Aahh... finally, a trip to the beach!

This past weekend was packed with travel, holidays, birthdays and fun.  On Thursday afternoon we headed down to Mobile for Passover.  Hannah slept most of the way, so Jason got to listen to his book on tape while I read with Dooley sitting in my lap.  We got there and Nana was getting dinner ready.  Hannah played outside with Aunt Mara, Uncle Phillip, Uncle Robert and the three doggies.  She was having so much fun running around the patio.  Later we sat down to a nice seder, and Hannah did ok.  She lost patience towards the end, but overall did well.  We had a yummy meal of gefilte fish, matzo ball soup, brisket, spinach casserole, potato casserole (my all time fav), apple casserole, and cheesecake and chocolate cake for dessert.  Needless to say we were all stuffed!  Friday morning we hung out with the fam and then got in the car to head to New Orleans.  We had lunch at Lucy's in New Orleans and then met Gigi and Pops at their hotel.  Jason, Hannah, Gigi and I walked down to Jackson Square to let Hannah run around, drank yummy daiquiris, and went back to the hotel.  We took a cab to the Pat O'Brien's on the River where the party was taking place.  We were the first to arrive, so Hannah got to run around and play with all of the balloons (by far her favorite part of the evening).  Scott showed up around 8:30 and was "surprised" to see all of his friends and family gathered for a 30th birthday party.  We left the party around 10pm and got in the car (again... ugh) to drive down to the beach.  I fought to stay awake, but didn't even make it to Slidell before I fell asleep.  We got to the condo around 1:15am and got the car packed and Hannah back down to sleep.  Sunday morning we woke up to a gorgeous day!  Jason walked over to the beach to get our tent and chairs set up while I fed Hannah breakfast and got her greased up with suntan lotion.  We walked over to the beach around 9am.  Keep in mind this was Hannah's first sand experience.  We went to the beach last year but never took her to the sand, only the pool.  As soon as we walked off of the stairs and into the sand she started crying; and I was holding her!  I think she was crying because she saw the water, and, thanks to her swimming lessons, is now afraid of all water (bath, pool, gulf, etc.).  So I carried her down to where our tent was set up and sat down in her tent with her.  I played with her bucket and shovel, and after about 10 minutes she was having a great time.  She loved making Mommy and Daddy fill her bucket up with water and now says wawa.  She would walk about halfway to the water, the safe zone, and dance with excitement while she waited for the return of her bucket.  She had so much fun, and it was so fun to watch.  We spent about 2 1/2 hours out there before we headed back for lunch.  Just as we were coming back to the condo Nana arrived with Dooley to spend the afternoon with us.  She took us to a delicious lunch at Cobalt, and then spent the afternoon with me on the porch while Hannah napped and Jason went back to the beach.  Hannah woke up around 3:30 and played with Nana for a little bit before she had to head back to Mobile.  That afternoon we went back over to the beach for a little bit more sand and sun, and then came back to cook dinner.  Sunday morning was beautiful so we thought we were going to get another great day at the beach.  Unfortunately, it was ridiculously windy, so we could only stand to be out there for an hour before we gave up.  We went back and cleaned up, packed up and had lunch before leaving to head back to Birmingham.  We stopped at the Strawberry Festival on the way home... total waste of time, and made it back to Birmingham around 6:30pm.  Although busy, we had a great weekend full of fun and lasting memories.  Below are a few pictures.  I do have more on my video camera so I will upload those later.

Hannah and her Pop on the balcony at Pat O'Brien's on the River.

Hannah met the Easter Bunny at Uncle Scott's birthday party!  Despite the look on her face she was actually not scared.  She wanted to touch the bunny's nose.
Enjoying a beautiful afternoon at Jackson Square.
Of course, she looks at the camera when I'm not in the picture!
My cutie-pie!
Aunt Mara taught Hannah how to throw ice at the dogs.
Hannah wanted to get in the doggie cage.  She cried when I took her out!
Hannah was marching around Jackson Square.  This is the little walk/dance move she does when she is really happy and/or we let her roam free.
Jason found himself a hiding spot when we were playing in Jackson Square.  This picture is actually taken from pretty far away!

I took the picture above on our way out of the parking lot in New Orleans.  She fell asleep immediately and slept the entire car ride to the beach.



Daddy's empty beer bottle makes a great toy!  I took this one for you Jason!
It was so windy on Sunday that Hannah couldn't walk straight!  You can tell by her hair that the wind was blowing!