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| Can you even imagine??? P.S. - That's Kate Gosselin on the right. |
And my belly is a bit jelly-rific. Not nearly as firm and taught as the first time around. More like squishy-squishy-chicken-dinner (winner winner!). But at least there's a baby in there. And at least that part's just going to become more and more obvious. Because when there is NO DOUBT in anyone's mind that you are with child, then you could really give a rat's ass about love handles and chub and shoveling food into your face in obscene quantities. It's quite nice, actually. So are comfy, stretchy clothes.
My little punkin' now has two teeth front and center! They're still very small as they just broke through the skin the past week or so, but they're on the up and up! And thank goodness the second one finally broke through two days ago.....it took longer than the first one, and you could tell on that last day that Delano's gums were really sore. Poor little guy!
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| Mmmmm....orange! |
So the past few weeks I've been thinking about what I want to do for our 1-year wedding anniversary. Since Lucas and I eloped at the courthouse this past May, I figured we would definitely have a vow renewal ceremony of some sort, so that family could be there and that I could actually go shopping for a wedding dress (yay!). I tossed around some ideas......one was to go all out with a wedding and reception, as if it were the first time. Another idea was just to rent a space and have a big party ("reception") for everybody to attend in honor of the one year mark. The third idea was to do something destination-oriented, like on a beach or in a cool historic building. Lucas said he was fine with whatever route we went with, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go with something out of town.
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| This isn't the plan, but that's gorgeous all the same! |
We wanted the destination to be within driving distance, since we'll have two kids to deal with. Plus we wanted family to come, and also any friends who might decide to make a trip out of it as well. After tossing around a couple of location ideas, we decided on the Destin, Florida area. For a lot of people in Chattanooga, the Florida panhandle is the standard spring/summer beach trip destination, because it's not that far away (6-7 hours). But neither Lucas nor I have actually ever vacationed there! I take that back. I used to travel to the panhandle ALL the time for work (it was my favorite thing to do), and once Lucas and I made a long weekend trip out of one of my work projects to Navarre. And a few years before that, Leah came to visit me while I was working in the panhandle (in Appalachicola) and she and I spent the weekend lounging on St. George Island. But we've never vacationed in Destin.
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| Emerald Coast, we're coming for you! |
I know that next May is 10 months away, but I figured that we'd probably need to go ahead and book a place to stay so that we at least wouldn't have to worry about that part down the road. And since we opted to put all the family in one place (if possible), I needed to look at some big ass houses.
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| Ok, just kidding......not THAT big. |
I went to the Vacation Rentals By Owner (VRBO) website to browse their listings, and after looking at loads and loads of houses, with most having not enough bedrooms, or having enough bedrooms but too many bedrooms with bunk beds, or being WAY too expensive, or having minimum night stays of 7 nights or longer, I came across one that was PERFECT for the whole family: Banana Wind.
Banana Wind was perfect. 3 stories, 7 bedrooms (only one with bunk beds), 6 bathrooms, awesome balconies, a pool, and a hop and a skip to the beach. I was SOLD. I emailed the property manager to make sure it was available for our 5-day trip in May, and it was. Friday morning, I called the property manager to ask for a breakdown of the fees (which she provided) and the payment requirements (which she also provided). She asked me if I wanted to go ahead and book it. Since I was breastfeeding Delano and my wallet was across the room, I told her I'd call her back that afternoon to book. About seven hours later, I called back.
SOMEONE ELSE HAD BOOKED IT THAT DAY FOR OUR WEEK. Crazy, eh?
She first asked if our dates were flexible (no) so she looked at her other rentals and said she had ONE other property in Miramar Beach that would fit our needs (at least 6 beds full size or above) called Bella Rosa.
It's fabulous. 3 stories (with a 4th story roof balcony), 7 bedrooms (NO twin beds at all), 8 bathrooms, two kitchens, two laundry rooms, a pool, and a hop and a skip to a private beach. It's also located within a gated community called Maravilla Shores with additional amenities such as kayak and paddle board rentals. My friends Joe and Jennifer said they stay in Maravilla Shores every year and that the beach is gorgeous. So it looks like we really lucked out!!
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| Bring it on, Bella Rosa! |
When the property manager asked me if I wanted to book it, I was like YES DO IT NOW HURRY QUICK THERE'S NO TIME so it is officially booked!! We are ready for action!
Now that the location is taken care of, there is PLENTY of time for the other details of the trip. Plenty of time to pick out a dress (which won't happen until after Baby #2 is born), plenty of time to pick out the ceremony package and plenty of time to find a great restaurant for the afterparty. I also have plenty of time to decide if I want to send out invitations or keep it to just the family. I know that most people probably wouldn't be able to come with it being in Florida, but there may be a few people who would decide to make a little vacation out of it, since they'd have a "reason" to go to the beach. I mean, seriously.....who doesn't want a legit excuse to go to the beach??? :)
So pumped!!!
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