2014 Summer Vacation {Orlando}

This year’s summer beach vacation with my family started off a bit different than usual. Instead of heading straight to Cocoa Beach, Matt and I road tripped home to Orlando first to spend some time with my family and celebrate my Grandpa’s life.

Mom & Dad’s House

Our little munchkin was a total rock star for the drive down from Charlotte. Barely adding any time to our usual drive, Caroline slept a lot, ate at her scheduled meal times and didn’t really get fussy until the very last 30 minutes. In her defense, she was being a trooper over her impressive poop explosion that we were trying to make it home to take care of. All in all, the ride down was great even though I was cramped in the back seat with Charlie and Caroline.

Saturday afternoon was Grandpa’s memorial service. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful and we had over 100 guests attend to celebrate his life. During the service guests stood up and gave their testimonies about how they were affected by the generosity of both Grandma and Grandpa in their lives. Both my dad and I spoke and we both chose to tell short funny stories about Grandpa. After all, he was such a funny guy and it only seemed appropriate to honor him in that way. Following the ceremony my family hosted everyone over for a big party.

Caroline rocked a bonnet for the first time and was a fan. We have so many 3-6 month dresses with bonnets and I am so glad we got the chance to dress her in one for the service, even if it was a little big.

While in town Caroline got to meet three more of my besties – Aunt Shannon, Aunt Ashley and Aunt Staci.

It was so wonderful spending time with these pretty ladies and they were absolutely smitten over Caroline.

On Monday and Tuesday we shopped, ate lots of yummy food, took naps and read by the pool.

Mom and Dad have a beautiful backyard (Dad’s pride and joy) and with so many babysitters on hand made it easy to relax.

Dad has been working on his backyard for over a decade to get it in prime paradise shape. And now they are empty nested and planning to downsize. I can’t believe I’ve never shared this pretty place with y’all until now!