beach

we took a family trip to gulf shores last weekend. after all the sickness of the past couple of months i think we all needed to get away for a bit. we always like to go to the beach in early may before it gets too crowded for summer. we stayed at the gulf shores plantation. our room was small but cozy, and there was hardly anyone at the hotel, so it was perfect!

i learned that it's much harder to travel with two little ones! i had to pack SO much stuff. everyone had their own suitcase, plus food, toys, bath stuff, and beach stuff. i hoped and prayed that they would sleep in the car, but there wasn't enough of that! it was worth it, though. we had a great time. hannah loved going to the swimming pools. i loved us all sitting on the beach together. we got a tent with SPF protection to put libby in, and of course hannah wanted to sit in there too. it rained on friday so we decided to take a trip to the outlets and lamberts. on sunday we took our highly anticipated trip to lulu's and stayed there for a couple of hours watching hannah play with other kids in the sand.

i think the girls really bonded during our trip. hannah helped out with libby in the backseat during our drive down there - she talked to her, sang to her when she was crying, and handed her toys. they were also so cute together on the beach. hannah was excited to show libby the ocean and sand. and the way libby looks at hannah and smiles at her and the way hannah acts silly to get those smiles... oh, floods my heart with so much happiness. unrelated to our beach trip, but yesterday i was putting gas in the car, and i was looking at the girls through the back windshield. hannah was entertaining libby, and she looked back at me, and i couldn't hear what she said but i saw her mouth say: "she smiled to me, mom," with a BIG proud smile on her face. i almost can't stand it sometimes! i am so proud to be able to watch them grow together.