the bright side: Baby moon ...

We’ve been back from our “baby moon” for just under a week now and I’m just now making myself update our blog! It was wonderful. April has been so jam packed that the most perfect thing in the world to us was sleeping in and relaxing on the beach. We thanked God every day we were there for giving us that time.

Our daily schedule was pretty much as follows: Sleep in, make a “real” breakfast, relax and read for a bit, pack lunch and head to the beach. We both got a good start on our summer tans and enjoyed being on the beach so much. Darby had a blast digging holes in the sand (it’s a Min Pin thing), chasing birds, swimming (she would swim with us!), playing fetch and laying on her blanket in the sun. We were able to play in the water quite a bit and had a great time trying to body board in the small swell (not easy to do at 7 months pregnant in case you were wondering).

When we’re at the beach, Ethan and I both love those horrible souvenir shops that have the tacky t-shirts and cheap beach gear. What better place for Ethan to buy a vacation hat? Unfortunately, on a trek through the birding sanctuary in Port A, he lost his hat in the gator pit. Thus ... After thinking it through we decided not to go in after it.

Ethan bidding farewell to his vacation hat ...

huge alligator in the gator pit ... a little too close.

At what Ethan and Kristen trip is complete without a couple of “incidents.” Here’s a few highlights: That same day, I was flying our Pterodactyl kite and a truck drove through the string and broke my kite. Seconds later our beach umbrella was swept up in the wind, thus Ethan had to chase it half a mile down the beach with Darby following at his heals barking the whole way. Everyone on the beach was cheering him on and every time he’d get close to catch the umbrella another gust of wind would pick it up again. Pretty hilarious. While walking out of the water back to the beach another day, a crab clamped down on one of my toes. This has happened to be before, but of course my immediate reaction was to shriek and get out of the water as fast a possible. Ethan said he had no idea I could make a noise like that or move that fast being 7 months pregnant.

All in all in was a fantastic, much needed week. We look forward to taking Claire next summer so that she can laugh with me as we watch Daddy chase things down the beach. :)

Ethan is now a big fan of vacation ... that I am thankful for. It was great watching him enjoy himself so much. It was even better getting to reconnect with each other, laugh together and remember how in love with each other we are. I hate how we often seem to get so caught up in getting things done every day that we forget to reflect and thank God for the little things. Like our love and our commitment to each other. It was also fun to talk about Claire and dream about the future.

Since we’ve been back it’s been a whirlwind back to work. I spent all Tuesday night trying to get the house in order after having vacation for two weeks and being gone. Our friends Zach and Carrie had baby Porter early Wednesday morning and we are SOOO excited to meet him tomorrow.

Claire will be here before we know it and time is passing so quickly. I have a shower on May 9th and have several thing in the nursery left to do. I can only imagine the next couple of months are going to pass quickly with showers, weddings and all the early summer festivities coming up.

Here are some more photos of our vacation. You can also view more here, here and here.