The busy month of October

Hello friends and family! I feel like its been a while since I blogged and I have missed it dearly! Lots going on in the Banes household this month...

Our brave little girl

Bella needed surgery this month to have tubes inserted in her ears (many, many ear infections) and also to have her adenoids removed (mouth breather, LOUD snorer). Louie and I were very nervous parents taking our daughter in for her first surgery at such a young age, even though we knew she very much needed it. Isabella was awesomely brave - she went back to the O.R. without mommy and daddy and was put to sleep without barley a whimper. She woke up from the anesthesia frightful and erratic, as to be expected, but after it wore off and she got some much needed rest she bounced back surprisingly fast. Now she doesn't snore and can breath with ease - success! Wont' know for a while how the tubes are serving her, but we are hopeful :)

Bella received lots of "get well" goodies and sweet gestures from family and friends including frozen yogurt, delivered flowers with a plush teddy bear, and tickets to see Disney Princesses on ICE!

Baking cookies with Nonna

Making cutout sugar cookies is a past time of my family and we introduced the fun to Bella by making some halloween sugar cookies on Saturday evening. Not only did she make a mess–as expected– but she had a great time sprinkling the "sauce" (she kept calling the flour sauce LOL), rolling the dough, cutting the shapes, and adding sprinkles.

Weekend visit with Aunt Tina

My Godmother Tina came for a visit this past weekend to spend some quality time with Nonnie (her mother) while she is still recuperating from her back surgery. We spent as much time with the two of them as we could. Nonnie is making great progress with her back; she even made it out to mom's house for an afternoon tea!

Annual Banes Pumpkin & Apple Farm Day Trip

This year marks the 10th year that I've been going with Louie and his family up to Ellijay to the various apple orchards and Burt's pumpkin farm. We bought lots of delicious apples and of course picked out our big pumpkin to carve. Its fun to see how amazed Bella was at the size and quantity of pumpkins... her eyes get so big when she saw them all. 

We are ready for halloween! Hope you have a spook-tacular evening! More posts to follow soon :)

Family Vacation - Gulf Shores, AL

Our little family along with my in-laws, niece and nephew traveled to Gulf Shores for a week vacation. We stayed in a relative's home not far from the beach. Louie's two great aunts and grandmother also joined us. We took turns cooking dinners and took several afternoon trips to various places nearby when we weren't at the beach. It was definitely nice to get away from our everyday routine and schedule and the kids had fun together (when they weren't disagreeing with each other LOL). 

Louie and I had never been to Gulf Shores. It was really a nice place to spend a family vacation. Lots of restaurants, shopping, beaches, and family entertainment spots. Our trip was outside of tourist season so I am sure it can get pretty crowded on the beaches during the summer.

The cousins

Father and Sons prepping for their fishing

Our first attempt to hit the beach turned out to be a short visit. The ocean was rough and the shoreline was covered with palm size, purple jellyfish that washed up. I took the opportunity to snap a few pretty photos and then we headed back.

Beautiful scene

These jellies were scattered all over the shore and prevented us all from getting too close to the water

Nana and her older grandbabies

Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo

While the ocean was still rough we took the kids to the zoo and had a wonderful time. This zoo is often called "the Little Zoo that could", but it was the perfect size to spend a few afternoon hours and get to see everything. 

The zoo offered 2 "encounter" activities; the first was 1-on-1 playtime with baby cub tigers (unfortunately you had to be 4 and older), and the second was playtime with lemurs. I was a bit skeptical at first thinking that Bella would be ok with being in a cage with baby lemurs, but as soon as she saw them she told us she wanted to pet them. Louie and Bella along with Kim and Cameron went inside the cage with a trainer and 4 baby lemurs. It was so much fun to see them engage and react to these baby lemurs; they were gentle but a little jumpy. They fed them treats and played with their toys.

I love Bella's face in this photo!

Bella didn't like it when the lemur came up behind her.

Stopping for a quick rest with Grandma Banes

Feeding the goats

The Beach

When the ocean finally let up and calmed down enough to be able to swim  we took the kids to a state park where there was a beach with a fishing pier. Louie, his dad and Wesley fished off the shore while we played in the sand and swam in the ocean with the kids.

Beach Beauty

Making sand castles

Pawpaw in his glory

Deep Sea Fishing

This day was started out good; we got to the dock in time, got what we "thought" were good seats, enjoyed the leisure boat trip out of the inlet.... then it got rough.... really, really rough. Lets just say, the dramamine did NOT work, and now I am taking a long break from eating any bananas. The unfortunate result of the trip and fruit our labor did not bear ANY fish to take home. 

Major. bummer.

Dolphin Tour

My second boat trip was MUCH more pleasant! We all hopped on a pontoon boat and took a two hour tour of the inlet and we got to see a few dolphins in their natural habitat.

Enjoying time with her Aunt Kimmie and Uncle Wesley

Such a beautiful day and a relaxing ride

Night out - sans kids

Mom and dad gave us kids a couple of nights where we could slip away and go enjoy some time at a nearby restaurant and bar called The Hangout. We chatted with our server and found out that in the early summer this place has a huge Music Fest that is always packed out. Several big name bands come from all over to play here on the beach. Louie and I have agreed to check this out one year!

The Last Day

It was another fun day at the beach. We spent most of it in the water because it was a warm day and the ocean was so clear that you could see the fish (and in Louie and Wesley's case, way out, a shark and some sting rays!) at your feet. Bella and Cameron enjoyed some bubble wands that Aunt Geraldine gave them.

We look forward to our next beach vacation...hopefully it will be at a beach, far, far away.... Greece maybe? :)

Family Photo Book

I just got around to designing a book with the photos from our summer family photo shoot - check it out!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly offers exclusive photobook layouts so you can make your book just the way you want.

Currently I am:

1. Back from vacation and tired... you really do need a vacation from your vacation!
2. Gearing up for Bella's first surgery this Thursday. I know she needs the tubes in her ears with all the ear infections she has been getting and the adenoidectomy for the severe congestion... but she is so young and we hate the idea of her going under anesthesia so soon in life. BUT we are thankful that this is a pretty routine surgery so we have faith that she will pull through and be the resilient little girl we know and adore.
3. Catching up at work and on freelance... so much to do - so little time!
4. FREEZING! This cold front needs to go away and bring back the cooler, breezy fall weather I know and enjoy.
5. Looking forward to a visit from my Godmother next weekend.
6. Getting ready to do some fall cooking. This year I will attempt and try to make some spaghetti squash, butternut squash soup, and some pumpkin pastries!
7. Trying to catch up on blogging about our vacation last week and going through the zillions of photos I took.
8. Thinking about the upcoming holidays... where and how we will spend them.
9. Catching up with all our shows and premieres! We have too many favorites: Revolution, Once Upon a Time, TrueBlood, Vampire Diaries, Face Off, Grey's Anatomy, Walking Dead. (Anyone see Park 666 yet?)
10. Organizing a Pintrest Party (Craft Night)... anyone interested?