Third Stop - ???

So...during the time that I would be in North Carolina, it was planned that I would got with my mom to see her sister, my Aunt Candy in (Chattanooga, Tennessee). My younger sister, Maria, was going to fly out with her 4 month old to go along also. First, Maria couldn't make it because her baby was sick. Then, the day before we were supposed to leave for TN, Mom was rear-ended and needed some recovery time, so we changed the trip to the following weekend. So after spending time in Benson, I went to Wilmington (as I explained in the last post).

We planned to leave for Tennessee [that following weekend] on Thursday, but I didn't want to drive 2 hours back to Benson, just to switch Jack to another car and drive 8 hours...so I decided to drive the 2 hours to Benson (Mom and Papa's house) Wednesday night. I left after Jack had eaten dinner and had his bath and was dressed for bed, that way he could fall asleep on the drive (which he did), and I could put him down for a good night's sleep before the long drive to TN the next day.

I don't even think it had been an hour after arriving in Benson that I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. I threw up a couple times that night and then spent basically all the next day in bed. My parents and brothers and sister were SO awesome and took care of Jack the whole time I was out of commission. I had been feeling like maybe we shouldn't go to TN, but I wanted to go so bad that I kept ignoring the feeling. But with me getting sick all of a sudden, I knew it was strike three and not just a coincidence. When I finally admitted that "maybe we should cancel the trip" (on Thursday night), I started to feel better. I was still recovering for the most part on Friday, but then Mom suggested we spend Saturday at Busch Gardens since we were all sad about not getting to see Aunt Candy.

It was about a 4 hour drive to get to Busch Gardens, and we had a lot of fun! This is Mom and Carly on the sky lift.


Me and Jack on the sky lift.


I wasn't able to catch it on camera, while we were in line for the sky lift, Jack was SOOOO impressed with the loud, fast and exciting rollercoaster that passed by overhead. Once we got on the sky lift, we told Jack to hold on tight. The sky lift doesn't go fast at all, but getting past the first roller can be a little fast with a downhill slope. When we started that downhill slope, Jack's face was CLASSIC!! It was pure excitement and surprise; eyes wide with eyebrows lifted as high as they could go, with his jaw dropped into the biggest open mouth you've ever seen. We were pretty sure he thought he was riding that really exciting rollercoaster. But then he figured it out and was a little disappointed.


Carly was so awesome to play with Jack in the young kids area!

I couldn't get on with my huge prego belly, but Grandma and Carly rode on this fun ride in the young kids area.

Jack loved the show that the sesame street characters put on (in the background)!

A really slow water ride (I think Jack was really hoping we would let him on the rollercoaster)

After the show, the sesame street characters were available to "meet". He got a little freaked out.

So, kids aren't the only ones who get freaked out by these characters. Getting up close and personal with them kinda wigged me out too - funny, huh? Jack would only get close to them after I was willing to. I also sidled in for a hug with Bert and that's when Jack got the closest...I guess he thought he could handle it if mom could.

Also, this is an official prego picture (definitely not flattering), but here non the less!

Jack was incredible enough to take a nap in the stroller just after this picture was taken. We had fun grabbing a couple treats in "Germany" and then catching a couple shows (the Irish dance show was excellent) before there was an announcement for inclement weather heading our way. We started for the front of the park, but didn't get very far before the downpour hit. We were all drenched through and through except for Jack who sat in the back of the stroller with a bucket of popcorn and a slushie drink...just chillin' the whole way under the canopy and completely dry. It was pretty funny.

We were able to get our flights changed to Monday, so after resting up on Sunday, Jack and I headed out from Raleigh to New York. We had another 7 hour layover, but it wasn't that back because Jack feel asleep for a 2 1/2 hour nap (in the stroller again) right after we got there. Then we spent the rest of the time playing in this little kids play area, finding something to eat for dinner, going for walks in the terminal, and giving Jack a "sort-of" bath in the bathroom before dressing him in pajamas...and of course lots of impromptu potty breaks in between.

After this it was just a 5 hour flight to Salt Lake and we were home! It was so nice to visit with family and have all that fun, but it was also great to be back at home with Britton again...

Second Stop - Wilmington, North Carolina

After a week in Benson with my Mom and Papa (Boe, Marcus, and Carly too!), Jack and I headed to Wilmington. It's only about a 2 hour drive so it wasn't that bad. We actually took my brothers, Boe and Marcus with us for a day. My Uncle Steve is a great tennis player and Boe asked if he wouldn't mind playing a game with him...as well as give him pointers. We met at the tennis courts of a well-known park there in Wilmington called Greenfield Lake. I remember playing there as a kid. And I'm pretty sure I've been out in paddle boats and canoes on the lake, although I'm still scared to death of the alligator horror stories [everyone's] parents told [us kids] growing up. (It's called Greenfield Lake because the surface of the lakewater is covered with moss/algae around the edges - and I'm telling you this because I didn't happen to get a picture to show you.)


I took Jack to play elsewhere in the park while the tennis "instruction" was taking place.


He LOVES the ducks...


Uncle Marcus (and Aunt McKenzie - who I didn't manage to get a picture of either) were so great to play with Jack on the playground so I could catch my breath taking pictures instead of chasing Jack.


Coming down the slide

Uncle Steve and McKenzie's side of the doubles match they played with Boe and Marcus.

I was SO lucky to make it to Wilmington when I did because my sister, Kara, and her husband Oy were having a joint birthday party for their 2 little girls Femi and Cloe. It was about a 3 hour drive to their house in Aberdeen, but it was worth it to get to see them while I was there. Jack enjoyed playing with all the kids and we had tons of delicious Thai food to eat.

I LOVE this picture of Femi...she looks so much like Kara to me in this shot.

This is Jack with my sister Krysten

Back in Wilmington...

We were able to get out to my Uncle Roy and Aunt Janice's house to visit with them. My cousin, Erik and his wife Jenny were able to come too with their little girl, Haleigh. Jack and Haleigh had so much fun playing together on the playset in the back yard and all too soon it was bedtime and time to go.

I think this picture of Haleigh is ADORABLE!

Playing in the sandbox

Jack and I were able to spend a morning with my friend Jennifer and her girls. They had SO much fun playing! They got in the kiddie pool in the back yard and had a blast...only, Jack refused to wear anything! I had to get some pictures, but I was careful to only get above-the-waist shots. We finally got him to put on some swim trunks, but as soon as we turned our backs, this little exhibitionist was sliding...well, more like skidding down the slide of the playset with his bare butt. I'm having a great chuckle remembering that, he he he.

Oh, this was hilarious too! We gave them some chocolate teddy grahams as a snack and they both took them and ran straight to the pool - they were dunking their grahams in the pool water before eating them. Kids crack me up (especially mine)!

I wasn't able to see my cousin Jimmy while I was in town, but Jack and I got the next best thing. We met up with my Aunt Linda and Uncle Mike (Jimmy's parents) who brought Jimmy's boys with them to the park for a playdate. (Greenfield Park again ;)

Austin, Evan and Jack actually got lined up for a shot, and they were all looking in the same general direction - it's pretty amazing (in case you were wondering).

The night that Jack and I headed back up to Benson, Jack kept begging for me to take pictures of him. I was able to catch these shots of him with my Dad. I love that Jack is looking at Grandaddy in this shot...

...and I LOVE that I caught a "true" smile on my Dad in this shot. I don't recall ever having caught a real smile on my dad in picture form before this. Oh, and Jack's smile is pretty cute too, lol.

It seems that whatever amount of time I am "home", we never spend enough because I always have to leave without visiting with more than a handful of important people. It's always nice to be there, but always sad to leave...

First Stop - Benson, North Carolina

Jack and I left for our trip back to my home state on April 16th. I was SOOO worried about how well I would do traveling with a 2-year old while being pregnant, but our many prayers were answered because Jack was really awesome the whole time. He's such a little trooper.

Jack on the airplane...he sure looks like he's got it made, huh? Watching cartoons with headphones on, sucking on a binki, crackers in one hand, sippy cup with juice on the other side, with a reclining cross-legged thing going on.


Our first flight took us from Salt Lake to San Deigo. We had a 7 hour layover there until our flight to Boston, but that was just fine with us because we have family there! Britton's brother, Ryan lives out there, so they came to pick us up and we got to hang out with them all evening. Jack had SOOO much fun playing with his cousins Isaac, Ali and Joshua. It was so nice to let him get good and worn out and then they fed us dinner and I even got him bathed and in his pjs before we headed back to the airport. Poor kid was so worn out he actually fell asleep on the way to the airport and didn't wake up as we moved him to the stroller, or when I had to pick him up out of the stroller to take him through security, or when I got him out of the stroller again to get onto the plane, or while a complete stranger grandpa man held him while I buckled his carseat in. In fact, he pretty much slept the whole red-eye flight to Boston (as I silently sang a Hallelujah chorus in my mind).

This is a fun toy I found at the dollar store that I pulled out at the San Diego airport while we waited for Uncle Ryan and Aunt Micki to pick us up. Jack LOVED it and I was thrilled that he didn't mind playing it over and over again without screaming to get out of the stroller.

Ps - A huge shout-out to my sister, Becky for letting me borrow her double stroller for the trip. I would NOT have survived without it. It was nice to be able to put Jack in one section, with my backpack and Jack's carseat in the other.

This is my brother, Boe at his tennis match the day I got there.

My brother, Marcus, and sister, Carly were the best! (Uncle Boe too!) They would play with Jack and follow him around and keep an eye on him for me. It was so nice to have help with that!

You can see how thrilled Jack is that Uncle Boe let him hold his guitar!

Jack really enjoyed swinging on the playset at the montessori school that Grandma works at.

I am kicking myself for being too lazy or forgetful or tired or whatever because I hardly ever got the camera out. I don't have nearly enough pictures from our trip, but I will continue to post what I do have.

Jack's Easter Fun

This Easter was fun. Jack is older so he was a lot more interactive...especially when it came to his Easter basket.


I love this face he uses while examining the contents of his basket - real concentration!

Hunting for eggs in our tiny (dead grass spots) little backyard.

I LOVED watching last year's video of Jack hunting for eggs, so I thought I would post this year's video - this year he was much more stable on his feet and had the hang of it down pat. :)

Zoo!

I knew that this summer was going to be jam-packed, so I wanted to make sure we got in a fun family outing before the craziness began. One Saturday in March, I finally convinced Britton that we should head out to the zoo. It was a lot of fun - Jack really enjoyed it. But being the lame mom that I am, I only got these 2 pictures! (grrr)

Jack's 2nd Birthday

So...Jack had his 2nd birthday in February. I had been planning the (Satur)day out for a while and I was probably more excited than he was. We were supposed to go to Chuck E. Cheese's first thing in the morning and have fun for a couple hours (we got pizza with the coupon we used), then eat lunch and head home for a nap. Then off to the dollar theatre where Madagascar 2 was playing - Jack had never been to the movie theatre. After that, we were supposed to head home for a dinner of chili dogs and french fries followed by cake and ice cream and of course presents. We were able to stick to much of the plans...here are some pics :D

Jack LOVED Chuck E. Cheeses! This was his absolute favorite thing there...the 3-horse carousel in the tot section. By the way...it took me half the day to realize the outside of the camera lens was smudged, so half of these pictures look blurry :(

I love this picture Britton took of Jack eating what few bites of pizza he got.

Daddy was a lot more fun for running off to play games than Mom was. You have to get in a few rounds of ski-ball, or it just isn't a complete visit!

Jack liked watching the race cars a lot more than he enjoyed trying to steer, so Daddy had to take over.

Ok, so here's where the planning got a little muddled. We took Jack home for a nap. We were sure we exhausted the poor kid out playing hard that morning, but he was still up playing around in his room an hour after we put him down. So we thought that we would go to the earlier showing of the movie instead of the later one because sometimes Jack just didn't take a nap for the day. We headed over to the movie theatre and Jack was pumped the whole time. As we were about to turn into the parking lot, I looked back and told Jack we were at the movie and got him all excited. Then we were pulling into a parking stall and I looked back and this is what we found...

So the movie got scratched off the list and we tried to drive around for a good while so he would get a good bit of nap. Poor guy! When we got home, Britton made his mom's famous Texas Chocolate sheet cake (always a favorite).

I didn't realize that we didn't get any pictures of me with Jack on his birthday, so this is the best thing to me you get...a bust/belly shot.

Also, Jack's Uncle Rafi came over for cake and ice cream and all you get of him is a left arm shot.

Jack starting to open his presents...(I think he got a little spoiled).

Jack saw Britton eating his cake and ice cream standing at this counter, so of course he had to eat here too!

Jack, Happy Belated (Blog) Birthday! We love you more than you could probably ever understand!