Labor Day Mini-Vacation

A couple of months ago we planned to take a weekend vacation around the first of September. That sounds like a normal thing, but it was very abnormal for us because it was going to be our first trip without and away from Levi since he was born. He's about to turn 2 (tear) so I guess it was about time. We went to Memphis and just relaxed, found good restaurants, and explored the city. It was a nice little long weekend but we sure were glad to get back to our boy. I thought I'd share some snapshots, even though I didn't snap pictures of anything particularly interesting:)

{A favorite place on the way}

 

{Crossing the river into Memphis}

 

{Downtown}

 

{Swanky's Taco Shop patio dining...until we got pelted with a surprise downpour and hurried inside}

 

 

 

{My favorite attraction!}

 

 

{Cotton fields}

 

 

{We found a really neat farm and explored - it was like a big public park}

 

 

 

 

{Trip Advisor led us to some great food!}

 

{I had to be fair and give Tyler a little shopping time too...}

 

The Beach III

Seaside

When we went to the beach we stayed in my aunt's condo. She graciously allows our family to use her condo, and it is one of my very favorite places in this world to be. When we're down there, we always enjoy driving down to Seaside. Seaside is a neat little planned community, and it is the place where The Truman Show was filmed. If you ever find yourself in the Destin/Pensacola Florida area, I highly recommend driving down to spend some time in this neat little place. Here are some pictures we snapped in Seaside:

{Trying out the timer for the first time...didn't quite get it:)}

{A pretty little alley we had not discovered before}

{Out on the town square - each of the little trailers are different restaurants}

{People gathering on the knoll before a concert. You couldn't even see any grass when it was time to start}

{We walked to see the house from The Truman Show - it was about a half mile from the town square}




The Beach II

Here is part two from our trip. I'll probably do one more post after this one, so I'll apologize now if you're getting sick of vacation pictures. :)

One night we planned to go to Stinky's Fish Camp. We had driven by the place (unbeknownst to me) several times on previous trips, but had never really paid attention. Luckily, I read about it here, on a blog I follow, and they gave it rave reviews. It was a really neat place. Extremely busy, on a week night, early. It is mandatory valet parking (complementary). We only had to wait about 15 minutes, and we sat on an upper screened-in porch that overlooked a marsh/pond area, which was neat. The weather was perfect, and the seafood even better, so we had a great time there!

I ordered this mainly for Tyler - he is BIG on seafood and I wasn't extremely hungry. This was called "Taste of Stinky's" and it included their famous crab cake, spicy crawfish pie, fried fish, and the side was homemade shells and cheese (left to right). I sampled it all, and it was all excellent.

{Something was evidently really funny - he was being a goober}

{I tried these oysters for Tyler...not my thing but at least I tried!}