our 30A Restaurant Itinerary:

 

Aqua Sushi:  This was our lunch date spot.  It's right in the middle of RB "downtown" area.  They had yummy avocado bowls and lobster nests.

Caliza Poolside Restaurant:  This restaurant's ambiances is fabulous!  If you're looking for a quiet beautiful place to have a cocktail with your honey.  THIS IS YOUR PLACE.  It's located in Aly Beach (one mile from RB). 

Great Southern:  Is located in Seaside.  You can ride your bike to Seaside (we've done it before) but it's a work out!  RB to Seaside is an easy 15 minute drive.  We went to Great Southern last year.  They had great grits and mojitos! 

Summer Kitchen Café:  This is by far our favorite breakfast spot.  It's right by the bike shop in Rosemary Beach.  They have the best French Toast and Breakfast Burritos. 

Cowgirl Kitchen :  Another must go!  Yummy, yummy, yummy.  Every year, by the end of the week, the waitress knows us.  Not only is their food delicious everyone is so friendly.  Some days we just stop in for a beer and appetizer.  The crab dip is terrific.  We get a ton of it to-go for the house during the week. 

George's :  I mentioned George's in my last post.  It's an adorable little cottage located in Aly Beach.  Nothing is bad on the menu.  I usually get the fish tacos but this year had a chicken wrap so I could share with W.  It's was super yummy.  Their sweet tea is something to write home about.  :) 

Paradis:  Mommy Notice....they don't have high chairs.  haha.  But...it's a great date night restaurant with a great selection of seafood, steak and chicken.  We took William here on our first night and he did great.  We just sat outside in case things got crazy. 

Bud and Alley's:  This restaurant/rooftop bar is located in Seaside.  They have a gorgeous view and cute t-shirts!  We haven't gotten the chance to go here in the past two years (since our infamous bike ride).  It's a great place to grab a drink while you're doing some shopping in Seaside.

Stinky's:  located in Santa Rosa.  Yummy fish tacos and curly fries! 

The Red Barn:  We went here our first year to RB.  Located in Grayton Beach it's a 30 minute drive.  Great place if you're looking for live entertainment and fun bar.   

 



Family Photo on Day 1

Picking Daddy up

Last full day on the beach

 

Deep sea fishing

Before going to Rosemary Beach I knew we'd want to have a "grown up" night out.  One of my girlfriends vacations in RB and had mentioned using a nanny service.  Here's her post about her trip to 30A.  She shared the nanny's info with me which I quickly used to get something booked.  We ended up using them, Nanny Can, on the Tuesday evening that we were in Rosemary Beach.  I asked for someone with experience...they ended up sending one of their managers who passed all 8 adults "inspection".  We didn't leave until it was William's bedtime so all she had to do was give him a bottle and put him in the pack-n-play.  I'll be honest, I get pretty anxious about leaving baby boy but I was able to have fun.  We all hopped on our bikes and rode over to Caliza's.  The weather was perfect, the wine was delicious and the company wasn't too bad either.  :)  I'm so blessed to have such amazing in-laws! 

I can't say enough how much I love Rosemary Beach.  The weather is always so nice, the beach is beautiful, it's quiet and the town is adorable with great restaurants.  Ashley and Brandon are able to drive from Birmingham and bring all the supplies for the annual fish fry.  It's perfect.  Next year will be even more fun with William!
Here's a few pictures from our little family photo session.  William wasn't too into it....

 

 

 

It's so crazy to see how much a child changes in a year!!  Hope everyone had a great summer too.  We are ready for FALL!