Beach Vacation

We just returned from a fabulous beach vacation! We headed down to the beach after work two Fridays ago to spend a week at my parents' house in Oran.ge Beach. We couldn't have asked for more wonderful weather or a better place to stay!

We were truly able to unwind, enjoy the water, sand, and sun without all of the crowds that are there in the summertime. We went out to dinner as a family {during which our children were exceptionally well-behaved--hooray!} and enjoyed lovely Nick-grilled dinners at home, too.

Carter and Callen LOVED it! I made a $1.30 purchase at Tar.get before we left to try to contain our youngest...as she doesn't like to stay in her float in the pool and tries to climb out. This is the two of them testing it out our first day in the sun.

Because of his swimming lessons, Carter was able to swim in the pool with no bubble or floaties. He did AMAZINGLY well. It is crazy how quickly they can become adept swimmers at that age!

Little Miss would wear herself out swimming, splashing, crawling, walking...really doing just about anything that she could to prevent sitting still. A couple of days we couldn't even feed her lunch before her nap...she just fell asleep and wanted to snooze {so we fed her when she woke up--don't worry, we didn't starve her!}

The louvered panels that you see in the picture below are the "walls" of an outdoor shower. We decided to introduce our children to it this trip, so after swimming, we'd just bathe them in the shower and then head inside all clean. Well, the water from the shower tends to pool and it helps keep the deck cleaner if you push the water towards the drain in the concrete. After a couple of evening showers and watching my pushing the water, Carter wanted to help clean the deck!

There was lots of brother/sister love and play time as they didn't have their usual complement of friends {during the day at school}. It was really fun to see them play together...Callen crawling after Carter and taking {and ignoring} instruction from him, mostly. They really do love each other, and it makes my heart melt.

Callen had really started to do some walking. She doesn't like to walk all the time; particularly, if she needs to get somewhere in a hurry, but she is pretty good at it now. Of course, Carter felt the need to encourage her.

My parents came down on Thursday night, so we were able to enjoy some time with them also before heading back to Birmingham!

What a great way to end our summer!

Why?

At some point {heck, probably at several points}, all parents ask the question, "Why did we buy those toys, again?"

Because, clearly, dog treats and cat food are much more exciting.

Mom...really, I am trying to play here.

It's Tough

In case you didn't know, we lived in Indiana for a while. Actually, Carter was born there, and we lived there for the large majority of his life (he's 3). It is B.ig 10 {well, really 11, but who's counting? jk my B.ig 10 friends} country, so when well-meaning friends give you shirts for your child...

Well, it is easy to see how he might get confused.

Don't worry, there is no more confusion.

He's clearly a Tide fan.

And that was quite a win on Saturday.

{In case you can't read it, this says: Hide yo Tigers, Hide yo Gators, Hide yo Nitt.ney Lions, cuz we beatin' e'erbody out here! please see here and here for the reference}

Good Times, Great Friends

Since my friend, Jennifer, and her family were in town for the weekend from Dallas, we were fortunate enough to have our other best friend from college come over Sunday night with her family so that we could all have dinner and our children could play.

Jennifer, Mary Ruffin and I were all three best friends in college. {please excuse how bad I look in the picture below!}

We try to get together every few years with all three of us, and I am pretty sure that the time before this weekend was this beach trip.

Since that trip two years ago, we've collectively added two children {Mary Ruffin's youngest, Drew, is only 8 weeks! Doesn't she look GREAT?!?}. As always, it is so much fun to watch our children play together. I am constantly amazed at how well they all get along!

all the children {minus Drew who stayed in Tuscaloosa}

Carter & Hayston

Performing a puppet show for the adults {not sure Carter gets the idea of being "behind the curtain"}

The moms and their children {minus Callen & Drew}

One more picture before they leave us!

Thanks for making the long trip to visit and cheer the Tide to victory. Thanks to MR and her family for coming over on Sunday night so that we could all hang out together! We love y'all and can't wait to play again soon!

Carter's First Tide Game

Well, after five seasons of watching SEC/Tide football from afar, we are BACK in the heart of Crim.son Tide country, and we couldn't be more thrilled! To celebrate the occasion, we decided to take Carter to his first game this weekend. We talked it up all week, and he was SOOO excited!

So Saturday, we dressed this lovely in her gameday finest and left her with the babysitter.

Then, we headed west to T-town to soak in the fun and experience the newly expanded stadium. Carter was so cute in the car on the way. Everytime we would see an Alabama flag or decal on someone's car, he would point it out and get all excited!

We had a special treat this week, as one of my best friends and her family were in town from Dallas for the game/weekend. We met up with them at the AXO house before heading into the game.

We headed into the game and made it just in time for the Big Bama Spellout!

We had to take a few in the stadium shots with Dad and Mom before the game started.

Carter was so excited that Popsy sat with us at the game, too!

We only made it to just before the half when Carter began to announce that he wanted to go home {which we expected}. So, we packed up and headed back to the car and made it home just about 9:00pm.

The experience of a football game is totally different with a little one, but it is so much fun to share our love of the University of Alabama and the fun of football season with our son {and eventually our daughter, too!}.

1 & 3 Year Check-ups

Wednesday morning, I took these two turkeys to their 1 & 3 year check ups.

Overall, they did very well. Both of them had to get their fingers pricked for the first time {as part of their well visits} and NEITHER was a fan. I am pretty sure Carter was ready to get out of there as soon as that was over.

Callen had fever the day before, so I wasn't sure that he would let her be given her shots, but she got 3 anyway. It made my heart hurt, she was so upset that she couldn't catch her breath and so couldn't really cry. AWFUL. Neither of my children had had such sad reactions from getting shots prior to that. She came home {wasn't in school since she had had a fever the day before and had to be fever-free for 24 hours before going back}, and played for a little while before taking a 4+ hour nap to recover from her trauma at the doctor's office.

Dr. Smith was really pleased with both of their development! Here are the stats:

Callen: 21lb, 1oz {50th percentile--which hardly seems possible if you have seen this child eat!}, and 30in {close to 90th percentile}

Carter: 31.2lbs {50th percentile}, 38in {75th percentile}

Trip to the Aquarium

For Carter & Callen's birthdays, my brother and sister-in-law gave them tickets to the Geor.gia Aquar.ium. So, when we were in Atlanta for the wedding last weekend, we started out the wedding day with trip to the Aquarium.

Our plan was to be there when it opened, which turned out to be a great plan! We took an early morning stroll from our hotel, through Cen.tennial Park to get to the aquarium.
The aquarium was really neat, but Carter's favorite part was the "under the sea" section where the sharks and whale sharks are. It was probably my favorite part, also.

A grouper...didn't know they could get that big!!!

Whale shark with lots of smaller fish swimming along side

The be.luga whales were pretty neat, also, but Carter wasn't nearly as interested in them as he was in the otters that were just around the corner. I guess the otters were much more entertaining.

Carter and Dad watching the bel.ugas...I love this picture.

We spent about an hour and half there before heading to the wedding day brunch. It was a great trip! The only thing Carter didn't care for, interestingly enough, was the penguin exhibit. He was NOT. AT. ALL into the tunnel that you could crawl through and pop up in to see the penguins. In fact, he cried when Nick and I crawled through! Other than that, he really loved seeing all the animals. What a treat during such a special weekend!

Thanks Uncle Steve & Aunt Emily!