Family Vacation to Florida

Last week we left the cold, dreary Pennsylvania weather behind and set off on a roadtrip to Florida for a visit with some family members. We were gone for nine days and had a wonderful family vacation!

Knowing that Benjamin is such a sound sleeper, we opted to leave our house at his bedtime last Friday evening (11/10) and we set out on our 2,000 mile tour! We drove a few hours while Ben slept without even stirring and arrived at our hotel in Stony Creek, VA around 11PM. The next morning, we set out on the second leg of our trip with a destination of Jacksonville, FL for that evening. Ben did great on the road and for the most part slept, looked around and played with his toys in the car (and the borrowed DVD player we set up with his Baby Einstein videos was a good "last resort" during his usual late afternoon fussy period).

We made sure to take some short breaks to tend to Ben and also some longer breaks so that we and the baby could stretch our limbs a bit. With a little planning, we worked it so that Ben still got most of his naps into his daily routine, which seemed to help keep him content for the most part.

Saturday 11/11:
Here we are at a picnic site, where we stopped for a long break to rest. Andrew takes a little repose while Ben stretches his legs (and to Mommy's delight works off some energy so that he'd be ready for a nap when we set out on the road again!)

Andrew and Ben have a little bonding time as they guard our belongings while I go for a short walk around the site. Here, Ben is teaching his dad how to bang on the table in order to make lots of noise!

Sunday 11/12:

"Good morning, Dad! Rise and shine!" Ben makes sure that Andrew doesn't sleep too late on Sunday morning in Jacksonville. We had arrived at our hotel around 8PM the night before so we were able to really relax in the room that night and get a good night's sleep. Of course having Ben in his Pack 'n Play across the room from us always lends a whole new ambiance to a hotel stay since we have to sneak around in virutal darkness and keep our voices to a minimum so as not to wake the sleeping baby (God forbid!).

After basically an uneventful drive (luckily!) for a day and a half, we arrive at my Uncle Emil and Aunt Catherine's house in Ormond Beach, FL. They are about 1-1/2 hours from Jacksonville so we got there early in the day. Aunt Catherine is my dad's eldest sister and it is the first time both of them had met Benjamin. Boy, did they have a fun time with our little charmer!

Uncle Emil and Aunt Catherine have quite a few great grandchildren so they certainly know how to entertain a baby. Aunt Cathy made Ben some beautiful hand-stitched cotton books that he loved playing with and she also had lots of fun knick-knacks on the coffee table for him to play with (that were unbreakable!)

Here is Ben opening his gift and then below he is playing with some toys and some other fun things he helped himself to on the coffee table. This was the first time that Ben has ever opened a gift and I must say that he still doesn't grasp the idea of a gift-wrapped package since he looked at me as if I had three heads when I tried to coax him into ripping the paper. Hopefully by next month he'll gain further insight into the idea of a gift so that we can have fun with him on Christmas day. He certainly enjoyed playing with the bow, though! :)

Ben is always attracted to any woman wearing a necklace!

Here he is being a big ham for the camera with Andrew:

We stayed with Uncle Emil and Aunt Cathy for one night and had a wonderful time visiting with them both. Here we are just before we left on Monday morning:

Monday 11/13:
For the remainder of the trip we stayed with Grandpa G and CC in Jupiter, FL. We arrived on Monday morning and had a wondeful week with them, enjoying the beautiful southern Florida weather.

Here's Ben hamming it up for the camera again our first morning in Jupiter. He took his first official crawling "steps" last week (even though they are hard to pinpoint!) so here we are cheering him on as he attempts to crawl. Maybe this new brightly colored toy will entice him to move those limbs...

Taking a break. It's tough work to get those arms and legs to move in sync. "Maybe if I juuust...laaaay....doooown...I can can scoot my way over to my new toy and nobody will notice that I didn't crawl to it!"

Here's a cute photo that Cheri took of Ben in his crib after his nap. He has completely mastered sitting up from a laying down position so now he is a bit obsessed with this move and sits up all the time. Every morning and post-nap I find him sitting in his crib staring through the slats at the world around him!


Dad and Cheri have a beautiful patio area with a pool and hot tub and they even got Ben an inflatable "kiddie" pool to play in, equipped with lots of floats and pool toys. Andrew and his dad went golfing on Monday afternoon so Cheri and I took Ben for a swim in the kiddie pool and the hot tub (without making the temperature any warmer than a bath would be). The big pool was a little cool for the baby late in the afternoon so we decided to wait until the morning to bring him into that one.

Here we are with my fearless son, who was flipping and flapping all over the place in the water. We'll have to get him some swim lessons soon to keep my nerves at ease when he's near the water!

Later that night after Ben went to bed we all enjoyed a relaxing time outside on the patio and some of us went in the hot tub and pool.

Tuesday 11/14:

On Tuesday I went to the spa in the morning so Ben got to spend some time with his dad and grandparents while I was gone. It was another beautiful day so they took him swimming again, this time in the big pool as well as the hot tub.

Just a few photos early in the morning before I left. We were trying to urge Ben to crawl again and even Charlotte the French Bulldog came over to see what all of the fuss was about. Ben got a kick out of Charlotte and let out some deep belly laughs whenever she would bark or come near him. She also took a liking (or was it jealousy?) to Ben in that she began following Ben around the house and would lurk outside his bedroom door whenever he was sleeping. Supposedly she had never gone upstairs on her own before Ben came to visit!


In the pool while Mommy gets pampered at the spa. Ben enjoyed being toted around in his floaty devices in the water.

Wednesday 11/15:

We played with Ben in our bed for a little while after he woke up in the morning before going downstairs. I jokingly gave him an apple to play with since he loves new objects to explore. After a few minutes of admiring his new shiny red "toy," he put it up to his mouth and took a bite out of it!!! Of course with only four teeth he only got a few tiny pieces but we were amused nonetheless!

Andrew and his dad smile for the camera that morning as they rest up for another game of golf later that day.

On Wednesday afternoon I went to visit my Aunt Felicia who lives outside of West Palm Beach in Wellington, FL. Aunt Fee is only about 30 minutes from my in-laws' house so it was an easy daytrip for me and Ben. She is my mom's youngest sister and had never met the baby before so I'm really happy we were able to see her!

Ben's camera happy again (as usual). Don't mind the messy outfit I have on him...he thinks baby cookies taste really good. So good, in fact, that he likes to rub them all over his clothes!

Costume change for Ben and some more work on crawling. This was when we think he actually took his first official crawling "steps," even if he did take about 30 seconds to move his second arm/leg after the first one moved forward!

Resting. My, what a tough life it is once you're mobile!

Thursday 11/16:

Ben and Charlotte bonding. Charlotte seemed to enjoy Ben's toys as much as he did but was under the impression that they were for her, especially when Ben would dangle them in front of her and taunt her. Somehow her doggie toys aren't as exciting when there are baby toys around!

We had Benjamin dressed in his little preppy country club attire this day... Mommy went for another morning at the spa and then we had a babysitter come that night to watch Ben while we all went out for dinner at the clubhouse so unfortunately pictures were far and few between this day!

Friday 11/17:

Today Cheri and I took Ben on his first beach trip while the guys played in a golf tournament. We packed the car, lathered the baby with sunblock and set out for beautiful Juno Beach, a mere five minutes from the house.

At first Ben was completely oblivious to the beach and appeared to not even notice the miles of sand that surrounded him. Seriously. But after I showed him how much "fun" sand and seashells can be, he couldn't seem to get enough of them. In fact, it was quite a workout for me and Cheri trying to keep the seashells out of Ben's mouth and only letting a minimal amount of sand get eaten. We tried our best but there was sandy proof "down under" when Ben had his diaper changed on Saturday morning!! :)

We took Ben down by the water and sat him in the sand at the edge of the tide. He seemed to like the water sweeping into him every few minutes at first but soon grew tired of it.










Of course we hadn't planned on him getting so wet and we quickly learned just how fast a disposable diaper will fill with water! We had learned earlier that day just how little fluid the Lil' Swimmers diapers actually do hold (no details needed, but let's say Ben needed an outfit change asap), so we had opted to just keep the regular diaper on him at the beach since he wouldn't really be swimming. However, after a long romp in the water, Ben needed a fresh diaper and warm clothes.

Diaper on...

And...it's off!

We'll be certain to show these next photos to Ben's future girlfriends, at his rehearsal dinner, in the high school yearbook, etc...

Phew! Nothing like some warm clothing and a clean diaper!

Apparently his beach toys aren't quite as exciting as....Cheri and my beach bags!

"I think I'll have a look through this, thank you very much!"

"Hmm...trail mix, reduced fat Wheat Thins, bottled water. Don't you gals have anything good in here like pureed peas or Cheerios?"

Our last night of the trip we had an early dinner at the poolside restaurant with Ben after the guys got back from their golf tournament. Here are Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods themselves, post-game:
Just a few photos at the dinner table. Ben enjoyed sharing all of our meals that night, especially the honey dew and pineapple chunks from Grandpa G's dish and the grilled chicken from my salad.




Saturday 11/18:

We left for home on Saturday morning and were very sad to go! It was another beautiful day in Florida so hearing forecasts of frigid Philadelphia weather didn't sound too alluring. Here are a few photos of everyone before we departed:

Our ride home went very smoothly again, with two daytime stops at a Lehigh-Lafayette football game satellite party in Jacksonville, FL since we were missing our big college rivalry game (this was Ben's first alumni event!) and some outlet mall shopping. We stayed overnight in South Carolina on Saturday evening and arrived home last night after a wonderful vacation!