Back from Vacation!

What an incredible two weeks we've had. We just arrived home from our whirlwind vacation to Florida, Indiana, and Chicago. It was just the trip we needed, and I am so glad we had the chance to get away together.



We left two weeks ago for Panama City Beach, Florida. We spent seven nights at a little 1950's motel right on the beach. Our days revolved around making sandcastles, swimming in the ocean, trips to the swimming pool, flying kites on the beach, and watching the sunset.




We spent our 5 year wedding anniversary combing the beach with Paprika, looking for seashells. It was just about as perfect as it could be, all things considered.

After a week in paradise, we went up to Indianapolis to see my family and celebrate Paprika's second birthday. We had an amazing time staying in my Aunt Jane's condo, lounging by the pool, and visiting with family. We went to a cookout at my mom's house and cruised around the lake on the boat at sunset. My aunt Laura and uncle Kevin threw Paprika an amazing birthday party the night before we left. They went all out and made it such a fun and festive affair. It was so wonderful to celebrate her second birthday with my family and to do it in such great style really took the cake (so to speak)!



After that, we roadtripped up to Lafayette to pick up Ann and then we all went up to Chicago for Ryan and Katherine's wedding. We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel, right in the heart of Michigan Avenue. Ann acted as our nanny for the weekend and I don't think Paprika has ever had it so good! Paprika had the best birthday weekend. We took her for her birthday lunch at the Grand Lux Cafe on Michigan Avenue, and we even ordered dessert first! Ann treated her to an amazing shopping spree and spoiled her while Mr. Mustard and I were at Ryan and Katherine's wedding. She is very lucky to have her Auntie Ann!

After that, we went back down to Lafayette and spent the evening with Ann's family. Paprika LOVED playing with Benjamin and Cameron. They were very, very cute and I think Paprika thought she was at Disneyland at Ann's house, there were so many fun toys there.

There's obviously much more to say and many, many more photos to share. Here are a few from the beach. We took almost 800 pictures over two weeks, so there will be more pictures to come!