My mother's day surprise

So this year for Mother's Day my sweet husband planned a little family get-away to Galveston, just the three of us. It was Ella's first "vacation," first hotel stay, first swimming adventure, you get the idea. Needless to say, we had a blast watching her experience a weekend of firsts.

Before we left I bought Ella her first swimsuit and her first real pair of shoes. (Yes I am one of those moms who lets their baby go bare-foot. I just haven't seen the need for shoes when her little feet hardly touch the floor, not to mention how fast she is growing!) But after seeing how enamored she was with these new shoes, I definitely want to find her some more - she looooved them! Guess she's a typical girl ;-)




Ella LOVED the hotel room! The king-sized bed must have seemed never-ending to this little girl. She would crawl as fast as she could from one corner to the next and giggle when we grabbed her to turn her around. She hadn't been crawling and pulling up too long before we went, so everything peeked her curiosity. Within minutes of arriving, she had investigated every inch of our room :-)



Nolan and I couldn't help but laugh as we looked around this nice hotel room and realized how we had "baby-ed" it up! The bathroom counter became the bottle making station...the pack-n-play was all set up...and naturally, her things were everywhere!


Ella rode in her "big-girl stroller" for the first time that weekend. It's pink. She loves it. Or maybe it's Mommy that loves it ;-) I love it for reasons other than it's "girliness" - it's MUCH smaller than the bulky travel system stroller making it sooo much easier to maneuver, and fit in the car! I know Nolan was thrilled to push around a hot pink stroller all weekend ;-)

She was so excited about her new ride that she promptly fell asleep.



First time at Rain Forest Cafe - Ella slept through most of it - even the crazy "rainstorm" and gorilla noises that happened several times while we were there.

She did, however, wake up just in time to pay the bill...


"Can you believe how much they charge for iced tea???"


...and see fish for the first time


and make a new monkey friend...

but wasn't too sure about him


...and decide she was a country girl after all :)


Of course we couldn't pass up some fun pics with the gorilla on the way out...


Ella also decided she wasn't too fond of grass...she had never really touched or sat on the grass before. And as far as she was concerned, wasn't in a hurry to do it again anytime soon.



She did, however, enjoy her first bath in the big girl bathtub. We couldn't exactly pack her little bathtub and I'm glad - she had a blast!


My favorite part of the weekend was seeing this little girl go swimming in her first swimsuit! I bought her a 6 month suit and had to return it for a 12 month because her little belly just didn't want to fit in there - cutest thing EVER! And I say that knowing that I am more than a little bit biased :)


She seemed to enjoy the pool but didn't get overly excited about it. I'm sure it didn't help that her absent-minded mommy forgot that there was a such thing as "swim diapers" lol. Within seconds her diaper weighed 10 pounds. That could explain why she got tired so quickly and was ready to get out!

We checked out a local burger place that everyone had raved about - The Spot. Enter Ella's first experience with lettuce! Nolan brought it back from the salad bar for her and she was entertained the entire time we ate :)


Overall, it was a great weekend with my sweet little family...one that I will always remember as our 1st "vacation" together - even if it was just an hour south on I45 :) I know that the years ahead will fly by and we will have many more fun filled weekends of family time and road trips but I will always cherish this one as our 1st. After all, in a few years Ella will be a moody teenager and the thought of spending hours in the car with her parents might not be quite as appealing. Gotta enjoy these moments while they last ;-)

Here are a few more pics of the weekend: