Charlotte's First Trip to the Zoo

It was so great to still have the afternoon to hang out together so Alex and I took Charlotte to the Greenville Zoo. It was kind of a sad little zoo but she could have cared less. We knew she'd just love the animals. So we went to the zoo. 

Ironically the first animal we saw with the "eye-ya-ya"... the elephant. She LOVED the elephant!!!

 Seeing her first real life elephant. It was love at first sight.

 She couldn't stop staring. It was so cute.

 She wasn't quite sure what to think about the lion statue especially after....

 ...she fell off. BOOM. A few tears were shed on that one. At least I got a pic mid fall!

 "Everyone jump in! Let's go on the safari!"

 Another favorite for Charlotte was the giraffe. They were out and about the entire time and just kept moving all over.

 Such a pretty creature.

 Charlotte kept waiving to the giraffe hoping he'd notice her.

 As soon as we got to the lion, he just sat down in front of the window and wouldn't move. He was so cool and huge but he wouldn't move. Then this huge group of dirty little kids came up and were pushing Charlotte out of the way. I can't stand random kids. They annoy me.

 Her little hand is so small compared to the monkey thingy's

 Her favorite part of the day.... SNACK TIME!!!!

 Charlotte got to have a slushy...a purple one. She LOVED it. Lots of sugar! She got so hyper after a few bites.

 This fancy little couple were on the same track as we were at the zoo. They are "cat people". They kept talking about their cats. And they kept saying everything loud enough for us to hear. They were so strange. Then they had to pause and have a snuggle session in the park.

 Another statue... this time Daddy stayed with her.

 She was loving the turtle and the alligator. She was telling me all about the "wah-wah."

 Charlotte and momma and the flamingos in the background.

 I look ginorm in this pic BUT it's ANOTHER family pic!!! So many in one day!

The petting zoo portion of the zoo... 

...and Charlotte was LOVING the goats!! 

So was I! Check this one out... with the mouth open. 

This one reminds me of my sisters and I. I'm the middle one. They are waiting for their food...the best part of their day. 

 I have no idea what she's telling us in this picture :)

 After the zoo, we headed to Spartanburg to meet mom and dad. They were headed to Charleston anyway that day to help me get ready for our next Open House and to take me and the kids back to Illinois with them. So we timed it with them so we could all meet up for dinner. We met up at Longhorn Steakhouse in Spartanburg. It was a good dinner. It was delicious. Charlotte ended up throwing up all over me during it. 

One last Jackson family picture for awhile... 

Bye Bye Baby :(

We went our separate ways. Alex went back to Greenville, Charlotte rode with mom and dad to Charleston, and I drove by myself and stopped to get some moving boxes from Alex's brother. It was a great 24 hours. We miss all of our time with him :(

A Quick Visit with Alex - Downtown Greenville

So we decided to make a last minute trip to Greenville to see Alex. He had drill April 14 and 15th so he wanted Charlotte and I to drive up to Greenville and meet him the evening of the 12th. Since Charlotte had been sick and my blood pressure had spiked, we were a bit iffy about making the drive. However, I knew that we wouldn't see him for at least a month so I knew we needed to go. We couldn't leave until the afternoon of the 12th bc I had to hand in my urine and get labs drawn in the afternoon. So Charlotte hung out with her bff's Parker and Gavin while I ran and took care of things. When I got back to pick her up, I was feeding her part of a cheeseburger when she threw up a TON of mucous/drainage. TONS. Niki is an amazing friend. She helped me clean up me, Charlotte, her kitchen floor, her kitchen table, etc. SO GROSS. My poor baby was feeling TERRIBLE. However, we moved onward and upward. She got all of her medicine including some Benadryl and she went "night night" as soon as we got in the car. She slept for over 2 hours on the way there.

We got to Greenville after 5. Charlotte and I checked into the room in downtown then we went on a walk. We were bombarded by protesters at one point and then some kind of creepy middle aged guy at another. The middle aged guy came and sat near us as we were sitting by a fountain listening to music. He asks, "May I talk to your daughter?" I was like, "Ummm, yeah, that's fine." I mean, what was she going to say back??? So weird. After that I got out of there. Alex got to the hotel around 8 so he was able to play with Charlotte a bit before she fell asleep. SHE LOVES HER DADDY. She was so happy to see him. "Da Da" is what she kept yelling when we were sitting in the lobby waiting for him to pull up. Once he got there, we went upstairs and played and read books and talked and laughed. He and I ordered pizza and Charlotte fell asleep on his lap while we ate. It was a perfect night. We were asleep by 10:30.

The next morning we were up with the sun :) Kidding... Charlotte woke up around 3 am with a 102.3 temp. We gave her some medicine and we went back to sleep. When we got up for good, we ate the continental breakfast then headed out for a walk on the town. Falls Park is a big attraction in downtown Greenville. It's a man made park with a waterfall and a suspended bridge over all of it. It's beautiful. So we walked down to see it.

 Our first family picture in MONTHS.

She was so happy to have someone carry her ALLLLL around. 

It was a pretty day. 

 This child could be named Mother Earth. She loves nature and outside and anything having to do with animals. She was so happy to be able to run free and be outside alll day.

 A bit of a posed picture.

 I'm sure there was a sign somewhere that said, "Do not chase the ducks" but we didn't see it. So we just let her go crazy. We saw one duck being attacked and chased by a bunch of other ducks. I felt so bad for him. I guess bullying even happens between ducks. Things like that make my heart hurt. I know, I'm lame.

 Yep. I can't believe it either. A picture of me and my child. Yes. Someone took one for us. I know, weird, right????? :)

 Falls Park. 

 Even though Charlotte appears to be a bit drunk, I actually like this picture of me. And, no, you aren't just seeing things. This really is ANOTHER picture of me with my child. WEIRD. Love this baby girl.

 The Jackson family... you can even see #2 peaking out there :)

After we walked ALL over Falls Park, we made our way back toward the hotel. We stopped and ate lunch outside at "Trio" (we went on a date there right around the time we got pregnant with Charlotte...just a little FYI). Charlotte fell asleep (after fighting it for a bit). We were actually able to both eat at the same time. CRAZY. We then walked back to the hotel and got all of our luggage loaded up and made our way to our next stop.... THE ZOO.

Just A Normal Sunday In Georgia

On April Fool's Day, after we celebrated our Easter morning doing the normal Easter morning activities, we decided to go out and about in Columbus. We wanted to look at a few areas to see where would be a good place for us to set up camp, we wanted to get some food, and we wanted to just spend time together.

After driving around looking at a few places while Charlotte took her morning nap, we went to Cheddar's for lunch. LOVE ME SOME CHEDDAR'S. We used to have one about 20 minutes from my parent's house in Illinois but I haven't eaten there in years. SO, we ate at Cheddar's. The weather was beautiful... sunny and in the 80's... so we sat out on the patio. Charlotte LOVED that.

Reading the menu...trying to figure out what sounds delicious.

She is her mother's daughter. The girl LOVES ketchup. Dip it in ketchup and she will eat it... anything.

My daddy is so funny!! Even when he's trying to wipe my nose.

So serious... in fact, they may be fighting in this picture.

"Who's that?" (She actually says this now. Cracks me up.)

I think Charlotte looks so grown up and pretty in this picture. I love this picture of her.

Cheddar's had a little fountain/pond in the front. Charlotte was looking for "ish" in the "wah-wah".

After lunch, we went shopping for some new shoes for Alex and for some new jammies for Charlotte. Then we drove around some more. We ventured into Phenix City, AL which looked like it might just be the Meth Capital of the World so I told Alex that we will live in Georgia, not Alabama. The reason it's cheaper to live there is obvious. After making it safely back across the Chattahoochee River into Columbus, we enjoyed some ice cream together. It was fabulous.

Then it was back to "the house" where Alex is staying. He lives on Lake Harding so he and Charlotte wanted to play outside by the water.

She wore her new zebra romper...which, in true Walmart fashion, had straps that were too long. it was cute regardless.

She just LOVES playing with her daddy.

The amazing part about the location of this house is that it is on a peninsula on the lake. There is water on three sides of it. This is Alex's boss' front yard. Don't hate.

The girl loves water... any water.

She got in waist deep before Alex could get a good hold on her.

Check her FULL DIAPER

After playing in the water, running around like crazy in the grass, and hearing of neighbors shooting snakes in the water with their shotgun, we went inside the guest house and cleaned up. We got pizza from a place called "The Store" up the road. It's a pizza place/gas station/grocery store/convenience mart. Quite the place. Charlotte was asleep by 8, Alex by 8:15, and me by 9. What a day!!!

The next morning we got up and had breakfast and took our time packing. Charlotte and Alex were enjoying their last morning together for a few weeks.

We loaded up the car and headed to Atlanta. We stopped on the way to eat lunch then headed to the airport. I felt pretty sick all weekend long, so Alex was able to come to the gate with me to help with Charlotte. He hung out with us until the last possible minute. Charlotte and him enjoyed ice cream and walks throughout the airport. What a great weekend we had. It's always hard to say "goodbye". We miss him so much every single day...