Eileen's First Beach Trip

Yesterday, we had to come home from the beach...

Because Eileen, Mumsie, Aunt Amy, and I went to Gulf Shores for a few days for Eileen's first beach trip!

The weather was perfect and my baby loves the beach.

Before we left on Tuesday, we celebrated David's 27th Birthday.  

Birthdays are a lot more fun now that our little girl is here to celebrate with us.

Happy Birthday David!

Aunt Amy is on spring break (she's in dental school) and she came to the beach with us.

We dressed Eileen in a perfect beach baby outfit:

Thanks for the adorable dress Megan!

 One of my favorite things about living in Beatrice is that I am less than two hours from the beach.  This is a big change from living in Tennessee (where I grew up)- it used to take us about eight hours to get to the Gulf.

We meandered down to the beach by way of Fairhope so we could deliver some Monroe Sausage.

Amy had neither heard of nor been to Fairhope, so she really enjoyed exploring the adorable town on the bay.  If you haven't ever been, you're missing a lot- it's adorable!

Eileen in her car seat en route to the beach.
She spent a lot of the trip trying to get her ball rattle to fit into her mouth.

 Once we arrived at the beach, Mumsie had some presents for Eileen.  Including some beach baby books.

Mumsie and Eileen
Eileen LOVES books.

 We went to eat at Cobalt on Wednesday night.  Our meal was delicious, and Eileen behaved like a perfect little lady.  Eileen's mom and grandmother and aunt all forgot to take pictures.

Thursday, we woke up to an absolutely perfect day.  Eileen put on the sunsuit that Mumsie and Daddy Dave had given her for Christmas and ventured outside to have a look.

Eileen in her adorable beach clothes

Babies have very sensitive skin, so we brought her back inside once there was no longer any shade in which she could lounge.

Aunt Amy & Eileen

Mumsie and Eileen

 For Eileen's first lunch at the beach, we went to Bahama Bob's, which is located right on the beach.  Delicious!

Next, we went shopping.  Well, Mumsie and I have given up shopping for Lent, so we watched Amy shop.  Amy found so many adorable things... and I was actually able to stick to my Lenten promise not to shop.

After our hard day of shopping, we returned to the beach house to relax.  The beach house is a perfect place to relax.

Eileen is beginning to chew on everything.  David thinks she's turning into a billy goat.

Eileen chewing on her beloved Mallory Monkey

It looks like she is loving the Monkey.
But she's really trying to eat it.

More chewing on the monkey.

 Eileen stopped trying to eat her toy long enough to enjoy the sunset.

After a long day of unwinding, Eileen was exhausted.

We returned home on Friday.  Eileen was so sad to leave the beach, but she was excited to get home and see her daddy. 

It was a perfect beach trip.

And Eileen can't wait to go back!