Derek had the last weekend of April off for the Resident Retreat. We packed up the car Friday morning and made the two hour drive to Pensacola. We got there just in time to eat a quick lunch at McDonald's & check in to our hotel room before it was naptime for Miss Shelby. I had previously mentioned in {THIS} post that I was worried about the big group dinner on Friday night. In order to avoid any meltdowns, we ordered a pizza and ate a couple of slices in our hotel room before going down to the dinner in the hotel restaurant. So we were able to just order drinks & appetizers {which thankfully came MUCH quicker than other people's entree orders!}, and Shelby stayed happy b/c we let her eat foods she liked while we socialized. When she was done eating, we gave her a Dum-Dum to keep her distracted & it worked like a charm! :) And since our appetizers came quickly, we were able to leave and get Shelby to bed at a reasonable time. YAY!
Saturday morning brought meetings for Derek & fun in the sun for us girls! Most of our friends & Mommies from playgroup were in attendance on the retreat, so it was just like having playgroup on the beach! :) The hotel has a great little kiddie pool, so we spent a little time there before heading down to the beach. I was a little worried I might have to chase Shelby down on the beach or keep her from going into the ocean {which was freezing!}, but it turned out perfectly! The sand in Pensacola was significantly harder for Shelby to walk on than our Biloxi sand for whatever reason, so since she had so much trouble walking around she just decided to plop down in my lap. She just stayed in my lap and played in the sand for over an hour until it was time to go inside for lunch & nap. Shelby never wants to sit my lap for any extended period of time anymore, so it was a nice {relaxing} change of pace! Now the going inside for lunch & nap part--not so wonderful or relaxing..ha! Let's just say it is NOT easy to de-sand yourself, a squirming 30-something pound toddler, and all of the beach toys and then tote it all upstairs by yourself. I'm sure I was quite the sight. :) But thankfully, Shelby was pretty cooperative!
Saturday evening was a lot of fun. We went to a family-friendly beach-front restaurant with some of our friends. It was a nice contrast from our dinner on Friday evening...much more laid-back and low-key. And it was nice not having to worry about if the kiddos got loud..since we were literally sitting right on the beach, the waves drowned out the noise. ;) AND, there was a playground for the kiddos to play on right near our table...it was perfect! Here's a picture I snagged from my friend Angela of all of us at dinner :)
Another fun part of our weekend in Pensacola was the fact that we were staying in the same hotel as a lot of our good friends. Derek was exhausted Friday night, so he went to bed at the same time Miss Shelby did...but I went up to a friend's hotel room and we just sat on their balcony, sipped wine, and chit-chatted. It was so nice! Then on Saturday night, Derek hung out with a few guys on our balcony while I was up on my friend's balcony with the girls. It was delightful to be able to have some fun adult time without having to get a babysitter..ha! ;)
Just for funsies--if you go to {THIS} post, you can read about our trip to Pensacola last year for Derek's Resident Retreat. It always amazes me to see the differences in Shelby!
Okay, now that we have Pensacola out of the way...on to this past weekend! Derek was on call Friday and had to go into the hospital for a couple of hours on Saturday & Sunday mornings, but we pretty much spent the rest of our time outdoors or with friends! It was a fun, low-key weekend for us! On Saturday, we did a little planting. Since living in Biloxi, we have only planted petunias and pansies in our flower beds. But we decided to give bulbs a try this year. We planted gladiolas & day lilies...we are excited to see how they turn out! On Sunday, Derek cut the yard & fertilized. Shelby LOVED all of the outside time while we worked in the yard. She played with the hose, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, dirt, and we even broke out the baby pool for the first time this year! Shelby played so hard outside that we had to take a bath before nap both days this weekend..ha!
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| Did you notice how WET her shirt is?! Shelby definitely had fun playing with the hose! ;) |
Derek got home around 8:30 on Friday evening, and we spent a couple hours on our friends'/neighbors' (it is SO nice having great friends within walking distance!!) front porch while our kiddos were snoozing. It was such a fun night! On Saturday evening, we went over to a friend's house in Gulfport for Cinco de Mayo. And on Sunday evening we had a couple of friends over for pizza.
We had the perfect mix of productivity, quality family time, and socialization this weekend! Hope you had a great weekend, too! :)
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