Beach Trip - Family of 3!

I'm a little behind in the world of blogging.  (What's new, right?) I love to do it, but I have difficulty "keeping up." I know I'm about a month behind, but I'm trying to play catch-up.
We took our first beach trip, as a family of 3 the week after Labor Day.  We has such a good time!  We found out that Justin's cousin, Sherri (whom we LOVE) was going to be down the same time we were going, so we decided to stay at the same place they were.  We went to Kure Beach and stayed at the Sand Dunes Motel.  It was definitely not a 5-star accomodation, but it was clean, convenient, and nicely priced.

We just got a standard ocean front room with (2) beds and a little kitchenette.  Justin and I slept in one bed, Karsyn slept in her pack-n-play, and the extra bed was a catch-all for all of Karsyn's toys.  We were only gone for 4 days, but it seemed like we packed for a month!  Seeing that it was a MOTEL, and not HOTEL, meant NO ELEVATOR!  Poor Justin.  He had to lug everything up and down the stairs everyday.  He did it, with only minimal complaining.  Anything for his girls, right?  All kidding aside, Justin's a good one.  I think I'll  hold on to him.

Here's the back of our Tahoe, PACKED!

The May-Rig all ready to go

Being Karsyn's first beach trip, we wanted her to get the full beach experience.  (How much of an experience can a 9 month old have??)  We did a lot of things, that she probably won't remember, but hopefully our pictures and stories will mean something to her one day.  For example, "Hey, do you remember that time you pooped on the beach and we didn't have an extra diaper??"  At the time, we were in a panic, but now we can laugh about it.
Karsyn experienced many firsts on this trip.  She experienced her first time in the ocean, first time in a pool (not just our blow-up backyard pool), she slept in a tent on the beach, she rode the ferry, ate late-night ice cream, she visited the aquarium, she took her first "aqua-dump", and most importantly(to Justin), she witnessed her Daddy devour 12 plates of crab legs!

Daddy feeding me oatmeal

Hanging out with Cousin Reese after breakfast

She's always been the perfect baby, but even on a roadtrip, away from her bed, she was still so well-mannered, and smiled the WHOLE time!  Justin and I really are blessed to have such a wonderful child.  Here are some pics from our trip...

Already asleep, in the driveway at home!

Killing time, reading, like a smart girl

My LIFE.

She LOVED the ocean.  No Fear.

Late-night ice cream makes me silly!

K-O-ed (knocked out) on DA BEACH

Just happy to be here!

The only use this bed got, was for play

at the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher

After one of her several "Aqua-DUMPS"

Still just as happy as can be!

Sitting in the backseat at a Rest Stop, taking a milk break