I know, it has been a loooong time since I posted anything. I meant to do a quick post before we left for vacation, but you know how that goes…To make up for it, I posted the picture above first – isn’t she just adorable? As you will learn below, this picture is from the end of our trip at the Bla Bla store (where she acquired her new “baby” bla bla). Plus, the gobs of pictures below should also help pacify the grandparents. 
We had a WONDERFUL vacation. It was quite busy, and Jason is currently napping on the couch to recover from a cold he apparently caught, but we all had a great time. We started our trip last Saturday (the 19th) by driving down to Atlanta, partially to break up the trip and partially to take Brianna to the fabulous Georgia Aquarium. We arrived in downtown Atlanta just in time for the UF vs. Tennessee game (yay Gators!). After Brianna had a nap and after the game, we walked over to Ted’s Montana Grill and tried bison – it was yummy! Here is the view of downtown/Centennial Park from our hotel room.
We stayed at the Embassy Suites right down the street from the Aquarium so we could maximize our Aquarium time between Brianna’s naps. The hotel also happens to be right next to Centennial Park – Brianna loved walking around (despite the drizzle) and looking at the fountains (there was one in the park and one in the hotel).
After we checked out of our hotel and loaded up our car (amazing how much stuff she needed for this trip…) we headed over to the Aquarium. I don’t have many pictures as I mostly shot flip video (it may take a while to make the movies, but I promise I am working on it) and I haven’t looked at all the pics Jason took. But, here are a couple.
These pictures don’t even begin to do this place justice. It was FANTASTIC. Brianna loved the water tunnel the best. It is an underwater tunnel roughly 50 yards long with glass/plastic walls where you are surrounded by all kinds of fish, sharks, rays, etc., peacefully swimming next to you, over your head, etc. I think she would have stayed in there for days if we had let her. She also liked walking through the various other little tunnels (much to my back’s dismay) to peak up into various other fish tanks. To those who have never been, I highly recommend it!
Next we drove down to Havana to visit with Jason’s folks. Brianna loves dogs, but generally only from a distance. But Koda, Tia’s dog, seems to have cured her of this problem.
It took her a while, but eventually she became quite comfortable around this very animated puppy. Fortunately, she seemed to remember her positive experience during the rest of our trip, as she encountered other dogs on our trip, and seemed quite comfortable with them as well.
While in the Tally area, we took Brianna to the Jr. Museum, which is really a zoo.
She walked all over the place an looked at the animals. I think she liked the otters best, and maybe the panthers. Here are a few of the beautiful animals we saw that day (again, most of my stuff is on the Flip).
After leaving the Tally area, we headed to Seaside for a family beach day/night. Brianna was still a little skittish around the water (or lello as she calls it), like she was with the Atlantic, but it was better. She even let us hold her while we stood in the water, and she walked along the beach some herself. We stayed at a perfect little beach cottage, had a lovely dinner at Bud & Alley’s Pizza, spent some sunset/dusk time and some early morning time down at the beach, and strolled around Seaside. It was wonderful! I would not mind one bit if that became a family tradition. If it wasn’t so ridiculously expensive, I would buy myself a little Seaside beach cottage… Here are some photos of our time at Seaside.
Jason and Brianna have the same reaction to sand…
I think she looks a lot like Alivia in this picture.
After Seaside, we headed to my folk’s house in Fort Walton Beach. We had a wonderful time visiting with Mimi and Djadju, visiting with old friends at Jason’s reunion, and just generally enjoying being “home.” While there, Brianna got to meet her Djadju (grandpa in polish) and her Great-Grandmom.
She was fascinated by the family bird, Chico. While he wasn’t much interested in visiting with her, she just LOVED watching Chico!
Of course, we also went to the beach here as well…By the end of the trip she even let me dip her up and down in the water. Definite progress if you ask me!
One day we also went to the local mall and Brianna rode the merry-go-round (again on the Flip) and played on the indoor playground. But the best of all was the real life arcade! She loved it!! All those flashing lights and bright colors…she hardly knew where to start.
Sunday morning we met up with the Jowers for breakfast and then headed to Atlanta, partially to break up the trip and partially to visit the Sloans (my college roommate and her family). Unfortunately, I had a brain freeze and completely forgot to take any pictures of either the Jowers or the Sloans! 
Hopefully we will get to see them again soon.
Right before we headed home, we stopped at the Bla Bla store, which is conveniently located in Atlanta. Brianna was so excited to see all the Bla Blas, especially the giant Bla Bla.
It was hard to choose…
but, she ultimately picked out a small pink Bla Bla for herself (which she calls Bla Bla baby or baby Bla Bla, depending on her mood).
Jason also picked out a puppy Bla Bla, which is the green one in the picture below (we are still contemplating a name – any suggestions?). Then, finally we headed home. I think she likes her new Bla Blas, don’t you?
We had a wonderful trip! Jason even believes Brianna grew while we were gone. She is getting so big. She still won’t nap much in the car, but she is at least fairly calm during the ride. The portable DVD player we have was a lifesaver (she loves the Muppets – my favorite part was when she said “quack, quack” when she saw Big Bird!). Someday soon I am SURE she will realize that sleeping in the car is a fabulous thing!
Our little Sweet Pea celebrated her 17-month birthday in Florida Gator style! (And the Gators were kind enough to rout Charleston Southern as expected).
She is growing and changing so fast, it is getting hard to keep up (literally and figuratively)! She still likes to spend as little time as possible on the changing pad, so we generally take care of diapers quickly and then move her to the floor to get her dressed. This generally results in “the clothing escapades.” All this doesn’t take much time, and it is really quite fun – lots of giggles and hide-and-seek/peek-a-boo games. First, the pants, bottoms, or in this case, adorable UF panties go on.
Then, we generally move onto another part of the house to put on her top (at times, this includes the chase around the living room with her top half on and half off). And then to still another spot to put on socks and shoes (yes, this is another UF outfit – she wore it the day before the big opening day game).
Brianna’s vocabulary seemingly changes daily. In addition to new words (e.g., snacks (nax), yogurt (gogur), boo-boo (depending on context, either means boo-boo or blueberries), gator (goo-goo), soap (do), frittata (eetata), cookie (coo-coo), car, etc.), she also has some phrases (e.g., what’s that (ishat), this is (ishis), big pooh (for her big Pooh Bear), Mommy go, bye-bye meow, etc. She is also starting to move faster on her feet, which has resulted in many falls and a seemingly permanent scrape on one or both knees at any given time (look closely at her right knee in picture below).
She eats really well still and has three new teeth (working on a fourth, which will bring her total up to 16 teeth). We have started introducing more new foods and have started feeding her some of our “normal” food. She loves spaghetti (so far any variation will do), smoothies, and frittata in addition to the old favorites of peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, yogurt, yogurt puffs, crackers, and cheese. In general, though, her favorite thing is whatever I am eating. As you can see below, I took a smoothie to the park last week, and she drank (I kid you not) almost half, and refused to let go even to climb the stairs! So much for Mommy’s lunch…
She loves animals and loves making her animal sounds, but generally she wants all animals (except her kitties) to keep their distance. Meaning, she loves to say pup-pup, and point at the pup-pup, and clap at the pup-pup, but she does NOT want the pup-pup within 20 feet of her, even the tiny ones.
This last picture I included because I just loved her expression – don’t mess with her Bla Bla!
