Joey's First Road Trip

A couple of weeks ago Gibby was able to arrange his schedule in a way that he had 5 days off in a row. So, of course, we jumped on the road for our first real road trip with Joey. I think I packed half of the house! We went to visit Gibby's sister and family, including our favorite nephew Tucker. We had a great time with them and the boys got to play together for the first time. We always love playing with Tucker too, especially Gibby. Tucker got thrown into the air a lot! Joey absolutely fell in love with Uncle Rob, which did not make Tucker happy at all. Every time Rob held Joey, Tucker would immediately drop what he was doing and go to Rob saying, "Daddy hold me, Daddy hold me." While we were there, Brittany (who is a great and ever improving photographer), took my most recent favorite picture of Joey. After a night at the Lightfoot's we headed to Gulf Shores for a couple of days. This was my first trip to Gulf Shores since my family has always had a place in Seagrove, FL. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip. It was nice to be somewhere different, but we did miss our smoked tuna dip from Cocoon's in Seagrove. Unfortunately the few days we were there was during the last cold snap of the year, so we made one trip to the beach and one trip to the pool. Gibby and I both froze in the pool, but Joey seemed to handle it well. He did really well at the beach too. I think the sound was soothing to him as he seemed to be super chilled out the whole time we were on the beach. I used to play an ocean sound for him during naps some times, so I think that had something to do with it. We put his feet in the sand and tide. Eventually was walking into the waves. He seemed to like being in the water. I guess he might get that from his parents. ;-)
On our last night of the trip we got a special treat. We got to hang out with our good friend Daniel Hubbard! He lives in Atmore and so came to dinner with us and ended up staying until about midnight. Unfortunately he had to drive home, write a couple of finals, and then teach in the morning. I guess he must like us a little b/c he said it was worth it. We always have a great time hanging out and talking with Daniel. We wished he lived closer.
This trip was a much needed break from life and thanks to Gibby's Mom and her friend Dee Dee Nolan, it was really cheap. So, thanks to both of them! Overall, Joey did very well on the trip. He had some trouble with sleep in the beginning and rebelled a little over food after we got home (he would only eat sweet potatoes with cinnamon). I think that is pretty good considering how long we were gone and how much we were in the car! It's nice to know that he'll be a good road tripper like his parents!