A Visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s House

One of the trips we made in August was to visit Grandma and Grandpa up in Pennsylvania.  I don’t know how to explain it but their house has always held a special magic and I think that’s especially true for me and my cousins Phil and Paul.  Being a kid there playing in the pond, wrecking driving 4-wheelers, skeet shooting, and family ping pong where you learned how to strut your stuff are the kind of memories that stick with you for a lifetime.  Although as an adult I haven’t been able to spend near as much time there as I would have liked, it was so special for me to bring Sean and Dylan, if only for a day, to hopefully share in that magic and recapture some of those wonderful childhood memories of my own.

Sean’s 3rd Birthday

Our baby turned 3 years old last month – yikes. He had a great birthday at Pop Pop and GG’s house and we were thrilled that so many people were able to come!  We had great food, opened lots of presents and were able to make some time for the boats and wave runners.  Sean didn’t love us singing to him (in fact I think we may have permanently damaged him with the Happy Birthday song) - he was more interested in playing with all of his new toys :)

The “Cool” Family Visits

Earlier last month we had a great visit from Uncle Marshall & Aunt Megan and Cousin Katie and Rob (or as Sean liked to call him, “Bob” (I think Sean will get along splendidly with Mamaw Bryant - haha)).  The boys - John included - were really excited to hang out and everyone kept busy going to the pool, for a ride on the boat and playing guitars.  It’s a heck of a drive from home for all of them and we were so happy that they came and spent some time with us!  I guess this means that it’s our turn to drive up next… :)

Sean’s 1st Day of Preschool

I just got back from dropping Sean off for his 1st day of preschool (he’ll be going T/Th in the afternoons). I was prepared for a lot of tears (from both of us) but as usual Sean made the transition easily and seemed really excited about going to school. He brought his “Lightning McQueen & Mater backpack” with a water bottle and change of clothes. He’s excited because they have a fish tank there and as soon as we walked in he asked Miss Sally their names (Nemo, Goldie & Oreo). I can’t wait to hear all about his new adventures and given the amount he talks these days, he’ll go on and on until it’s time for bed telling us about it!

Catch-up: Surprise Trip to MD

I was talking to my mom one Friday morning on my way into work and she mentioned that the Blue Angels were flying that weekend and that Grandma and Grandpa were coming down so they planned to take the boat up to Baltimore to see them fly.  As I was sitting at work I kept getting this nagging feeling that I needed to be there. It was Father’s Day, too, and it just seemed right.  One major problem: I was sitting at work at 10am on Friday with no plane tickets, nothing packed and hadn’t mentioned anything to my family.  So I called John and told him about my crazy idea of taking Sean up for the weekend.  Whatever I could pack I would pack and just buy anything else I needed when we got there.  I don’t think he believed that I’d actually do it (I wasn’t sure I would either) but we did agree that it was too fast of a trip to take Dylan so John said he would stay home with the baby and I would take Sean with me.  I have to say that leaving John on Father’s Day was almost a game changer but he really is awesome and was supportive of my crazy idea (as usual).  So but the time I worked all that out, it was 4pm before I logged onto make a plane reservation and was lucky enough to find a flight that evening at a reasonable price.  I decided not to tell anyone I was coming because I never do things like this and it just added to the drama :)

So, I raced home from work, got home around 5:15, packed and was out the door at 6:15!  Sean was excited and did a great job on the plane (he didn’t stop talking about all the things he was seeing – it was so cute) and I pride myself on taking both of us, our suitcases plus a car seat and getting it in the cab without much hassle.  Needless to say, we ended up on my parent’s doorstep close to 10pm on Friday night.  There were no lights on and I started to get scared thinking a) they’re not home and the cab is gone. perfect. b) they’re all in bed and now we’re going to wake everyone up.  So I rang the bell which goes to their phone (I know, fancy) and I saw my mom get up and go to answer it. I told her it was a special delivery which she wasn’t buying and before long I thought she was going to call the cops on us! Finally my dad came closer and told mom she better open the door.  They were SO SURPRISED to see me and Sean standing there!

To make a long story short (too late) we had a great weekend! Sean was a fabulous traveler and it was exciting to be able to just pick up and go with him.  Once Dylan gets a little older there’s no telling whose front stoops we might end up on… so look out!

McDaris Reunion 2012

We had another successful McDaris Reunion weekend in Asheville NC last weekend.  Pop Pop and GG came down for the long weekend, Ashley met up with us in Asheville, and we were jam packed as usual!  Friday was spent playing in Charlotte, Saturday we headed up to Ashville and ate pizza and danced at the bluegrass festival Shindig on the Green, and Sunday we went to the reunion and explored our family’s land in the mountains before heading back on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Like my Pop Pop used to say, “They blue, ain’t they?” 

You know each year our reunion seems to sneak up on us and we’re always so busy that it’s easy to think ‘I just don’t have time’ this year.  But once you’re there and take time to just relax, enjoy your family and the beauty of the mountains, you realize just how important it is to make time for family and to honor your history.  Very important indeed!

Ashley’s Visit

Now that my cousin Ashley lives in Christiansburg VA (and yes Hokie friends, we plan on crashing at her house for a game or two!) she was able to come visit for a long weekend. We had a lot of fun and Sean told me that he likes “Ash-a-wee” because “she’s a lot of fun to play with.”  We were busy – took the boat out, watched some movies at home, visited the pool, went to a movie in the theater (a rare luxury these days) and had some pretty nice meals! Oh, and don’t make fun of my awkward smiling-a-bit-too-big pose below, I was on my tippiest tippy toes trying to be as tall as Ashley ;)

 

 

 

He’s Loose!

Since Sean did so well sleeping in a regular bed at the beach, we decided to keep up the momentum and take the side off his crib when we got home.  He was really excited and made a great transition.  In fact, today was the first time he’s even gotten out by himself before we came in the room.  But now that he is potty trained it’s good that he can get out when he needs to - what a big boy!

Family Vacation

We took our first “family of 4 Family Vacation” last week to Hilton Head Island, SC.  The first few days were rainy with a tropical storm (that’s just our luck) but the rest of the week was beautiful. We stayed at the resort where Carolyn and I would visit the Harris clan 10+ years ago so the whole trip brought back a lot of really fun memories.   We also had a lot of fun and the boys were great – they slept in the same room for the first time and had fun giggling with each other at nap time.   We kept them up late and slept in most mornings and made the most of our first family vaca!

I had to put my pictures into a picture montage because  1) I took too many to include in a post here; 2) I love making picture montages; and 3) I like using the word ‘montage’.  Enjoy!

Dylan’s 1st Birthday

As I say in almost every post, where does the time go? Our baby turned one a few weeks ago and we’re still getting used to it.  I just can’t believe it’s been a year!  We had a really nice family birthday party for him and we were all very excited that both Grandma & Grandaddy and Pop Pop & GG came from out of town to celebrate.  We had a barnyard baby animal theme which was cute and Dylan seemed to really enjoy the cake.  In fact, you’ll see in one of the pictures below that it’s actually missing some icing because he took a big swoop of it right as he was blowing out his candle!

We started a new tradition of the Birthday Hat this year.  Since Grandaddy and Emmi’s birthdays are the day after Dylan’s they got to wear the hat and celebrate too!

Dylan is starting to get toys that Sean thinks are pretty cool so Sean had to try a few things out to make sure he could explain things to Dylan ;)

So Much to Blog, So Little Time…

I always have these great ideas in my head of picture collages, movie montages with just the right songs, extensive details about all of the important things going on with the 4 of us but can never seem to make enough time to do all of it!  So, in lieu of posting about Dylan’s 1st birthday, our surprise trip to MD or having a cute family vacation post, here is a little teaser video of my boys fishing our last night of vacation. It was a good time :)

Happy Father's Day

To our wonderful fathers, Happy Father's Day! We love you!

Aunt Laura’s Visit

While John and I traveled to Boston for Noelle’s graduation, Aunt Laura made her first trip down to Charlotte with GG to watch the boys for a long weekend.  As much as I loved getting to see Noelle, it was bittersweet because I would have loved to spend more time with Aunt Laura.  But as you can see, the boys had a blast taking walks, seeing horses, jumping in water puddles and just hanging out! I hope one day Sean and Dylan will take trips together like this… siblings have a special bond :)

Mommy’s Home!

Oh. False alarm. Don’t judge.

Two L’s is a Doctor!

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Noelle (or “Two L’s” as my dad calls her) graduated from dental school this month! John and I were able to go up for the ceremony and spend some time in Boston.  Being an only child, I adopted people and families when I was younger. Next to Carolyn, Noelle was my other sister.  Her family was my family.  I loved all the chaos (6 kids in total) at their house and have so many fond memories of spending time together. We’re really proud of you Noelle. Congratulations!

You know I can’t help putting some oldies but goodies in here.

 

These are from back in Berrywood.  I think the one on the left has to be around 5th grade? And the one on the right is from our Middle School farewell dance.  I’d finally stopped perming my hair. We didn’t have dates.  We wore the same shoes in different colors.  It was awesome.

Fun Trip to Boca!

John and I met my Mom and Dad down in Boca Raton FL for a few days earlier this month.  Dad received an alumni award from his college, Florida Atlantic University!  Gus and Leigh came to stay with the kids and John and I dug out our shorts, bathing suits and suntan lotion for a rare getaway.  Florida, however, has some strange vendetta against me and John (Noelle and Scott can attest to this) so of course there was the worst storm just circling around our part of the state most of the time we were there. But we kept busy, didn’t let it get us down and eventually the sun came out.

We got to see Mom and Dad’s old condo – where they lived while they were “yung’ins” in Boca. We gawked at the mansions in West Palm Beach, visited some antique shops, got massages, rented a very chic beach cabana and ate way too much.

One really cool thing we did was to take an airboat ride in the everglades.  We saw a bunch of alligators and had the chance to see a nest (nest? is that right?) of babies who were very interested in the Cheez Its our captain fed them :)  Afterwards we toured the little zoo and saw this amazing peacock who was quite intent on catching the eye of a lovely lady peacock. I won’t attempt to make a comment about the turtles but how often do you get a picture like that?  Classy.  And somehow in the misty rain that day, I managed to get a sunburn on my knees. Double classy.

Thanks Gus and Leigh for staying with the boys and thanks Mom and Dad for an unforgettable trip!