Anna Grace's Big Trip!

A little background: So I finally became Facebook friends with my brother, Bobby, and was looking through pictures of him this evening. There were plenty of pictures of him running, hanging out with friends and going to homecoming and prom... plus a ton of pictures with our amazing cousins. Many of them were from the past several beach vacations we took as a family to Sunset Beach.

Cousin pyramid 2009!

Bottom: Me, Daniel, Bobby, Zach Middle: Megan, Hannah, Katie Top: Patrick and Maura

We have gone to Sunset Beach, NC for about the last 14 years. It was originally just my immediate family but after a few years, my Uncle Terry and Aunt GiGi with their girls (Megan, Hannah and Maura) as well as my Aunt Annie and Uncle Tommy with their boys (Zach, Patrick and Ryan) joined us. Also within the last couple of years, our grandparents have also become a part of the "Beach Crew." Daniel was welcomed into the crew last year when we joined the family after our honeymoon.

Knowing that Daniel would be in pilot training this summer, I figured that last year would be my last time at the beach for awhile since I didn't want to go without Daniel but our little surprise of a beautiful baby girl changed that. Since Anna hasn't met most of the family, I've planned a 3 week trip to introduce her to the family and the first stop is Sunset Beach!

Anna and I will head out from Oklahoma City and make our way to the beach by way of Dallas on Sunday and spend our first week soaking up the sun, the ocean and the salty sea breezes. At the end of the week, we'll drive back to Pittsburgh with my family where we'll get to see the rest of my extended family and some family friends.

Pittsburgh at night

Following our Pittsburgh visit, we'll head to the windy city: Chicago! In Chicago, we'll be visiting a few of my college friends including my freshman year roomy, Emily who is expecting her baby in early August. We'll also be staying with Anna's godmother, Sharon, and her husband. Hopefully, we'll also get to see Annaliese and a few other friends that live in the city. After our visit there is finished, we'll "follow the star to where the world begins" and head home to Enid!

I'm really looking forward to all of our visiting especially with our family. Anna is the first baby born far away from Pittsburgh and I'm eager for her to meet all of her great-grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts. There's nothing quite like family.