Georgia trip

We took advantage of being relatively close to my parents in Georgia and went there for a few days last week.  My sister Jordan flew in from Utah, so we went while she was there.  We had a pretty good balance of  down time hanging out at home and of doing things.

Jackson was soooo excited to go to Gramma and Grampa's house.  We made a countdown chain and he'd take off two or three links a day.  I'd have to put them back on after he went to bed.  He'd tell anyone and everyone that he was going to Gramma's house and was going to have a birthday party at Gramma's house.
I guess I'll just take it a day at a time...
Thursday, July 21
After staying up til 2 AM to make sure our kitchen and dining room was spotless, I went to bed.  We've had ants in the house and I did NOT want to come home to a house swarming with ants.  I spent the morning finishing up packing and getting ready to go. Jack came home from work early and we left home around 3:00.
Both boys slept in the car for a while.  We planned to stop at IKEA in Charlotte for dinner and to get some more kid dishes.  Jackson woke up before we got there and did not want us to stop--he just wanted to get to Gramma's house!  Clayton slept in his car seat through most of our IKEA experience.  We got back on the road and continued on our way.  It was a pretty uneventful drive.  Clayton slept most of the way and Jackson played happily and then slept when it got later.  It wasn't in the original plan, but the timing was perfect for us to pick up Jordan from the airport on our way through Atlanta.  Really, if we had planned it from the beginning there is no way we would have had such great timing.  She walked out of the airport to the curb just as we were pulling up.  We arrived home around midnight and then went to bed around 1:30 AM.

Friday we mostly just hung out at home and caught up on lost sleep.
Clayton crawled around...

Jordan on the scooter with Jackson & Clayton.  When they got off we discovered Clayton had a messy diaper that leaked on Jackson and Jordan as he was sandwiched between them.  Oops.

 This is one of Clayton's favorite new things to do...he likes to grab your face/hair and put his forehead against yours and coo and talk to you.  It is pretty sweet.

I decided that the girls should do a craft project while we were together so I looked at a bunch of ideas online and eventually ended up kinda making up my own.  I wanted to make some summer decor something-or-other, and it is more fun to do with other people (and cheaper), and I thought it would be good to have something to do during our "down time" at home.  Of course it ended up taking longer than I'd planned even though I did a lot of the prep work at home before going.  And a big thanks to Dad for cutting and sanding 40 blocks of wood for us!

Saturday

I wanted to go bike riding at Callaway Gardens but the weather forecast for the time we were there didn't look like it was going to cooperate--it was either too hot or supposed to rain.  We ended up going to the beach at Callaway Gardens instead and had fun there.  We got there just in time to see the circus.

Bently & Bonnie came over when we got home from Callaway Gardens.  We had hamburgers for dinner and hung out and visited.  Later, the boys watched a movie while the girls worked on our craft project.

Sunday

Jackson made biscuits with Grampa in the morning and we went to church.  It was nice to be there all together.  We filled an entire middle pew.  Jackson was so tired.  He fell asleep on Bently's lap during sacrament meeting and was totally out.

We did the obligatory group picture...It's always a bit of a struggle and there's usually at least one or two people who have to be bribed to get through it, but we did it.  Just imagine Shawn in that little gap between Jordan and Ryan.

Sunday dinner...

Then we had a birthday party for all of us birthday folks who were having birthdays in the next two weeks. Me, 26 on July 26th; Jack, 30 on August 3;  Jordan, 23 on August 4; Jackson 3 on August 10

The cake.  You can't really tell from this angle, but it's a race track in the shape of a "3" ...I thought of doing a car shaped cake, but this was a whole lot easier.

Doesn't Jackson look thrilled about his new train?  And ya gotta love the chocolate drool running down his chin.

Put Jackson's "3" cake together with a bundt, and what do you get? Happy 30 to Jack! 

My mom went through some of the children's books and made stacks for each of us to take home (don't worry, there are still plenty at her house for Gramma story time).  We each had some that were favorites.

Ryan had been at scout camp for a week so he hadn't shaved in a while...

 One of these is not like the other:

 And all the boys:

Monday

We went to the LaGrange sMall to the Sock Shoppe, like always, and then went to Bonsai, a Japanese cook-in-front-of-you restaurant. 

Every time I go home I try on my wedding dress...I think this might have been the last time.  It was pretty tight to zip it up.   Jackson wanted me to pull him around on the train of my dress.

And then I stayed up way too late finishing (well, almost finishing) our craft project.  I wish I'd done a few things different, like ink the edges of the paper before I put them on the blocks, but oh well.  I actually started and finished a project, so I'm happy about that.

and on the other side...

Tuesday

We spent my birthday driving back to North Carolina.  It really wasn't a terrible way to spend it though, because we got to see friends and family along the way, and I got to be with Jack the whole day.

We left LaGrange around noon and then met up with Jack's cousin Tyler, his wife Rachael, and their two cute girls, Abigail and Lucy, for lunch at Jason's Deli in Alpharetta, GA.   Abigail is just four days younger than Jackson and Lucy is a few months younger than Clayton.  It was fun to see them for a little bit.

We stopped in Charlotte to visit David, Julia, and Henry Moss, friends from the MBA program.  It was really short notice so other MBAers couldn't make it, but we were happy to see the Moss family!  They even made us dinner and had cupcakes for my birthday! 

 (yes, I look pretty rough... we'd been in the car all day, ok?)

We made it back home again around midnight I think. It took a few days to get the boys to sleep through the night again (ok, we're still working on it) and I still haven't cleaned out the car completely or finished putting away everything from our trip (that's just pathetic) but it was still worth it.  It has been great to be within driving distance of LaGrange.  It's a long drive, but it is doable.

Thanks for the fun trip, everyone!