On Our Way to South Carolina...

I am getting this blog restarted....after taking a bit of time off due to the holidays and technical difficulties... 

 

Here is our trip to South Carolina...

 

 

On Wednesday, November 20, we got up early and got ready to go to the airport. Mom and Dad watched the kids for us over night so we could get a good night's sleep before our long day of travelling. They also wanted to spend time with the kids before we left to go on a trip. I was able to finish packing, cleaning, and feel completely organized before going to bed on Tueday night. Wednesday morning, Alex and I picked up the kids from Gigi and Papa's house around 9:30 and headed to the airport. As we pulled up to the airport, we got a phone call that our flight was being delayed from 11:20 to 12:30 which meant that we would be missing our connection. Perfect :)

 

So we got our three large checked bags, 2 carseats in bags, 5 carry ons, and 2 strollers unloaded from the Tahoe and I parked it while Alex got the bags organized. We then got all checked in.

 

 

They had to change our second flight which made it so we would have more time on our layover in Atlanta. We were getting into Surside 2 and half hours later than originally planned....but that's ok. We let Adam and Adrienne know and we were all good :) We got a snack at the crappy little restaurant (no offense airport) and then headed to the gate. It's so nice travelling from a small airport. The kids ran wild. Old ladies loved watching them. Finally our plane arrived.

 

Charlotte was a bit uneasy.... 

Our chariot awaits!

Sawyer was intrigued with all of the trucks, tractors, and planes.

He was so excited!!

Travelling with kids, you get to board early so we got onto the plane and got settled. Charlotte was so excited to have her own seat and to be sitting by the window. We actually had our own row so Alex and Charlotte had one side of the aisle and Sawyer and I had the other.

She LOVED it.

Sawyer was in awww of everything going on outside the window.

Sawyer fell asleep right before take off and he slept the entire flight.

 

 

 

Charlotte was awake until we reached our flying altitude then all of the coolness wore off and she went to sleep until the end of the flight.

 

 

Both kids were complimented on being such good babes the entire flight. Alex and I both ordered alcoholic beverages.... We thought it was only fitting since this was our only vacation of the year.

 

 

We landed in Atlanta and had plenty of time for diaper changes, time to get snacks, and time for more diaper changes. (Sawyer peed through. Naturally. He does that. A lot.) We ate some pizza. The kids were pretty restless and Atlanta was NUTS. Seriously it was packed. I hate taking the kids to packed places like that. Ugh. But we boarded the plane and got settled. This flight was less enjoyable. Charlotte and I saw together this time and Sawyer sat with Alex. Kind of. We switched off and on. They were all over the place but it was a shorter flight. We were crazy relieved when the wheels hit the ground.

 

 

Adam and Adrienne picked us (and the small apartment worth of belongings we brought with us) and took us to Mimi's house. It was SO GOOD to see them. We hadn't seen them, or Mimi, since June. The kids and I rode with Adrienne in Mimi's car and Alex rode with Adam in his big 'ole truck. When we got to Mimi's, like always, she had food read for us to eat. We all ate quickly (it was almost 7 pm by the time we got done). I knew we were on borrowed time with the kiddos so Adrienne and I ran to Walmart to get the essentials...Milk, bottled water, detergent, food, snacks, breakfast stuff, etc. As we were leaving to head to Walmart for our quick run, Grandma and Grandpa Jackson arrived. The kids were able to spend time with them for awhile before bedtime. Adrienne and I shopped and went back to the beach house we were staying in with them so we could get settled. Alex's Uncle Keith has a beach house in the same community as Mimi so we stayed at his place with Adrienne and Adam and their pups. It was PERFECT. They had the beds made for us and everything ready.

 

Once the beach house was settled, Adrienne and I headed back over to Mimi's house. Alex said it was time to get the kids settled in for bed. Sawyer had fallen asleep on Alex's lap. Alex handed him off to Grandma Jackson for the rest of this sleeping. Poor boy peed through onto Grandma...like I said, he always does that.

 

Naturally when we got back to the beach house, both kids got bursts of energy. They LOVED meeting the dogs and playing with them.

 

Within minutes, Charlotte was curled up with Aunt Adrienne and Baxter. She was in love.

 

 

Once we got the kids to bed, Alex, Adam, Adrienne, and I stayed up late talking and catching up. It was so good to be reunited with them :)

 

 

Here's to five days of SC fun!!!

G, Katie, and Bare Visit Georgia

We are so lucky to have a great family. Great does not even describe it though. Back in October or November, Aunt Kathy let us know that flights were super cheap on certain dates. She let a bunch of people know. She ended up booking 2 different sets of flights to come visit us in November and in February. Well, Mary booked a flight to come see us. She bought Grandma a plane ticket for her Christmas present. When Aunt Didi found out about it, she decided to buy Katie a plane ticket for her Christmas present as well! So many visitors!! We are so lucky!

Grandma, Mary, and Katie flew into Atlanta around 1:30 pm. We were at the airport ready and waiting. Mary made Grandma ride in a wheelchair which was not something that she was fond of doing but Atlanta is a huge airport and her 76 year old body didn't need to be walking over a mile in it. 

Charlotte was so excited to have visitors coming! She was yelling for them from where we were waiting.

We were all set!! How much do you love Charlotte in this picture????

 Me and my beans waiting  for our visitors. We had plenty of people watching and plenty of travelers totally wishing they had a sign to greet them.

She was so serious about the sign. I wish I could have gotten a picture of her running to Mary when she saw her. It totally made me a bit teary-eyed. All I could think was, "This is one of the last times I will be coming to this airport to pick up visitors." Such a bittersweet moment.

This picture is stolen from Mary's Facebook.

LOVE Charlotte's face in this one.

Visitors from Illinois. This was Katie's first airplane ride. She LOVED it.

We got all loaded up into the car and headed toward Columbus. We stopped for a quick lunch then headed home. We worked on some packing and just hung out. The kids were so happy to have people at their house. Sawyer and went right to everyone and Charlotte couldn't wait to show everyone her bed and room and her toys. She is obsessed with Katie so this was one of her favorite days.

We are so happy to have them here with us for a few days! :) YAY!

Aunt Kathy's Visit July 10-12

We were so excited when Aunt Kathy decided she wanted to come visit us in Georgia. Thankfully it worked out for her to come a few weeks after Mary had been here and before mom was planning to come visit. It turned out to be the perfect week because this was a week I would need quite a bit of help.

On Tuesday July 10, 2012, we got up early (Charlotte decided that 5:15 am would be the PERFECT time to wake up and stay up) and got ready. We headed for the Atlanta airport at 7:30 am so we could be there by 9 am. It's a nice easy drive from our house to the airport. We live 3 miles off of the interstate and the airport is right off of the same interstate. Easy stuff. We got to the airport, got parked, and people watched.

Charlotte thought she was so cool on daddy's shoulders.

Aunt Kathy's flight from St. Louis arrived a bit early (which I expected it would) and we were ready and waiting with our sign! We got her luggage and loaded her up into our bus and off we went!!

We ate lunch in Columbus at McAllister's Deli and headed home to hang out for the afternoon. I had to run to the doctor for my NST to check on the baby. Baby's heartbeat looked wonderful. I ran by the grocery store to get food for the week (it's always nice to get to go without my little partner in crime) and headed home. I was having contractions...apparently I wasn't drinking enough, but once I drowned myself in water, all was good. Alex grilled out some steaks and I made the rest of the dinner. It was delicious and so nice to sit down and have a FAMILY dinner. 

Wednesday we spent the day at home playing. We had had a busy day the day before so we welcomed a hang out day at home. Charlotte and Aunt Kathy always share Aunt Kathy's meals :) Aunt Kathy is not allowed to eat anything without Charlotte having a few bites of it. Here Charlotte is sharing Aunt Kathy's breakfast with her.

We watched Toy Story 3 everyday.

Charlotte loves it! I think Aunt Kathy had it memorized by the time she went home.

We "swam" outside in the backyard in the pool. Unfortunately the pool was having a bit of an issue and the top blow up layer with it would not stay inflated. SO ANNOYING. But we went outside and played anyway. Aunt Kathy and I got into the pool with Charlotte...which she loved. She played with her water table, her jungle gym and played in her pools. And naturally she had Aunt Kathy wrapped around her finger doing whatever she wanted for her. Shocking :)

We ate dinner, watched a little TV, and then it was bath time :)

I think Charlotte loves when we have guests that do her baths. Whenever family is in town (my mom, sister, etc.) they all do her baths and I use that bit of time to either get stuff done or to sit on my rump and grow a baby.  We were giving Charlotte baths in our huge bathtub but since I am getting larger by the second, it was getting harder to get her in and out of the tub...and uncomfortable for me to sit on the top of the tub and watch her. So now she gets baths in her own bath tub. This particular day she figured out that there was a bar in the bath tub. 

The water is yellow bc we have colored dissolving tabs that go in it. So we made pee colored water this particular day. She really do love bath time and we have started using bubbles occasionally. The girl is CRAZY about the bubbles. And it's one of the words she can say really well.

Charlotte loves her bath time with Aunt Kathy. They bond very well over bath time :)

After bath time, Charlotte went nuts...like she always does. She runs around her room after she gets her jammies on and goes nuts. It's so funny. I need to figure out how to upload a video from my phone onto here. We are loving our time with Aunt Kathy and hate that she will only be able to stay for 6 days :)