Boating Season begins!

The weather has been gorgeous lately, so TJ and I decided to take the boat out on it's maiden voyage of the season.  We figured that we'd wait until after Kali's nap so that we could gather everything together while she slept and be ready to go when she woke up.  But, apparently Kali had other plans for us.  She has been waking up when we try to put her down in her crib.  At night, she's so tired that she only cries for about 5 minutes before falling asleep.  But today for her nap, she cried for 10 minutes and showed no signs of going back to sleep. 

Of course, minus a nap, she's a little cranky!  Defiant is probably a better word for it.  So needless to say, I was incredibly frustrated trying to get everything together for us to head out.  BUT, she behaved very well on the boat and actually fell asleep about 3/4 of the way out to the island, in her life jacket! She was so adorable! She slept for about 45 minutes, and then we were able to let her out of the boat and play in the sand! She loves it!!! Loved to sit in the sand and let the water rush up to her.  I can't wait to be able to get out there for a whole day and let her play.  And now that we know she'll sleep on the boat, we won't have to wait until after a nap. 

Our little princess asleep on the boat.

Look at those cheeks!

LoVe!

After she woke up she figured that she would explore the boat.

Seeing what's in the cabin

Trying to get out of the cabin...butt first!

She adores these little purple flip flops I got from Target (for $2.50).

I'm thinking her favorite color is going to be purple. :-)

Snack Time!

I got the Gyro Bowl since she likes to try and pour out her snacks, and brought it along.

It was PERFECT for the boat.  Even with it rocking, her snacks didn't spill!

I'm now a Gyro Bowl believer!

MmMmMmMmMm...Fishes!

I didn't get any pictures of us on the actual island since we forgot the second anchor and had to wade to shore. I'm too nervous about my clumsy tendencies to bring the camera into the water. But next time for sure! We'll have our dry box and I'll be sure to take pictures.

We stayed for about an hour before heading in.  It was a great lazy trip! And a perfect maiden voyage for us.  I think it might have even been Kali's first trip to Shell Island.  She's been to the beach before, but not sure she's been to the island since the boat was in the shop most of last season.  Definitely going to be something fun for us all to do!!!!!

Me and my Kali-bug on the trip home.

And I'm totally rockin' the Lesband.  Hey, it keeps my hair outta my face! LOL!

I love our beach!

Kali's First Boat Ride

We took Kali on her first boat ride this past weekend.  I was nervous that she wasn't going to like it, but turns our she loved it!! She didn't love her life jacket in the beginning, but then she realized that she could use the cushion behind her head as a pillow, and all was right in the world again.  Here are some pictures from our adventure on Deer Point Lake.

Kali and Daddy testing out the water (and life jacket)

Kali and Mommy getting settled on the boat.

Figuring out the cushion could be a pillow.

She was laid back relaxing then

We stopped the boat in the middle of the lake so we could float.

Kali wanted to walk around, but she doesn't have the best balance on dry-land,

then you put her on a rocky boat. It was hysterical.

She would hold onto the seat to keep her balance.

Snacking on some fishes.

She backed herself up to the seat, and put her elbow on it.

She looked like Joe Cool.

"Yea, I know I'm awesome"

Driving the boat with Daddy

I asked Kali to "say cheese", and this is the face I got.

I love this kid!

We had a great time! Hopefully we'll be able to go on the boat again before it gets too cold.  And with this crazy kid, I'll be sure to have my camera poised and ready! :-)

My Birthday

My 27th Birthday was last week (May 18th if you care).  I have some of the best friends in the world! (Jennifer, Lauren, Theresa, Holly~I'm talking about ya'll here!!!!!!!!) They're there for you through everything and can always talk me off a ledge (which happens very often!).  The only thing I asked for was Sorrelli earrings.  I have always loved Sorrelli jewelry, but it's kinda expensive.  And I'd much rather buy something for Kali, then spend any money on me (now this whole scenario would be completely different if I was writing this a year and half ago...but this is my life now!).  So I asked the girls for something that I knew I would never get myself.  And they did NOT disappoint!  Thankfully, Plum Delightful was having a 15% off sale on their Sorrelli jewelry! Which means SCORE for me! Instead of getting one or two pieces, I got THREE!!!!!! (Again, did I mention how wonderful my friends are?!)

I got this BEAUTIFUL necklace and these Fantastic earrings in Running Water:

And they got me these earrings too (also in Running Water)!!

AND THEN...I got this Bling Blaow Bligity Ring from my friend Dallas (in Snow Bunny):

 It's sparkly!!!!!

TJ planned our family dinner with both sets of parents on Tuesday night.  At first it was going to be at Olive Garden, but I had a hankerin' for TGIFridays...so we went there instead! :-)

My mom and dad got me a gift card for Barnes and Nobles!!! YAY!!!!!!!! More books! And since I joined a book club, it's even better! :-)

TJ's mom and dad paid for the Baby and Me swim lessons through the Red Cross that I was going to sign Kali and I up for! I'm so excited! She loves the water so much, I can't wait for her to learn how to swim! And it's even better that my dad will be the one to teach us/her.

TJ went above and beyond what I had asked for.  I told him that since he had done so much for me on Mother's Day that all I wanted were a set of the small emerald cut earrings (pictured above-last set of earrings) in any color.  They're only $17 (plus 15% off) at Plum Delightful.  That's all I wanted. I would have been super happy with that.  But instead of only spending $17 (plus 15% off) he gave me $60 in CASH! Woo Hoo!!!!!  This meant that I went to Plum Delightful and spent ONE whole hour there looking at all the sparkly Sorrelli jewelry and trying to pick out which one I wanted.

I finally settled on a pair of earrings from the new Pewter Collection, and a new watch.  The pictures aren't available yet for the new collection on the Sorrelli website, but I took a picture of my presents!!!!

LOVE THEM!!! So I was definitely spoiled this year for my Birthday!

Then over the weekend, TJ finally got the boat back from the shop.  The mechanic said that we had to run it for a few hours to test out the motor to make sure that there were no problems before we put all the seats back in and took Kali for a ride.  So TJ and I bared our burden and took the boat out on Sunday afternoon.  It was so nice! We took it around Deer Point lake and just drove around, then found a spot in the middle and floated.  I brought my Nook and read some of my book (The Maze Runner-May Book Club book!!). It was so nice and peaceful.

And then THIS weekend we are headed up to Birmingham for Alec's high school graduation.  And while we're there...we're taking Kali to the Zoo!!! I'm so freaking excited.  I love zoos.  I go to one in every town we visit. And as many times as we've been to Birmingham, I've never gotten to visit the zoo.  So we're making a plan to go! Can't wait to get some great pictures of Kali with the critters!