Saturday Morning Out

On Saturday, we attempted to have a nice family morning out. While it was nice to be together as a family, it was definitely a challenging morning!

We decided to catch the Charleston Water Taxi from the Maritime Center and cross the harbor to Patriots Point, where the aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown, is located. The water taxi ride was great... it was a calm morning, the boys got to see dolphins, and we got to relax a bit.

The Yorktown was a different story. Jackson had no interest at all in being there. We thought for sure he'd love seeing all of the airplanes and helicopters, but instead, they freaked him out. We walked through part of the carrier to the flight deck, and all he did was whine and cry the entire time!! Once we got him to notice the helicopter, he calmed down and played for a bit, but he whined again the entire trip back to the entrance of the carrier. Harris loved the whole thing... we had to keep a hand on him the whole time or he would have been over the edge and into the harbor!!

From there, we headed to the Hilton for lunch. Since our visit to the Yorktown didn't last nearly as long as we had planned, we were early for lunch and the restaurant wasn't open. We tried to wait, but Harris had not taken his morning nap, so he began to scream. Our timing was terrible... it was 11:15 and the water taxi didn't depart again until 12:00. So, we waited 45 minutes with a screaming baby. Once back on the taxi, he calmed down, and he immediately fell asleep in the car.

We headed home for peanut butter sandwiches and long naps. It was a good attempt, and we will definitely try again... maybe in a year or so!!!

(Please excuse the picture... the friendly German tourist who took it didn't realize that he had his brochure in his hand...)

Waiting for the Taxi

Love the shoes, huh? Since he is walking now, I feel like Harris should have some on, and these are the only ones I could find! Time for a trip to Stride Rite for his Keds!

Just some cute pictures while we were waiting for the water taxi to come and get us...

Playing on the Flight Deck

Checking Out (Harold) the Helicopter

Supper Club

The girls (missing Amy, Robyn, Katharine, and Ann)...
The hosts (missing Amy)...
The guys, out grilling...


Jason and I were invited to join a wonderful supper club this year. We have gone monthly to friends' homes to be treated to yummy meals, typically with a theme. April was one of our two months to host, so we headed to Todd and Melinda's home to host with them and another friend, Amy. We had great steaks, salad, and potato casserole, and we finished it off with a chocolate tasting! It was a great group for the tasting, and they had lots of great questions. Hopefully they enjoyed it as much as we did!

We have really enjoyed being a part of it this year, and we are really looking forward to May's... it is the last one until August (so sad!), but we are going to have shagging lessons at the beach! Can't wait!

Before

Jackson finally got a haircut!! After his last traumatic experience at Oskar's, I had been dragging my feet to get another haircut. But, as you can tell from this picture, it was needed desperately. So, here are the results.....

After

Sooooo much better!! He looks like my little boy again. I am so glad to have this haricut back!

Jackson...

... is talking more and more every day. He still has a good ways to go, but he is starting to come up with more unique sentences (yesterday, his teacher told me he said, "There's another peacock!", which is a big deal for Jackson). He has even started asking questions finally.

... is still not potty trained. Ugh. I am starting full force next week when school gets out!! He can't go to camp this summer or back to school in the fall unless he is potty trained!

... is an artist. He is so into his crayons ('colors') and coloring books. He carries them everywhere and colors constantly... notice the coloring book and crayons in the jump castle!!

... calls Lowes the "Bob the Builder store".

... has a photographic memory. This boy remembers everything, including how to spell words!

... loves music! His favorite song right now is "Honkey Cat" by Elton John... it is too funny to hear him sing about his "redneck ways"!

... will ask "Who's singing?" everytime a song comes on. If he has heard the song before and I have told him the artist, I will ask him who is singing, and he will tell me (I'm telling you, photographic memory! I think he gets it from his mom!). If he hasn't heard it before, I will tell him, and next time we hear it, he will be able to tell me the artist!!

... loves watermelon! Finally a fruit he will eat!

... is such a sweet and loving little boy. One of my favorite things is when he will take my hand, lead me to the sofa, make me sit, climb into my lap, and say "Snuggle Mama". Love it.

Harris...

... is walking like a champ now. He rarely ever crawls anymore.

... still only weighs about 18.5 lbs, is still turned backwards in the car.

... eats like a pig! Poor guy just is too active to keep any weight on!

... loves giving big hugs and kisses.

... still gets daily comments on his hair. I'm wondering if it will ever grow out!

... loves his daddy! As soon as Jason walks through the door, Harris drops whatever he is doing and runs for Daddy.

... loves being outside. He is going to be our outdoorsman. If he is fussy, we can head outside, and he instantly cheers up... until we have to come back in!

... has started throwing tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. Today it was over a juice box, yesterday a sippy cup.

... is a bully! He will walk over to someone who has something he wants, snatch it, and run away as fast as possible, laughing the whole time. Such a stinker.

... is just growing up so fast! I can't believe he is already almost 14 months!!

Laundry Woes

I have the worst time with laundry. Maybe I just don't pay enough attention to what I am doing, but it drives me crazy. I have washed a red crayon, blue crayon, yellow crayon and purple crayon, quarters, dollars, and many other odds and ends. Today takes the cake, though.

Today I washed a messy diaper. Somehow, a diaper ended up in the boys' dirty clothes basket, and I missed it. Ugh... so gross. If you have never had a diaper explode on you before, it is filled with some sort of gel that absorbs any liquid. That gel then turns into little gel-balls. If you run it through a hot cycle in the washer, it turns into a big mess. I had to take all of the clothes outside to shake all of the gross little gel balls out of them. I had to vacuum little gel balls out of the washer. And off the floor. And out of the laundry basket. So gross.

Another laundry lesson learned by me today. Shake out each and every item going into the washer to make sure there are no dirty diapers in hiding.

Picnic at the Park

Caroline and Fordham joined Jackson, Harris, and I for a quick run and picnic lunch at the County Park today. Jason went away for a night with the boys in the woods, and Stephen is a tugboat captain who works 7 on, 7 off (poor Caroline... I would die!), so since we were single on a Saturday morning, we decided to do something fun! It was another beautiful morning, so we had a great time... we haven't run together since the bridge, so it was a great chance to catch up. (I love this picture of Caroline and Fordham!)
Harris' favorite part of the picnic was climbing in and out of the stroller.
Yummy lunch...
Fordham was enthralled with what was going on around us... he sat like this for what seemed like forever! Too cute! He and Jackson had a great time playing... Jackson was the big kid that Fordham followed... so funny! Hopefully Jackson didn't teach him anything too bad...
Harris loved having lunch outside.

We had a great time, Caroline and Fordham! We'll have to do it again soon!

Popcicles

Nana and Papa T introduced Jackson and Harris to popsicles while I was gone... they love them now!! I just had to post this picute... look at Harris...

Beach Trip

My great friend Nancy's parents have a home on Isle of Palms, and she invited Harris and I out for a beach morning on Friday (Jackson was at school). It was a beautiful morning, so we made the trip to play with Nancy, DuBose, Mills, and Nancy's sister, Jennie. It was Harris' first trip to the beach since he was just a few months old, so I was interested to see what he thought. He did great!! He loved the feel of the sand... that boy just danced and danced all morning! He made one dash for the ocean, but it was a bit cold still, so when he fell in, he decided it wasn't for him. He recovered quickly, though, and went back to dancing and running the beach.
DuBose and Harris had a great time playing together! DuBose would follow Harris and do everything he would do... take little steps, fall down, turn here, turn there... it was too cute! They are going to be great friends!!
Mom and Harris...
Nancy had this great tent to give a little relief from the sun (you can see Mills trying to roll over to the left) Harris thought it was the best thing ever. He would run in, dance for a few seconds, run out, run back in, dance for a few seconds, and repeat the whole thing over again. DuBose thought it was the funniest thing and would dance with Harris. These two were a trip!!
Harris loved the beach chairs.
Chasing birds.

Check out Nancy's blog... she has some cute pictures, too!

Thanks, Nancy and Jennie, for the invite to join you... we had a blast!

Reward

Look at my reward for going on vacation!! Terry and Jason were awesome and put in my backsplash while I was gone. It is beautiful, guys... I love it!! Thank you so much!!!
This is under the breakfast bar...

The pictures just don't do it justice... you all have an invitation to come see it in person!

Happy Birthday, Grandaddy!!

We hope you had a great day!! We love you and miss you lots! Lots of big Jackson andHarris hugs and kisses to you!!

Love,
Jason, Amanda, Jackson and Harris

Bald Head Island, North Carolina

Doesn't Dad look like a pro?? We arrived at Bald Head Island on Sunday afternoon... it was a perfect day, and the island was beautiful. This would be a perfect place for a family vacation. The marina, and the island in general, was quiet... I went for a run, we ate dinner, played cards, and went to bed! There was a beautiful sunset that night... it was the perfect end to our first day at sea!
The view of the lighthouse from the boat.
Marina pictures...

The lighthouse at Southport, where you can catch a ferry to Bald Head Island.
Leaving the marina.
Good-bye Bald Head Island!!

ICW Trip

A fishing boat along the ICW...
It was amazing to see all of the birds following the boat.
The sign on the dock is a little hard to see in the picture, but it is a lady in a bikini holding a sign that says "Bulk Ice/Shrimp/Live Bait"... we saw some interesting things along the ICW!

After a slow-going trip through the ICW due to all of the other boats and no-wake zones we cut though back to the ocean. It was another autopilot afternoon to Beaufort!

Beaufort, North Carolina

Sunset in Beaufort... definitely my favorite.
We arrived in Beaufort on Monday, just a day late. I had an incredible suprise planned for Dad for his birthday, but we didn't get in on time to make it. So, we planned it for 8am the next morning. Unfortunately, there was a low cloud cover on Tuesday morning, so we were unable to go on the air tour that I had planned. I was so disappointed!! Dad was suprised when we got to the airport and I told him what we were doing, but he was so good about not being able to go... he just said that we would do it when we came back through in the fall. I was so looking forward to it... I was so sad! The people at the airport were so nice about it, though, and said we should definitely reschedule next time we were going to be there. It is a date!!

I think this was my favorite stop along the way... it was such a great town... definitely somewhere I'd like to visit again!!
I think this is the only picture I have of Dad and I together on the trip!!