The Beach

After two weeks in Houston {and a three-day excursion to New Orleans squeezed in there} we flew to Florida to spend a few days with Adam's maternal grandparents, who live about an hour outside Orlando. 

Adam has an aunt and some cousins, Will and Sam, who were able stop by while we were visiting.

It was a short but relaxing trip. We mostly sat around chatting and enjoying Poppop's delicious creations. His peppermint ice cream and coconut shrimp are to die for! 

We attempted to take Claire to the beach in the late afternoon, so the sun wouldn't be shining quite so bright on her little baby skin. But, since late afternoon in Florida usually means thunderstorms, that plan didn't work out too well.

We tried again the next morning and had much better luck with the weather.

I wouldn't call Claire's first meeting with the ocean a success, however.

After our three days in Florida, we finally flew home to Pittsburgh. Man, oh man, we were so glad to be back! Claire really was a breeze to travel with, but it was still pretty exhausting getting thrown off our routine and carting her paraphernalia {or should I say Claire-aphernalia!} around three states.

At this point, we definitely prefer car trips to plane rides. We can fit her stroller, pack-n-play, and three carry-on-size suitcases in our trunk without a problem. Plus, if she feels like screaming, we're the only ones who have to hear her. 

But, I don't think we'll be making the drive from Seattle to Houston anytime soon, so plane rides it is. I definitely want to work on packing less for the next time around. One thing I really wish we had left at home is the stroller. We only used it twice over the whole trip and both times we could have used the baby carrier instead. We just ended up transporting it through three airports for no good reason!