Beach Vacation!

Last week, October 2-9, John, Dawson, and I took a vacation to Indian Shores, Florida. We flew down and met my parents and brother (Dawson's Pop, Lolly, and Uncle Logan) who had driven down from Tennessee. We all spent the week enjoying the beach together!
We had not flown with Dawson since last October when we went to the beach, and flying with a 16 month old is MUCH MUCH different than flying with the 4 month old we had last year! Since he's less than two he still got to ride on our lap. Overall he did GREAT. There were only a few times he got a little fussy. One of which was after we spent an hour sitting on the runway waiting to take off when we left Huntsville to fly to Atlanta. We had a fairly short layover in Atlanta before flying on to Tampa which was great. We were really thankful for all of the kind people on all of our flights who played peek-a-boo or waved and smiled at Dawson during the flight because it helped keep him entertained. He enjoyed being at the airport where he could look out the windows and see all the planes, but he didn't understand when I would tell him we were on a plane.
Dawson LOVED the beach...just like his Mommy! :) His favorite things to do on the beach included: running, chasing "ducks," playing in the sand, and waving to EVERYONE on the beach.
The majorty of his time was spent running. He constantly ran up and down the beach. As for chasing the "ducks"...the first day we took Dawson out to the beach he pointed to the sea gulls, cranes, and pelicans on the beach and started calling all of them ducks. We didn't really correct him because he was close and he was so sure of himself. So all week long he was chasing the ducks and managed to come VERY close to a few! He had fun playing in the sand with his shovels, especially when we would dig a hole for him so he could sit down in it and play. Dawson has started waving at everyone, and this was no different on the beach. John and I met a ton of new people because Dawson insisted on waving to everyone. When someone wouldn't wave back, Dawson would just get closer and closer to them until they couldn't ignore him anymore! Haha...our silly boy! John and I especially enjoyed just watching all of the fun Dawson had on the beach. The last time he was at the beach (last October) he was only 4.5 months old, so this year it was amazing to us to watch him explore the beach and love it!
Dawson also especially enjoyed all of the attention he got from his Lolly, Pop, and Uncle Logan while we were there. Dawson was constantly pointing out things for them to see with one of his new favorite words, "LOOK!" and pointing. I'm sure now that we're back home, Dawson is missing his grandparents and uncle!
We spent the days enjoying the beach, and in the evening we would usually go out to dinner and do some shopping or visit some tourist spots. While we were in Indian Shores we ate some yummy seafood (my favorite!!) at some fun restaurants like Bubba Gumps, Crabby Bills, and PJ's Oyster Bar. For the most part, Dawson ate off of the kid's menu, but he did really enjoy some fish (pollock) from Crabby Bill's!
Late one afternoon, John and I decided to walk Dawson down the road to the Seabird Sanctuary(www.SeabirdSanctuary.com). It is the largest wildbird hospital and sanctuary in the U.S. I remember visiting the bird sanctuary when my brother was little, and he loved it (and I was a little older, so I complained about the smell :) of the birds and fish). It was so fun to take Dawson though, especially since he loves the "ducks" so much! We lucked out and got there at feeding time for several different kinds of pelicans, so we got to watch them all get their fish. Dawson was in awe, pointing out all of the ducks. One of his favorite was a bird with one leg that was not in a cage, but just sitting on a bench. He kept pointing to it and signing "more" (there is a picture of this below).
Also, while we were at the beach the guys spent a lot of time fishing off the shore (and I spent a little time doing this, as well). Dad had the biggest catch off the shore when he caught a Spanish Mackerel which was pretty tasty. More than fishing off the shore, I enjoy throwing the net off the shore to catch the little bait fish. On Wednesday of our vacation, the guys (except Dawson) decided to go deep sea fishing. They caught a few fish and had a good time!
One evening Dawson got to stay with his Lolly and Pop for a few hours while John and I went on a movie date which was really nice! Other evenings we shopped at Tyrone Square Mall or visited the shops at John's Pass and saw the boats.
The only bad part of our trip was that John and I were sick for the beginning of it. When we left Huntsville, we thought our allergies were acting up since all of the cotton is in bloom and being harvested (yes, I never thought I would know this much-or anything-about cotton and harvesting it, but we live in Alabama so what can I say?!). Unfortunately though, on Monday we were filling a little rough, so we visited a doctor in Florida and got some medicine for our sinus infections. Thankfully we started filling better fairly quickly, and we had a wonderful time on our vacation nonetheless!
While we were gone Bentley had the luxury of staying at Maddy's Pet Resort where she got her own room (they don't do kennels) and was spoiled! The place we used to take her to daycare when John and I were both working full time, Maddy's Doggie Daycare, also does boarding so Bentley got to go on a little vacation of her own. We were excited to go pick her up when we got home though, and thankfully, she was excited to see us! I think she played the whole time she was on her "vacation" too because she's been sleeping A LOT since we picked her up!
We had a wonderful vacation, and we were so sad to come home. We're getting back in our normal routines, but we can't wait to go back to the beach again!!
I have posted some pictures below. Enjoy!

Above: Dawson sitting in a beach chair under

the umbrella!
Above: Snack time at Huntsville International
Airport before boarding our plane.

Above: Dawson and Daddy watching the

Tennessee game while we waited on our plane.

Above: Not a very good picture, but I had to share it because...

On our first flight we were on the first row behind Business Class

(1st class) with this tiny curtain separting us. All Dawson wanted

to do was lift up this little curtain...I bet the people who booked

Business Class for this flight didn't expect to have a curious toddler

on the other side of that curtain! :)

Above: Snack-time on the beach.

Above: Dawson watching Daddy throw the net and

Uncle Logan fish.

Above: This is what the fish we caught in

the net for bait look like.

Above: Dawson exploring the beach with his shovel.

Above: Dawson playing on the beach with Pop.

Above: Leaning on Pop.

Above: More fun with Pop.

Above: Dawson walking with Pop on the beach.

Above: My beach boy!

Above: Dawson and Daddy playing in the sand!

Above: More fun.

Above: Dawson chasing a few of the ducks.

Above: Running on the beach.

Above: Weird arms at Bubba Gumps.

Above: John and Dawson at John's Pass.

Above: Dawson and Mommy in front of the Pirate Ship

at John's Pass.

Above: Dawson loved looking at the boats.

Above: John's Pass.

Above: On the balcony of our condo.

Above: On the balcony of the condo.

Above: Dawson and Pop!

Above: Dawson in the ocean with his shovel.

(His swim shorts say "speedo" on the bottom if

you can't read it)

Above: Our beach boy!

Above: Dawson and I at the Seabird Sanctuary.

Above: Dawson saw the first bird (pictured below with one leg)

and started signing "more" to us!

Above: Dawson LOVED this bird!

Above: We were trying to capture a picture

of Dawson's wind-blown hair...but it's hard to see

in the picture.

Above: Walking on the beach one evening.

Above: Dawson and Daddy walking to the Pier.

Above: "Which way should I run next?"

Above: Action shot!

Above: I wish we were still there!

Above: Dawson's first day on the beach!

I may have a few more pictures of our vacation to share later this week after getting them from Lolly and Pop's camera! I hope you enjoyed these!