One of these friends is my dear "sister" Ashlee whom I just had the chance to spend time with again for the 3rd time recently. She lives in Alabama and with me in Pennsylvania, well, there is no way to do a day trip unfortunately via driving so we have to rely on flying. She came across my blog several years ago, we emailed for quite awhile then started texting every day. She has a son who is exactly 4 weeks younger than Ava so we got to walk with each other during our pregnancies.
Ava & I finally flew down to meet and stay with her in February of 2014. It was so great to be able to finally meet and talk face to face!
Then this past Christmas, I won a contest that gave Ashlee a plane ticket to fly up and stay with us! This was her first time flying and being this far north.
I had some air miles to use and wanted to fly down to see her before Ava turned 2 (since she was able to fly free) so we flew down to stay with Ashlee this past May.
Because the weather was warmer this visit, we even went and spent the day at the beach. It was my first time being in the gulf (and she is SO lucky to only live an hour from the beach!)
I also got to experience my first Frogmore stew and I was in LOVE!!!! For those wondering what it is, it's a crawfish, shrimp, sausage, potato & corn boil (meaning everything is cooked together in one big pot with this kicking seasoning). The seafood was caught fresh THE DAY we had it, amazing! I had never had such fresh seafood before (nor had I ever tried crawfish before). I hope to try my hand at making this sometime as I know my kids would enjoy it.
I also had grits for the first time as well and promptly came home and bought some to make for my kids.
Then this past Christmas, I won a contest that gave Ashlee a plane ticket to fly up and stay with us! This was her first time flying and being this far north.
I had some air miles to use and wanted to fly down to see her before Ava turned 2 (since she was able to fly free) so we flew down to stay with Ashlee this past May.
Because we had a 5:40am flight, Ava and I went and stayed at a hotel near the airport the night before. Here she is enjoying a cookie before going to bed,
Headed to her house after flying into Pensacola, Florida
When we got to their home, Ashlee had a Mickey & Minnie balloon for each of them to play with. They spent SO much time batting them around and those suckers were still standing when we left!
Outside water fun and eating a snack!
Because the weather was warmer this visit, we even went and spent the day at the beach. It was my first time being in the gulf (and she is SO lucky to only live an hour from the beach!)
The sign says Florida to the left & Mississippi to the right. Bottom left pic is Ava chilling and eating a snack while CJ on the right is passed out asleep!
I also got to experience my first Frogmore stew and I was in LOVE!!!! For those wondering what it is, it's a crawfish, shrimp, sausage, potato & corn boil (meaning everything is cooked together in one big pot with this kicking seasoning). The seafood was caught fresh THE DAY we had it, amazing! I had never had such fresh seafood before (nor had I ever tried crawfish before). I hope to try my hand at making this sometime as I know my kids would enjoy it.
I also had grits for the first time as well and promptly came home and bought some to make for my kids.
Sitting in the wagon together and a cart at Target. A funny story, Ava NEVER took a pacifier before but when she saw CJ with one, she had to steel one of his to use while we were there, silly girl!
Ava loves wrestling with her sister so she had to do so with CJ. And they enjoyed playing with the Kindle together.
Because both their 2nd birthdays were coming up and they wouldn't get to celebrate together, we tried to do a birthday photo of them together. CJ's party theme is Mickey Mouse so we borrowed his party ears though it was hard to get them to both grin together at the same time (ironically I ended up making Ava a Minnie Mouse cake for her birthday!)
I love this girl and just wished we lived closer together!!
There was only one restaurant in the Pensacola airport and after finding out our flight was delayed, I ordered some fries and thanks to the free wi-fi, I was able to tap into our home tv (through a special app I have) and pulled up Disney to entertain her. The bottom photo was an EMS truck waiting for a patient to exit the flight I was waiting for in Tennessee.
Our flight didn't land till around midnight and we finally pulled into home at 2am. We had a wonderful trip and can't wait to spend time again with Ashlee & CJ!!
February 2014
January 2015
May 2015
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