We took our first trip to Pensacola recently to visit my family. We have taken road trips with Emory a few times, but nothing over four hours. This trip to Pensacola was going to take about 7 hours. We decided to leave Thursday night and planned on staying the night in Birmingham. Once we got to Birmingham Emory was just about to fall asleep....so we decided to go ahead and drive through to Pensacola. I was tired, but it was SO worth it! She slept most of the way, and it was much easier to travel with a sleeping baby. We arrived about 11:00, unpacked the car, and put Emory to bed.
Friday we spent the day in the pool. I was interested to see how Emory would react in the big pool. The one time we tried to put her in the baby pool she hated it, but we think the water was a little cold for her. This time she actually LOVED the pool! She loved to splash her hands in the water and kick her feet (although she wasn't too thrilled when she would splash water into her eyes). My mom bought the neatest little float for her. She had a great time in the water!
Friday afternoon we took Sage to the dog beach. It's a portion of beach that they have fenced in so the dogs can run around and swim in the water. Sage has so much fun when we take her there! She's getting much better at the whole swimming thing.
Saturday we were going to try and make it out to the beach. I wanted to see what Emory would think about the sand. We wanted to get out there before 10:00, after that it would be too hot for Emory. We put Emory down for what I thought would be a quick nap...she usually doesn't sleep long for her morning naps. So of course the one time that I don't want her to sleep long she takes almost a 2 hour nap! By the time she woke up it was already getting too hot for the beach. We decided to go downtown to Seville Quarter and have some breakfast. My parents., my bother, Martin, Emory, Sage, and me all headed downtown. After breakfast we walked around the market, and then we decided to take Sage back to dog beach. While Sage played on the beach we set up a blanket in the shade for Emory. It was a beautiful morning. That afternoon one of my best friends from high school brought her daughter over to meet Emory. Emma is my friend Jenny's daughter and she is about 4 months old. Emory and Emma had a great time! Emma had a big bow in her hair, and Emory was trying her hardest to rip it out! Jenny handed both of the girls to Martin so we could get a picture of them together. As soon as Martin took Emma she started crying, Emory looked over at Emma crying and thought, "hey if you are going to cry so am I!". So they both cried together. They had a great time meeting each other, and I am SO glad Jenny took the time to come see us. That afternoon we got back in the pool and hung out around the house.
 |
| Emma and Emory |
Sunday Emory finally got the meet most of my family. My Uncle Tim, Aunt Denise, cousin Chris, cousin Cameron, Uncle Mark, Aunt Roberta, and grandma Bockie all came over to meet Emory. Also, our family friends Eddie and Mindy came to meet her. It rained the entire day, but that's ok, because everyone got to spend lots of time with Emory. Emory did really well around everyone. She was happy and entertained, and she especially liked my cousin Cameron. We decided to leave that night and head to Birmingham. We figured it would be easier to break the drive up a little bit. We got to Birmingham around 9:00 and stayed at my friend Katie's house. Thank you Katie! It was so nice to have a place to stay with a baby and a dog! We woke up early the next morning and finished our trip home to Nashville.
 |
| Emory's Uncle Kevin |
 |
| Emory and my Uncle Tim |
 |
| Emory and my cousin Cameron |
Emory's first trip to Pensacola was a success...except for the fact that we never made it to the beach. I'm so glad that she finally got to meet most of my family. We are planning another trip in September, and this time she will get to check out the sand!
