Beach trip with GiGi and Papa Rock

The weekend before Lane's birthday, Gigi and Papa Rock (my parents) went to Destin, FL. They invited us to go, but Chris had to work. Since Lane had never been to the beach, I hesitated to go without Chris, but he told me to go and take A LOT of pictures. I filled up 2 1/2 memory cards full of pictures and videos in 24 hrs! Lane and I only stayed for about 24 hrs, because I had so much to do to get ready for his party and I wanted to be back in B'ham on his actual birthday. There is no way I was going to keep Lane away from his daddy on his 1st birthday! It was a quick trip, but well worth it!

When we arrived at the beach, Papa Rock and GiGi had gotten Lane a little inflatable pool to play in on the beach! It was WONDERFUL! Lane loved being able to play and splash. He also loved being able to climb in and out as he pleased.

As you can tell from the picture, Lane LOVES his Papa Rock and I'm pretty sure Lane has his Papa Rock wrapped around his little finger too.

The little pool turned out to be even more wonderful when we realized that Lane was TERRIFIED of the ocean. I don't know that I have ever seen him so scared! He was so afraid he would cry if any of us got near the ocean. Several times one of us would try to go into the water to show him it was ok and he would shriek, cry and reach out for whoever was entering the dreaded ocean. What you can't tell in the picture below, is that his nails are DIGGING into my back...he was not going to be dropped into the water!

One arm digging in was clearly not enough! He had to turn around and cling to me for his life! Poor baby! It was so pitiful and hilarious at the same time!!
Recovering on the beach! Whew, that was stressful! :)

Doesn't he look so cool in his little beach chair! On a side note, that was my booster seat when I was little. Apparently, I had a normal carseat but they either didn't make or didn't require children ride in normal booster seats until a certain age/weight. So, my mom used this as my booster seat because I would complain because I couldn't see out of the window and the seat belt straps didn't fit right. Isn't it amazing we all survived! I remember MANY times laying down on the floorboard of my dad's truck and sleeping on the way to Houston. Sorry for the the randomness!

PEEK-A-BOO! Lane loved playing in his cabana. He especially liked standing up and pushing against the sides to make it flip over! Too funny!!

Lane loved crawling around in the sand! This picture reminds me so much of the picture of him crawling in the snow!

This was our cheap entertainment. I realize it does look like we are torturing him, but after we poured water over his head, he would make the funniest/most pitiful face then DIE LAUGHING and start splashing like a crazy man in his pool. I should have taken a video of this instead of trying to capture it on pictures, but alas hindsight is 20/20. Oh well.

Other Firsts: Lane was so interested in watching Papa Rock eat his cereal for breakfast. Once he got into Papa Rock's lap, he really wanted to try some cereal. After all the cereal was gone, Papa Rock taught him how to drink the milk out of the bowl. Lane thought this was so neat and was very serious while trying to drink all the milk. I think he felt like such a big boy!

He also watched us eating watermelon. He REALLY wanted a piece, so we carefully picked out all the seed and gave him a huge piece to try. He did not like the way the red part felt at all (he is weird about textures. Juice is generally not good!) We tried several times, most of the time he would turn the watermelon slice around and try to eat the rind. Then, of course, he would spit it out!

Overall, it was a WONDERFUL trip! Lane and I gladly go to the beach anytime we can! Thanks GiGi and Papa Rock for letting us tag along!