Trip to Fairhope-Part 1

*Warning: Long Post. Picture overload.  Guess this one makes up for the lack of pictures on the previous post.  

A few weekends ago we headed to Fairhope, Alabama for one of my good friends wedding.  We were so excited that they were getting married right down the street from where my brother and his family live.  That meant we got to squeeze a little extra play time with my sweet nephew and niece.  It had been almost 7 months since I had seen them. 

We got up early Saturday morning and headed down.  Since we had a couple of hours before the wedding, we went by my brother's house to hang out.  They were so excited to see each other. 

 They live about a block away from a big pier and beachy area of the bay.  We decided to take a walk down there to let Mary Hyatt put her toes in the sand.

 Just to give you a glimpse of two year old drama.... this queen bee had a tiny fit before we left because she wanted to "walk" like Abby.  Since we had to cross a semi-busy street, I wouldn't let her.  She let us all know how unhappy she was about it..

But literally, about 2 minutes later, we made it to the sand and I took her out and put her down in it.  She instantly changed to the most geniune, joyful face.  haha Typical life of a two (almost) year old...

She seriously didn't know what to think. She has seen the sand a couple of times before, but I think this is the really the first time that she was truly able to grasp what was going on.  She LOVED it.

She seriously couldn't get enough!  It was so much fun to watch her. 

Cole on the other hand, was not a big fan.  He is about 14 ish months old.  He tolerated it, but definitely wasn't all smiles. haha but isn't he cute?

Abby was happy as always to be at the beach.  She is always such a happy little girl.  Love her.

We didn't have Mary Hyatt's bathing suit with us, but that didn't stop her.  She was in the water in no time and loving it.

I don't know why, but for some reason I didn't expect her to love swimming as much as she did.  She was seriously fearless.  She did not want either Ben or me to help her. She wasn't to do everything big cousin Abby was doing.

She literally wanted to swim, full body in the water. It was actually pretty tough for Ben and I to control her haha.  She tried as hard as she could to get away and "swim."  No fear, Period.

When we tried to pick her up or move her towards the shallow part, she would lay her whole body down in the water haha.

Pure joy.

She kept wanting to go deeper and deeper.

Do you think she liked it?

Abby was having so much fun too.  I couldn't believe how old she seemed.  Such a big girl.  Can't believe this pretty girl is going to start Kindergarten this year. Tear. :( 

She loved playing in the sand and burying her whole body.

Abby and Mary Hyatt had fun walking along some of the giant pieces of drift wood.  Abby was such a sweet big cousin.  She acted like such a little "mama" to Mary Hyatt; making sure she was extra careful and safe. Such a sweet heart.

Before long, two hours had passed and we were getting close to wedding time.  We had to tell the kiddos goodbye and head to our hotel so that Mary Hyatt could grab a quick nap and I could shower. 

By the time we got checked in and everything, we only had about an hour before the wedding started.  Mary Hyatt went right to sleep and I started getting ready.  We decided not to wake MH up for the wedding because we knew she had a late night ahead of her and we needed her to be in good spirits.  Ben decided to skip the actual wedding ceremony to stay with her and I went by myself.  It worked out nicely because our room was in walking distance to the ceremony. It was a gorgeous wedding.  It was held at The Grand Resort in Fairhope.

After the ceremony, I walked back up to the room to meet Ben and MH to head to the reception.  We snapped a quick picture on the way.

As we were walking we passed a few ducks and I let Mary Hyatt down to look at them.  Literally two seconds after this picture one of the ducks charged after Mary Hyatt and started pecking at her, to which I frantically started grabbing her and screaming, which led the duck to peck at me. After the fact, Ben and I couldn't stop laughing, but in the moment I was freaking out! haha

The reception was held right at the point of the resort which overlooked the bay.  It was absolutely gorgeous watching the sunset. 

 We mingled, danced, ate and watched the beautiful bride and groom celebrate their marriage.

We left around 9 o'clock and even though it was late, we still decided to swing by and pick up Abby to come spend the night with us in the hotel.  The girls really had so much fun playing together before bed. 

 The sat on the floor at the end of the bed, while Ben and I sat on the bed, and played for about 10 minutes. I couldn't get over how cute and sweet they were being.  They were interacting and truly playing.  It was precious.

 But, since it was late, we had to cut the playing short and get the girls to bed.  The next morning they woke up ready to play again!

 It was so much fun.

 Mary Hyatt cracked me up as she put on my heels from the night before and walked around the room.  She could almost walk better in them than I can!

Stay tuned for Part 2