Allen Family News: Summer Vacation 2011

Last night we returned home from a week long vacation on St. Simon's Island, GA. Chad's parents own a vacation home there and have generously allowed us to come every year! We DROVE in 2 cars with my parents, my 2 brothers, and my brother's friend Tess. I loved getting to spend so much time with her and getting to know her! OK, so we left on Thursday the 7th at around 6 pm. That night we made it to Jackson, MS where we stayed the night (well, we stayed a few hours at least). It was a hard night for me because the hotel did not have a crib for us like we thought it would, so Graham had to sleep in the bed with my mom and I. Now, I have never allowed Graham to sleep in our bed at home, so he really had a hard time. We got about 2 hours of sleep! The next day we drove about 10 hours and made it in time to eat pizza from C.J.'s, our favorite place for pizza on the island.

The days we spent at the condo kind of run together in my mind, so I will summarize some of the fun things we did. During the day, most of us would go walking on the beach, bike riding (we brought our bikes), swimming in the pool and ocean, sailing, and paddle-boarding. We rented paddle-boards for 2 days. It was challenging but really fun! Chad and I had an especially fun time this year because Graham was old enough to really enjoy the pool and beach. And he took 4 steps one day! At night we took turns cooking fabulous meals or going out to eat at our favorite restaurants like Barbara Jean's and Gnat's Landing. After dinner we played games - my favorite! My brother Jon brought the video game Rockband and we all had a blast singing, drumming, and guitaring together. I loved it! And of course, we played my favorite game of all time - peanut (AKA nertz). We also had an incredible birthday dinner for me (yes, I turned 28!) at Bonefish the night before we left.

We left to come home on Friday morning the 15th. As we were packing up, a big thunderstorm came and the power went out. Convenient! We all got soaked as we got our car packed up to head home. I was really sad to leave, we had had so much fun! That night, when we were about an hour from Jackson (where we planned to stop again) Graham threw up for the very first time...all over his car seat! What a mess. We couldn't get it properly cleaned up on the road, so his car seat reeked for the entire rest of the trip. And let me just add that keeping a 15 month old entertained on a 17 hour car trip is no easy feet, especially when your child refuses to sleep in the car! But we made it and we're now back at home working on laundry and unpacking. Hope you enjoy our vacation photos.

Graham loves his daddy!