Pensacola 2012 - Days 1 and 2

Here we go.  Over a month late, but who's counting anyway?  

Our Pensacola trip that I've been talking about for ohhh....way too long.  It all started back in July when we decided that we needed to have a family vacation this year since we weren't taking one over the summer like usual.  Instead Jer took me to Austin for our anniversary while the bambino stayed behind for 2 nights.  

We decided on Pensacola.  It looked nice and we'd heard great things about it and we got a pretty awesome deal on a pretty awesome hotel.  Plus, it was in the US of A with only an hour and a half flight.  Perfect when taking a toddler.  A 2 year old to be exact.  :)

Ya see....we decided that our family trip would be during the week that Mr. Boston turned 2 years old.  That's right, we would spend his actual birthday on the b-e-a-c-h!  His first time to ever really enjoy the beach and all the fun that comes with it.  We went to Santa Cruz beach last year when he was 9 months old, but he didn't really get the full effect/experience of the beach scene.  So that doesn't count in our book.

We left on Sunday, September 30th and was planning on coming back Thursday but lucky for us Jer ended up getting an extension (from the other side) for a trial that he would have started that next Monday (yeah, I called him crazy too) so we were able to extend our vacation through Saturday evening.  You could say I was fist pumping/raising the roof/doing the happy dance when we got the news.  

Too many days on vacation equals too many photos so we've had to split up our posts into days.  My apologies for the 300 photos to come over the course of this week (yup, we're finally going to get it all out in the open this week!).  You're just lucky I won't be posting all 1400 that I actually took while on our trip.  And sorting through those 1400 photos... was pain in my rear.

To start, we have: 

Day 1 - the flight, our arrival and Boston's first time to get a glimpse at the beach/sand/water

Day 2 - our trip to the air museum, lighthouse and Fort Barrancas.

It's our obligatory "look we've just been dropped off at the airport, let's take our first official picture" photo.  

Fascinated to say the least.

Ready for take off with sucker in hand/mouth.  He hasn't gotten the concept of "sucking" on a sucker.  He thinks biting and chewing them are more fun.  It was gone in a flash....before we even started to actually get off the ground.

Flying there....Boston was able to be a lap child since he wasn't 2 years yet.  So Jer and I shared lap-child duty throughout the flight.  

DVD player + Open Season (his favorite video) = a life saver on our flights.  

Descending and about to land.  

Leading the way, of course.  

No nap on the flight meant a nap on the ride to the hotel.  Cutest little traveler ever.

Water!  Ahhh....we made it.

Deuce.

Our hotel room wasn't quite ready for us when we arrived so we took the time to take a drive along the ocean and made stop at a local burger joint for lunch.  They always have the best most greasiest food.  

Our bellhop doing what he does.  Using his mad organizing skills.  We couldn't possibly take two trips-so he has to fit it all on the cart or on the stroller.

We wasted no time in checking in, unloading and heading out to the beach behind our hotel.  I couldn't wait to get those little Boston feet and toes on the sand and in the water.  

He wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first.  But after many steps, a couple of minutes and some enthusiastic cheering from momma - it was all good.  

It was a little overcast that day but it was still amazingly beautiful.  Never did I think that the Gulf of Mexico could be so pretty.  And in that region it is.  I give it an A+.

I assure you I'm not pregnant.  Just belly fat and high winds.  :)

Our view from our balcony the next morning.  

The next morning we let daddy sleep in a little and we went out on the balcony and had some mother-son time.  He was thrilled about being out there.  He would stand up by the rail, watch people down by the pool (even at 7:30 in the morning) and watch and hear the waves of the ocean crash.  Those moments were so peaceful.  There was hardly any talking between the two of us and he would often yawn but he was taking it all in.  It was all so brand new to him and I didn't want to interrupt him.  It felt kinda like a dream but it was real life.  :)

It became our morning ritual.  And a ritual that I miss dearly.  

Later that day (our first actual full day there) we hit up the air museum on Naval Air Station Pensacola.  With Jer being an aviation lover, it was a must that we take Boston to see the airplanes.    

These two - leading the way.  Like they owned the place.

Inside the museum they had a flight simulator that you get into and are able to "semi" experience what it would be like to be flying in a jet airplane on a mission shooting missiles.  Out of the  3  2 of us, I opted to be the one to try it out.  While standing in line, I look over and Jer's got the camera pointed at me.  ha.  Hii!

Before we left, we decided to try out the little restaurant that was in the museum.  Not a fan of the food.  But it beat leaving with a hungry toddler in search of somewhere to eat.  

As we were driving through the naval base, we saw a dirt road entrance to a lighthouse and we thought it'd be cool to take B up in one.  However, you had to be 42 inches tall.  So we let Jer go up and take some pictures for us while I stayed on the ground with B to let him burn off more energy.

After we left the lighthouse, we saw sign for Fort Barrancas.  I'd never been to a fort and we thought B might like it so we stopped and meandered around all by ourselves.  I must say parts of it were a little creepy being in there all alone.  But it was pretty neat, nonetheless.

We ended our day around 5, ordered some take-out and got ready for the next day.  A day that had something to do with Boston turning TWO!

In the end - this day was awesome.  And there's more to come.

Next up: a whole post devoted to his special day.  :)