Beach Bums

We just returned from our very first vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We now know what we have been missing out on for so many years. We rented a house and 6 of our friends came with us. I wasn't sure how Julia would react to all of the new things...a new house, lots of people around, the beach, etc. She was wonderful!!! She loved the ocean and the beach.

Julia had lots of firsts on this trip. She had everyone wrapped around her fingers by the time we left!! She perfected her kiss blowing, she got her first black eye! (well, cheek really!), It was her first time on the beach and in the ocean and she had lots of first foods. She ate all kinds of things!! She had crabs, lobster, pulled pork, lasagna, raspberries. She would pretty much eat anything you gave her!! She even discovered pub mix (by accident, when Daddy wasn't making breakfast fast enough!!). Julia can even tell you what a duck says!! I usually will tell her what animals say whenever we see one and she has a bunch of ducks in her bath toys. So she kept making this sound and I finally realized she was trying to say Quack. So when you ask her what a duck says, she says quack (which really sounds more like 'cack', but she knows what she is saying!!). I thought that was awesome. And then we were reading a book and there happened to be a picture of a duck and when she saw it, she starting quacking, without being prompted!!! We were pretty impressed! She is even mastering 'yes' in sign language. She also discovered how to get onto furniture without any help. She has become quite the daredevil!!
So we had an amazing vacation and I think the best part was not wearing a watch all week!! The only reason I needed to know the time was to know when Julia needed to eat. It was the best! I even got to attempt surfing. That was pretty awesome!

~Courtney