A Week At Grammie & Granddad's

Earlier in the Spring, we decided that we would spend a week this summer at my parent's house. We make lots of little trips here and there, but thought it would be nice to have a little more time there. I have very fond memories of staying with my grandparents for a week or two each summer. I want my kids to have an experience like that.

We flew up last Saturday and had an action packed week.

We visited with Sally, Andrew, and Jacob on Sunday and Monday. Monday we all went to the Strasburg Railroad. It was a perfect day for it - cloudy and breezy. It did start to rain on us at the end of the time there, but I'd take that rather than having scorching sun. We rode in the open air car on the "Road to Paradise". The train takes you through Amish country to Paradise, PA. The scenery is beautiful. You can get off halfway and have a picnic. We had a really nice picnic and were able to watch the trains go by. (I have pictures of this - but they are on my dad's camera!)

Tuesday we went to a children's museum in Harrisburg.

(they had the coolest water table that babies could sit in the middle of) (Charlotte putting on a show)

Wednesday we headed to Newark, DE to see Rachel and Adam's new house. It looks great - they have done a lot of work. I'm extremely jealous of their large basement, I can't even imagine what that amount of storage is like! After lunch, we went to the University of Delaware's creamery and had some ice cream. Max kinda liked it.





Thursday we hung out around the house. Friday, I drove up to Dallas, PA to visit one of my dearest friends. She just had a new baby girl and I couldn't wait to see them. We had a great visit.

We took a 6:45AM flight back on Saturday. The kids were a wreck yesterday recovering from lack of sleep and the general spoiling that grandparents do to grandkids. We picked Judd up from the airport yesterday afternoon. He spent the week in Hong Kong!

Here are a few snaps from the rest of the week. I didn't have my camera with me. I wish I did, but 2 kids, an airport, etc - it's just one extra thing I can't take.











(Charlotte only slept about 8 or 9 hours each day we were there. For some reason I could NOT get her to sleep before 9 PM each night and she was up at the crack of dawn - 6:15 each morning. It was crazy. So, every time she got in a car, she would fall asleep after about 30 seconds. Granddad took her for a convertible ride the the last night we were there - this is how she came in after wards.)

PA

We made it up to my parent's house on Saturday. We plan to spend a week up here playing with Grammie and Granddad. We have already visited with Aunt Sally, Uncle Andrew, and Jacob - and rode the Strasburg Railroad yesterday.

There are a lot more fun activities ahead!

Family Portrait

My favorite family portrait so far, drawn by no other than Charlotte Anne Davis:



From Left to Right on the top: Mommy, Daddy. From Left to Right on the bottom: Max, Charlotte. I just look at it hanging on our refrigerator and smile. It makes me laugh. I love everything about it.

Isn't it wonderful that a child sees you as a smiling face with legs, arms, feet, and toes (very long toes!). If only we all saw each other like that. Probably not as many body image issues.

9 months

9 months! What can I say, the kid is EVERYWHERE. He is unstoppable. He crawls. He climbs. He stands. 90% of my life these days is standing behind this kid catching him or pulling tiny bits of stuff out of his mouth that he found on the floor.

Stats:
Weight: 20 lbs 12 oz - 50-60%
Height: 29.5" - 75-90%
Head: 18 3/8" - 75-90%

At 9 months he is:
- crawling everywhere
- climbing stairs
- pulling up on everything he can get leverage to pull up on. (Including my legs while I'm trying to make dinner.)
- Standing on his own. - I even saw him squat down and stand back up without holding onto anything yesterday!
- eating 3 meals of all finger foods. He won't really let me feed him baby food anymore.
- can drink with a straw, we are still working on a sippy cup.
- just today he waved "bye-bye".
- We are pretty sure he is saying "ma-ma" & "da-da" at times, in the right context.

He is sleeping OK - not great, but OK. He is taking two naps a day, one at 9 another at 1:30. They are usually an hour. He goes to bed about 6:30PM, then wakes up anywhere between 3-4AM. He usually eats, then goes back down until anywhere between 6-7AM.

We are stopping nursing. That is for another post.

C is for Crib

Girl's Weekend

I spent last weekend laughing with my girlfriends at Tybee Island. We rented a little condo behind Sting Rays restaurant. While, the restaurant provided a nice fried food smell out by the pool - and maybe a rat? - the condo was in a fabulous location. We were able to walk wherever we wanted to go.

We walked to a restaurant on Friday night.
We walked to a strict (lots of rules) breakfast at The Breakfast Club on Saturday morning.
We walked to the beach on Saturday afternoon.
We walked to AJ's on Saturday evening. We watched the sunset while we all ate yummy seafood - well all but one.

Of course I missed my kiddos and husband - but these weekends are so crucial to stay synced up with those girls you love but just don't see as much as you would like.

While I was happily sitting at AJ's on Saturday night I get a text from Judd, "Char just threw up all over mom & dad's bed". Uh oh. She ended up throwing up 3 more times that night. All I wanted to do was comfort my girl, but I also knew her daddy and grandparents were on the case. She ended up staying down at the lake while Judd brought Max back to the ATL. She's staying there until Wednesday. Can you say quiet? It is SO quiet around here - it's very strange. I can't wait to get her back!!

Country Fried Steak & Chocolate Cake

Judd's 32nd birthday was yesterday. I decided to surprise him with country fried steak or cubed steak like his grandmother made - which he loves. I emailed his grandmother earlier in the week and asked for her recipe. Like all good dishes that grandmothers make, she didn't have a recipe - but wrote out how she made it.

It was edible - my sweet husband even ate two servings. But, I'm pretty sure it didn't live up to her standards.



The chocolate cake, though, I believe Charlotte and I hit that one out of the ballpark. She did more taste testing than actual helping, but she did keep me company at least.



We rounded off the evening with a couple of homemade cards. Charlotte's was extra special - for the first time she signed her own name. I had to tell her which letter came next, and help her with the "R", but she wrote all of the other letters. It was pretty cool.

Happy Birthday Judd.

Fountain Fun

Shhhhhhh!!! It's a secret! (Piedmont Park has fountains now!!) Don't tell anyone - we spent the morning enjoying it without crowds.

B is for Baptism

What I'll Remember About the Beach

The people so close to each other on the beach - the mass of humanity that covered the beaches.





The traffic going down Front Beach. It went on for miles - people cruising the strip.



Katie and Frank in their "surf gear" ready to "hit the waves".



The way Granddaddy put Max to sleep on multiple occasions.



Cousins.





My girl with her curly beach hair and ocean eyes.



The way Charlotte would dance every time we got on the elevator.

The amazing fireworks we saw. The wishing Frank and I did for a tripod.



Making memories.



Charlotte cruising the strip in a VW station wagon - yelling out the window "Anyone in trouble??"



The night Judd, Charlotte, and I had a night on the town at Pier Park (or "Peter Park" according to Char)





The way we stood in line for Judd and Charlotte to ride the ferris wheel - only to have it not happen.



They rode the scrambler instead.





Charlotte's early morning swims with her grandparents.



The 6:00 AM walks on the beach that Max and I took together.

My sand castle buddy.



And Frank's sand dolphin buddy.



The way 3 girls played in the water most of the day.





The obsession Max had with the luggage cart we hoarded on the last day.



Dinner out together at Captain Anderson's.

The wonderful dinner Judd and I had on the water.

Introducing the Davis' to Rummikub - the game my family played growing up. Also playing Yahtzee while listening to Judd analyze every.single.roll.



The people that made it all possible.



Panama City Beach, 2011.

Beach Bums

We are back from the beach. We've only been here for about 2.5 hours and Charlotte's said she wants to go back about 500 times. More pictures to come later - I've got kids to feed with the promise of early bed times.

Happy Fourth

We made it to Panama City on Saturday. We have been having fun on the beach, swimming in the pools, and hanging out.

Last night we watched the most amazing display of fireworks from our 15th floor beachfront wrap around balcony. As far as the eye could see, there were firework displays along the beach. It really felt like the entire country was celebrating. I have never seen anything like it before.

As Charlotte would say, "Happy Birfday Merica"