The Silipino Express: our vacation and 2nd anniversary!

I realized I hadn't posted any pictures or comments on our trip to Pensacola. Ray, Belle, and I along with Brenn and Reesie hightailed it up to the northern panhandle of Florida. We arrived in Pensacola on December 9th, early morning. We stayed until late afternoon on December 13th. Going back always seems shorter than trying to get there. It may be the anticipation of wanting to be there. We had a really great time. Belle got some much needed love and treatment from her grammpa and gramma Silipino (they don't see her often). Christmas came early for Belle as she got lots of gifts. Mom and Pops have made many trips down this past year- to see Anabelle. So, it's been a long time coming that we planned to go up before this Christmas. Traveling was great, just very cold. It always seems to be 10 degrees or so colder plus with the gulf turning, it makes for some really neat wheather at times. We had been up there a few times last year, but we'd never just been up to relax and have a vacation. We'd been there from family passings. It was nice to know we were up there for a different reason :)
We met up with one of Ray's highschool friends and her family. Renee's daughter, Amanda and Belle just loved eachother and had a reat time playing. It was a great night to let the kids play and have conversation with others'. We will ahve to rent out Amanda-to keep Belle occupied :)
Ray and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary near the Pensacola village and gulf. We stopped at our favorite place, McGuire's Pub. http://www.mcguiresirishpub.com/ We placed a dollar in the room we ate, placed our names and event on one side and Belle's name and age on the other. The last time we were there, Belle was 14 weeks in momma's tummy and we didn't know what we were having yet, so the first dollar we placed was near the bar, with our names, date and then the word, 'peanut' on it :) We had pumpernickel honey bread with sweet buttery spread, artichoke and spinich dip with homemade pita chips (they make everything there-including their beer)...then our dinner came. It was a lovely evening and Ray and I had some great memories, past and future. It's nice to just sit there and have a great conversation. It was just wonderful!! Belle got to stay with her grammpa and gramma for a few hours. Ray and I ended up just cruising around Pensacola after dinner. When we got in, Belle was up, playing with toys...it was LATE!
It gets harder to come back each time we leave!! It feels like home there too :)
Thanks to everyone for the prayers for travel and lovely words for our Anniversary. It's one of my fav. occasions to celebrate (even though I've only had two so far) :) Big smiles!!