Travel – Page 56

Wilmington

October 8, 2014

As I mentioned earlier, Robert and I went out of town this past weekend…kid free! whoa! We traveled to Wilmington, NC for the wedding of one of my good friends, Sara, from my Dallas days with Neiman Marcus. It was a GORGEOUS weekend along the river and we had a blast. I loved getting to see some friends that I hadn’t seen in waaaaay too long!

I laughed more on this trip than I have in a long time thanks to my always entertaining friend, Vicky. She’s the funniest and the best. And Nancy is one of my besties from college who now lives in San Fran so getting to be in the same city with her was a major treat.

The wedding was beautiful and Sara was a gorgeous bride, of course!

sara wedding

Robert was a great sport despite this during the reception…

Yep, that’s him checking the score of the second half of the AL v. Ole Miss game that did not end the way we wanted. He was a trooper though and put on a smile and still hit the dance floor with me!

sara wedding

wedding

He really is the best wedding date. I’m a lucky girl!

sara wedding

Meanwhile, back at home, the boys weren’t missing us at all because they got to spend the weekend with GJ. They are lucky boys!

bham

As much fun as the weekend away was, I sure was glad to get back home where I belong!

home

See you tomorrow!

Catching up

September 22, 2014

Welcome, Monday! We’ve got a lot to catch up on. I was actually gone for half of last week and, as much fun as adventures away are, I sure missed my boys. I flew out to CA on Tuesday, spent the day in the office in San Fran on Wednesday, and flew back on Thursday. Phew. Big thanks to Robert and Susan for keeping everything running while I was gone!

A few pics from San Fran – me actually wearing real work clothes, my view from the office for the day, and my awesome dinner at Pacific Catch (it was worth photographing if only to make Robert jealous!) 🙂

san fran

Meanwhile, back at the dude ranch, the boys had a great time going to school, gymnastics and swim and even getting special treats from the Fire Station!

boys

But, as I’ve said before, the best part of going away is coming back home…

back home

A few other things to catch up on. We got a new car two weeks ago – one with a 3rd row to make room for #3! It’s an Acadia and, so far so good!

acadia

After Maxwell’s birthday party, we wrote thank you notes for all of his gifts and he wrote his name on every single card – in orange pen of course! I was super proud of him and only had to bribe him with a few handfuls of Pirate’s Booty! 🙂

thank you notes

(also have to note that he was super disappointed that his stationery doesn’t have firetrucks on it. In my defense, I ordered this before he could even talk so had no idea the love of firetrucks would be so strong! On that note, anyone seen any cute firetruck stationery? My usual go to, Minted, is failing me.)

Two weekends ago, Robert and I went to the AL game and had a blast in our (thankfully shady!) seats. Roll Tide!

al game

The boys stayed home with Ms. Jen from school and didn’t miss us one bit! and yes, I wore Maxwell’s Big Al hat to the game – fits great!

Maxwell’s getting really good on his bike and the past 2 weekends we’ve gone on long walks where he rides the whole time! Go Maxwell!

bike

We went to eat at The Club on Friday night and the weather was perfect. The boys loved throwing all of my change into the fountain…

the club

and I loved getting a picture where they were both smiling (and looking off to the side, but, I’ll take what I can get!)…

the club

Finally, I don’t have a picture for it but Robert started a new job Monday and had a great first week! He’s back at the company that he started with when we moved to Birmingham and we feel he’s just where he should be. We’re all super proud of him! We love you Robert!

Phew, feels good to be caught up a little. See you tomorrow!

More Highlands

August 6, 2014

After our Firetruck fun, we all attempted a nice lunch together with the kids…

highlands

While the food was nice, let’s just say we didn’t pick the most kid-friendly option in town! But, we survived.

Maxwell’s favorite part of lunch was getting to see sweet, baby Evelyn! He was so excited to see the little, bitty baby and it made me really excited for him to be a big brother again! 🙂

evelyn

We spent the rest of the weekend just enjoying being in the mountains…

park

boys

And we especially loved getting to hang out with Lulu and Granddaddy! Even better that we got to give Lulu a special birthday hug while we were there!! Happy Birthday Lulu!!!

highlands w lulu

Let’s do it again soon!

Weeoooo Weeeooo

August 5, 2014

We went up to Highlands, NC this past weekend for the annual Firetruck Weekend! Each year for a Saturday in August, the local volunteer fire department pulls out all of their trucks – and some other, antique ones too – for everyone to come climb on, sit in and check out. They even give people rides around town ON TOP of a firetruck! So fun! I have no idea what the liability is for that but I just climbed that 12 foot ladder and didn’t think about it! 🙂 Needless to say, our firetruck loving boys were in heaven!

fire truck

fire truck highlands

fire trucks

fire truck highlands

fire truck

The best part was that Robert’s great friend, Patrick, was there with his family. He has a little boy, Henry, who is just 2.5 months younger than Maxwell so they had a fun time playing together.

robert and patrick

Soon enough it was time to climb on to the top of the truck!

fire truck highlands

fire truck

fire truck highlands

firetruck highlands

We got to sit right behind the lights and the siren and Maxwell was like the king of the castle sitting on top of that truck waving to everyone in town as we drove around!

fire truck highlands

It was awesome. And can we please discuss Spencer wearing Maxwell’s old 2T jeans?

jeans

The cutest.

Just when we thought the day couldn’t get any better, Maxwell said, “Momma, I see Santa!” What?! Sure enough…

santa in august

I guess Santa decided he needed a break from the workshop to come check out the firetrucks!

santa highlands

It’s never too early to start your Christmas list…and I already know that another firetruck is on Maxwell’s list…again! 🙂

More pics from the weekend tomorrow!

Lake Family Reunion

July 17, 2014

On Saturday of last week, we loaded up and drove to Tim’s Ford Lake in TN for a little family reunion with Robert’s mom’s side of the family. Cousins were in from California and everyone else drove over from Huntsville, Montgomery and Birmingham to spend some time together. It’s always fun to see everyone and how much the kids have changed. Honestly, I was a little unsure about going considering what happened the last time we went (!) but we all managed to stay away from the hospital this time! 🙂

All the cousins in the best pic I could get!

cousins

Maxwell and Spencer are the youngest of the crew. Evie, the next oldest, is 5. I tend to think of Maxwell as such a big boy that it was different to see him around the real “big boys” and realize what a little guy he still is. I also learned the depth of Maxwell’s dog fear while there. While I have tried very hard to never react negatively to dogs when he’s around, he’s clearly my son and did not want to be anywhere near the two dogs…at all. If he found himself within 3 feet of a dog, he would let out the most piercing scream you’ve ever heard. Yea, that made things fun. Regardless, there was plenty of playtime without dogs around…

cousins