Welcome to the fam!

While we were in Perdido Key, Adam's sister, Jill gave birth to a baby boy, Jayden. He was born on May 21st....exactly to the day 7 months after Maison was born on Oct. 21st. This weekend we flew to Florida to meet the latest addition to the fam.

There were lots of cute pics of Maison holding Jayden's hand and kissing him on the head but the stupid camera malfunctioned and I can't get the pictures downloaded to the computer...bummer.

Anyway, WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, JAYDEN!

Happy Memorial Day!

Today we had our annual Memorial Day family swim party. My dad made bbq, Adam and I made homemade peanut butter cup and vanilla bean ice cream, and Maison dressed up in her red, white, and blue.

After lunch we all went swimming. It was a little on the cold side but it didn't deter Maison at all. She LOVES the water....just like Mommy ;o)

Texas Bound - PK Vacay day 8

So today we drove back to Texas. Maison wasn't near as good as a road tripper as she was on the way here. She literally did not take one nap. My arm needs to be amputated after holding the Mac in front of her so she could watch Baby Einstein videos. We heard the Sesame Street CD so many times I wanted to destroy it. Luckily the complete meltdown didn't happen until we hit the DFW metroplex and we were only about 30 min away from home.

Along the way we did hit some good spots. We had lunch at Prejean's in Lafayette (www.prejeans.com) which tabs itself as the first Cajun themed restaurant. With crawfish enchiladas being one of the house specialities, how could you go wrong? It was so good Adam insisted on buying the cookbook and Maison a 'mardi gras' alligator complete with the mardi gras hat.

We also found the most amazing truck stop I have ever seen in my life in Tyler, Texas. This place was humugo and was such a welcome site after a nasty ass stop at an Arby's in BFE, Louisiana where we had to feed Maison her dinner. They had such a good gift shop Adam kept finding things he liked and checked out 3 different times. They even had chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels which kept me from having a total meltdown at that point.

Unfortunately, Maison pretty much cried from Tyler to Dallas and I have to admit I joined her about the time we entered the DFW metroplex. Florida was a great time but I definitely don't see anymore road trips in our near future!

Fun Filled Last Day, Maison's 7mo B-day - PK Vacay Day 7

This morning we took Maison swimming and found out she likes to 'ski'. She absolutely loved standing on Adam's legs like she was skiing and being taken all over the pool.

While Maison was napping my mom agreed to watch her so that Adam and I could go check out FloraBama, the notorious bar on the Florida-Alabama state line that is featured in several Jimmy Buffett songs. It was literally right next door to our condo. FloraBama was originally constructed in 1964 and for years was the only establishment in the area. At the height of it's popularity it featured 20 bars, could house 4 live bands at one time, and simply never closed. Unfortunately, it was hit hard by Hurricane Ivan and has never been rebuilt to reflect it's glory days...though I will say it was under construction while we were there. FloraBama is home of the bushwhacker, a super delicious frozen concoction that is made with Kahlua. Now this is a 'house' speciality that even I can take part in! Given the loose FL alcohol laws we politely ordered up one to go so that my mom could try it.

The afternoon we spent at the beach.

We had Maison's 7 month birthday celebration at Cosmos's. The service sucked, Maison was fussy the entire time, and the food wasn't near as good as it was when Adam and I went last August... but throw in some good wine and all was good.

Bye Florida, we loved seeing you...and we took your advice:

We left nothing but our footprints ;o)

Floridians are Irish too - PK Vacay Day 6

Today we continued our trend of only eating in restaurants that are featured on the Food Network and drove to Pensacola to eat at McGuire's Irish Pub (www.mcguiresirishpub.com). McGuire's was founded in 1977 and has a tradition of stapling dollar bills to the ceiling. According to the restaurant, when owner Molly McGuire received a dollar as her first tip she stapled it behind the bar for good luck. Other patrons added to her collection and eventually they reached over $1 million. Adam heard that they had to insure the place for over $ 1 million because the dollars alone were worth that. Through the years people have written messages on their dollars before they stapled them to the walls or ceilings.

Of course we had to partake:

McGuire's has some amazing drinks...Adam tried several of their beers and the Irish Wake. I tried the Chocolate Moose and the frozen Irish Coffee. I just had to try the CM since we call Maison, "Moosen". It was basically a chocolate martini, but the frozen Irish Coffee was YUM CITY. Here is the description from Adam's Irish Wake, "This will knock you dead, but everyone enjoys and Old Fashioned Irish Wake. Comes in a dirty old mason jar from the cemetery, which ye can keep" Anything missing from this description? Uh, that would be what's in it. Did this deter Adam? NO WAY! It was green and smelled like straight liquor...need I say more?

My mom tasting the Belfast Bomber:

Trying Adam's Irish Wake:

Other interesting items: A $100 Grand Burger anyone? How about "Big Daddy Burger"...an item added to the menu by Aaron McCargo from Food Networks, "Big Daddy's House".

So once again we went with a Food Network featured restaurant and it did not disappoint.

Run Forrest, Run...Alabama Here I Come - PK Vacay Day 5

Monday morning I headed out for my hour run along the Perdido Key Blvd.  I was having such a good time that I missed my 30 min half way turn around and ended up running 10 min out of the way.  So today, I was going to do it...I was going to run all the way to Alabama and I was going to run it on the beach....hahaha!  Alabama is literally so close that if I threw a rock off our balcony it would land on the Bama state line.  I did really go run for an hour on the beach and I learned that I am WAY TOO old to do so.  

Running on the beach is super harder than it looks.  I thought the soft sand would feel good on my sore, plantar facisitis, ridden feet.  Nope, didn't feel so hot.  Not to mention that my knees hurt and my bursitis (yes, I have bursitis in my left hamstring and have since I was 25.  Nothing a little cortisone injection won't cure...I should know I've already had 1 of the 3 you are allowed in a lifetime.) decided to have a flare up.  I hit the 30 min turnaround wanting to have a taxi ride home.  I was literally out in the middle of now where.  I was at the part of the beach that there were no condos, no businesses, no people.  I contemplated walking back but if it took me 30 min to run there it would probably take me 45 min plus to walk back so I forged ahead.

I got back to our condo almost exactly an hour after leaving and this is what I had to say about the run:

- I hurt all over before I got back so you know tomorrow I'll feel awesome

- I got sunburned...how do you burn at 6:00 pm?

- I soaked my good running shoes because my slow, fat, ass couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way of the surf

- 2 bikers asked me if I knew of a hotel that rented by the night around here so either A).  They thought I lived on the Flora-bama state line and would know such info (ok...insulting) or B).  They thought I was involved in activities that happen at 'rent by the night' type places (uh...totally insulting).  I politely informed them I was here on vacation and didn't have such info.  

So at 35....ok, almost 36, I may not be too old to tango but I'm definitely too old to run on the beach.  

Beach Ball and Bubbles - PK Vacay Day 4

Since I was so proficient with the laptop while watching my Baby Einstein DVDs on the drive down, Mommy is letting me do this post.  Here are my highlights from Day 4

I like to feel the breeze blow through my hair...I giggle every time

Playing with my beach ball...

Watching the bubbles go by...