Girl Time in Jacksonville

Last week, my sister Heather had a couple of consecutive days off and she decided to use them to come up for a little visit. I was so excited to have her here, to show off our new place and to have someone to hang out with while Eric was working during the week. One can only push the Cozy Coupe around on the patio so many times before going a little stir-crazy, you know? I was thankful for the break in our regular routine!

Heather arrived while Ellie was "napping" on Tuesday. Or rather, Ellie was refusing to nap. We were in the process of weaning from her naptime nursing session and it was not going super great. So, Heather helped me stay sane until we decided Ellie officially was not going to nap. Then we got her up, had some lunch and decided to hit the pool.

The pool went much better this time as opposed to the last time when I took Ellie by myself. She seemed to get the hang of walking through the kiddie pool a little better so there were actually no underwater faceplants, which I consider a win. She also was a big fan of the steps up to the bathrooms, which was fun and relaxing for all involved. She did love playing in the pool with Auntie Heather, though!

Raiding Auntie Heather's beach bag

Splash, splash!

Ellie and her Auntie in the kiddie pool

Coolest kid around!

Splashing with Mama!

Love this picture. Love these girls.

That evening, after Ellie was in bed, I made some blackened salmon, rice and corn for dinner and then we drank wine and watched some TV, including the first episode of this season of Dexter, because I AM SO BEHIND. I am ashamed of the state of my Dexter watching this season. I'm frantically trying to catch up now!

On Wednesday, Ellie slept in a bit. When she woke up, we kicked off the morning by doing some reading with Auntie Heather.

She is currently obsessed with her Corduroy lift-the-flap books.

Achilles had to get in on the action!

Then we had breakfast and headed out to the beach. I was excited to show off our beach to Heather, as she is quite the fellow beach bum. Because it was early, the beach was largely deserted and Ellie could chase all the birds her little heart desired. We also played in the sand, looked for seashells, and splashed in the waves.

Chasing birds!

Wet sand is squishy!

Whoa, waves!

Looking for shells with Auntie Heather

Checking out the ocean

She had to step aside to take an important call.

What a beach babe.

My best girls!

We even had a little light lunch on the beach before calling it a day. We ended up spending about two hours there, and it was so nice. I can't ever say a trip to the beach with Ellie is relaxing, exactly, but we had a really nice morning.

When we got back home I put Ellie down for a nap, which she actually took - the first nap she's taken without me nursing her in a very, very long time. Such a grown-up!

When she woke up, we took Heather to see our usual walking path and showed her our turtle lake. Eric left practice early and brought home some pizza for dinner, which Ellie particularly enjoyed. Then it was off to bed for the little one.

Heather agreed to stick around that night to stay home with Ellie while Eric and I went to pick up OUR NEW CAR! Yes, we bought a car, so my days of being stranded at home during the week are over. THANK GOODNESS. I'll share more about the new car in a later post, but I owe Heather many thanks for sticking around so late so we could get that done, because it took FOREVER. It would have been a nightmare to try to do all of that paperwork with Ellie in tow, so she made our lives much, much easier. And, she cleaned up the apartment. BEST SISTER EVER.

When we got back with our new car, Heather hit the road. It was so nice to have her here, and I hope she'll be back soon! As any of you who are friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Instagram may have seen, Heather was just offered a contract with Tokyo Disney. She'll be off to Japan to perform in their Big Band Beat show starting in February, and the contract runs through September. I'm going to miss her like crazy when she leaves, especially now after having gotten spoiled by living so close to her for the first time in nearly a decade, but I'm so excited for her. What an adventure! And, it gives Eric and me a reason to finally plan that Asia vacation he's been pushing for for years now. Way to go, Heather!

So, I hope we're able to fit in quite a few more visits like this before Heather leaves. Thanks so much for coming, Heather! We loved having you!