Trip Down South

We spent two weeks in early July back down South.  We got to go to the beach with Bech's family and stay in both Brookhaven in Jackson, so lots of family time!

We flew into Jackson and hopped in the car the next day to spend a long weekend at the Beach Club in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  Bech was able to come last minute so he flew into NOLA and drove over with his brother.  

Which means I flew by myself with both boys.  It was as bad as it sounds.  Actually, it really wasn't, but it definitely wasn't a fun experience.

We all had the best time at the beach!  Gil is a big beach fan, and Jack prefers the pool (mostly because he can practice his swim skills!).  They went to bed completely wiped out every night.

And of course they loved getting lots of time with grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

When we got back to Jackson, we spent the rest of the time back in forth between it and Brookhaven.

This is the first snow cone that has been only for Gil.  He only ate half of it (is he even my child???), but he sure is cute here.

Jack on the other hand ate his in 5 seconds then begged for some of mine.

Also that is an old soccer jersey from a team my brother coached.  Also known as Jack's favorite new shirt.  Forget designer duds, just give him jerseys.

Jack's favorite Brookhaven tradition is making donuts with my grandmother.  It's my great-grandmother's recipe, and my Nana has been making them for us since as long as I can remember.

One of my favorite Brookhaven traditions is spending as much time as possible on the front porch, at least when it's cool enough.  My parents live in a victorian house built in 1904 that has a large porch out front.  I drank coffee there every morning while the boys ran around.  And on this night, mom and I made drinks and listened to Anne Bogel's What Should I Read Next podcast (obsessed much?).

We were even able to visit with some cousins who drove in for the day.  Tricia and I both think Millie and Gil look alike, so it was fun to have them side by side!

Doc (my dad) took us all to a Mississippi Brave's game one night.

It was SO hot, but these boys loved it!  Gil would pump his arms up and down or clap every time something good happened in the game.  And Jack was so serious about it all.

I drove up one day to meet my bed friend Courtney, her husband, and her son for lunch at the Council House Cafe (where I had the best BLT of my life).  I loved getting to meet Baby Matthew for the first time!

I love this picture.  Just a snapshot of Gil trailing after my Nana while she waters the plants.  I was lucky enough to have a great grandmother until I was 14, and I love that my Nana and Papa are able to be a big part of my little boys' lives!

Jackson, MS, has the BEST children's museum.  Seriously, it's right up there with The Magic House in St. Louis.  We were able to go there our last day (our flight was late afternoon).

The museum had a visiting Thomas exhibit.  Jack loved it, and I was hoping we were rekindling our Thomas obsession.  So far, he hasn't pulled out the trains since getting home...Oh well, there's always Gil!

We had a quintessential last day in Jackson: Children's Museum, lunch at Beagle Bagle with Uncle Hunter and Nina (Bech's mom), and then popsicles at Deep South Pops with Uncle Blaise and Bella (my mom).  And when you are an extremely messy little boy, you have to eat your popsicle shirtless!

It was a great trip and we are already missing our family!  But we have over a month left of summer, so time to tackle our Vermont summer bucket list!

Planes, Snowcones, and a Wedding!

We just got back from two weeks in Mississippi.  Which obviously means, photo dump time!

Let's start the two weeks off with our first travel day.  I flew home with both boys by myself a week before Bech.  Because I love torturous plane rides with temper tantrum throwing 18 month olds (I'm looking at you, Gil).

I set my alarm to wake me up in plenty of time for our 5:55 a.m. flight.  But then my phone asked me if I wanted to update.  And for once, I said yes the first time it asked.  Dumb move.  I woke up at 5:50 a.m. and immediately started crying.  The first Delta rep said we could fly out the next day for $1000 extra.  I got off the phone, cried, looked up on google maps to figure out how long I would need to be in the car to drive us home.  I called Delta back and my new rep looked at every possible connection.  He found us a flight later that day (and it only cost us $100 extra!).  I may have told him that I loved him several times.

The first flight was rough (see above), but the other flights were not too bad.  I even got a free gin and tonic on one of those flights.  Which means that Bech and I have now received 6 or 7 free gin and tonics in the last 1 1/2 of flying with both boys.  Y'all, we must look some kind of exhausted when we travel.

We made it home at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night, so tired but so glad to be done with traveling!

Of course, our first course of business on Thursday was SNOW CONES.  I will take stressful travel days for a snow cone.  Totally worth it.  And snow cones with Nana and Papa?  Even better!

And of course a stop at Janie's was in order (don't worry, we waited until Friday for that).

A local feed store had bunnies and chicks out, so we took the boys by for a quick cuddle.

Jack was NOT a fan.

Some church friends invited us to their Easter egg hunt.  Gil was a natural!

Gil is also a natural at eating.  He's trying his first hush puppy.  SO GOOD.

The boys got spoiled, as usual.  My mom gave them Easter baskets (I threw a couple of clothing items from Boden in as my happy--needless to say, they were not that excited about new clothes), and then Bech's mom gave them Easter baskets too.  

Easter morning with my sweet boys.  Also, I wore this outfit last year:

Oops, and Jack wore the same outfit!  Well, both outfits fit and Jack's is an Easter smock (and it's probably the last Easter he will wear smocked!).

I love this picture, because Jack is looking at Gil so sweetly.  He can be mean and too rough with Gil, but he can also be SO sweet.

The boys with my grandparents.  Heads up, Gil looked like this for a lot of the trip home.  He does not like new people!  Bech and I often said, "Please, just don't look at him!"  Oh goodness, this child!

We had the best Easter lunch.  We made yummy, pinterest inspired potatoes, rolls, asparagus, and steak.  It was the perfect amount of food.  Then we ate homemade angel food cake and a raspberry yogurt pie.  I am not a big ham person, so I enjoyed doing something a little different.

On Monday, Jack's daycare teacher from Baton Rouge (and also a friend of mine!) drove up to see the boys.  I know some people don't want to send their kids to daycare, but we have had just the BEST experiences with daycare, and Dunham daycare is at the top of that list.  Elizabeth and I have kept up for the past almost three years, so it was so fun to see her in person again!

We had a little photo fast (unintentionally) up until the wedding.  Bech flew into town on Wednesday and we got right into gear.  Bech's little brother got married, and we just LOVE his new wife.  Jack is a HUGE Mary Kathryn fan!

Mary Kathryn included my other sister-in-law and me and invited us to the bridesmaids lunch.  It was out at Livingston.  I had only been once (to the farmer's market) so I enjoyed getting to eat out there this time.

The rehearsal dinner was incredible!  Seriously, doesn't this picture look beautiful?  Bech's mom, Karey, put so much time and thought into this event.  She is an incredible entertainer, but this night might have topped anything else!

These are the tables up close.  She collected vintage glasses for people to drink water out of.  The paper bags had wooden cutlery and a napkin inside.  There were appetizers and fish tacos as well as a burger food truck.  We had Deep South Pops for dessert.

And the drinks (French 75--my fav!, wine, and beer) were served out of this, the Karovan.  How cute is it?  She is planning on renting this out for events.  It was used at the rehearsal dinner and the reception and it was so fun!

I love this picture.  I hate that the quality is a little blurry, but still.  This is the bride, my brother-in-law, and my mother-in-law.  You can get a glimpse of the beautiful flowers.

There was a photo booth there with props.  I never made it (I know, sad!), but Jack took some pictures with "his new best friends."

I didn't get any pictures at the wedding, but a cousin snapped a few.  This is Jack climbing a tree with one of those new best friends, Henry.  I think Henry is his 2nd or 3rd cousin.  They had a blast playing together!

Not the best picture of any of us, but we were there!  Gil and Jack stayed until almost 9.  Gil was having the best time out on the dance floor.

Sunday morning was one last event, the out of town brunch.  My mom and I, along with 4 other women, helped give this even.

Bech's cousin from NOLA set up the cutest mimosa and bloody mary bar.

The yummy spread!

Jack and his new aunt.  And yes, his hand is in a super awkward spot.

We took it slow the next couple of days.  I think one of my favorite moments (I hate I don't have a picture of this) is right before we headed to the airport.  Bech's mom, Bech, Jack, and I (and Gil when he woke up from his nap) sat out on their front porch, swinging and eating the leftover popsicles.  We had a great two weeks at home!

5 on Friday

And here we go...

O     N     E

And cousin watch is officially over!  We all drove down to DC last Thursday, and Anne Douglas was born Friday morning.  To say we are smitten would be a gross understatement.

But really, isn't she just beautiful?

T     W     O

We are enjoying a crazy mild winter up here.  I say enjoy this week, but we have actually been sad about it too.  There has been SO little snow this year!  

But around the end of February, I always start to lose my patience with winter and long for spring.  This is not a good thing, because usually we have snow on the ground for most of March and sometimes into April.

But this year, we have warm days.  Yesterday was 58 degrees...crazy!  And it looks like we are done with freezing temps and will stay in the 40's or higher from here on out.

Time to get out and enjoy all of the parks we've missed this winter!

T     H     R     E     E

I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but in two weeks, we will be heading home to Mississippi for two weeks.  SO EXCITED.  Spring in Mississippi is my favorite.  Bech's little brother is getting married (and we just love his fiance!).

But let's all be real for a moment.  You know this is what I'm thinking about the most:

Let's just say, I'm pretty sure there will be snow cones in heaven.

F     O     U     R

I'm still doing 21 day fix.  I took my week of maintenance and then hopped back on for another round.  Of course, I didn't follow it at all while in DC, so I'm going to add in another week.

I'm a little nervous about how to follow it while I'm in Mississippi for two weeks.  I think the exercise part should be okay.  I've got grandparents that can help watch kids while I do that.  But the eating is harder.  I have already decided that for the rehearsal dinner and wedding, I'm not going to obsess over the eating plan.  But it will be hard to say no to some southern favorites!

I asked my challenge group for tips on how to do the fix while traveling, and they suggested:  get the exercise in first thing; make sure your breakfast and snacks work with the plan; for lunch and dinner, just try to do the best you can; salads are a great choice because, even if they have some unhealthy toppings, you are at least filling up on greens.

So any other beachbody people out there with tips on traveling and clean eating?

F     I     V     E

A couple of nights ago, as I was tucking Jack in, this was his prayer:  

"Dear God, hm, I forget what I like about you. Can you imagine if you couldn't remember something you said it to me, and you said it again. Thanks for my scooby doo Legos. Did you know it's almost spring? Thanks for making it almost spring. And thanks for making ninjago Legos. When I'm like 89 or something or 6, I want to play with those. Can you make my mom say yes? Can you imagine if your mom said you could have ninjago Legos? Can you, God? I can imagine that. Amen."

Let me just say again, four is such a fun age!  This little wild man is the perfect mix of crazy energy, sweet snuddles, and countless questions.  That's not to say I don't have moments where I scream, "You're going to make me go insane!" (for the record, I had cleaned up legos the night before and he then pulled them out again!  I'm going to end up needing therapy over the legos.).  But those moments are mostly overshadowed by the joy that Jack brings daily.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Spring Break

So this spring break, I flew home by myself with two boys.  Bech's thesis show was only a couple of weeks after spring break, so it gave him lots of time at the studio and the boys and I got to see family.  Win-win, right?

Flying with both boys by myself?  Eh, not so fun.  But we managed.  And both boys were actually really, really good.  The only flight that was rough was the last one on the way back.  Jack was getting a little restless.  But even then, the flight attendant told me after that flight that Jack was great.  So not too bad, but very stressful for me!

Gilbo, being a sweetheart and sleeping.  He was quite the flirt on all four flights!

My little goofy boy, Jack.

(excuse the next two pictures, they are screen shots so not the best quality)

Jack spent the first three days of spring break in New Orleans with Nina and Farfar (Bech's parents).  He had a great time, and I think he loved getting to be an only child for a bit.

Here he is dressed up like a "cooker man," just like his Uncle Hunter.

My sweet Gilly boy.  He is just getting to be so fun.  He loved getting cuddled and hugged.  He is a little snuggle bunny, so this was a great trip for him,

My grandparents drove back from Florida early.  Jack got to make doughnuts with Nana one morning.

I only had one great grandmother growing up (and I know that I am lucky to even have had one!).  Jack and Gil have three!  How amazing is that?  Jack just adores his Nana and Papa...and, of course, Nana's doughnuts!

We joined in on a St. Paddy's day parade in Brookhaven.

Even Gil took part.  

Although he looks less than impressed.

Jack went to the Children's Museum and the Aquarium in New Orleans and the Natural Science Museum in Jackson.  This is part of the dinosaur exhibit in Jackson.  He liked this part the best.  He was not impressed by the two headed snake (seriously, doesn't that sound cool?  I thought so...).

You didn't know ladybugs could ride dinosaurs?

Gil got some Papa snuggles too.

It was so warm while we were home.  We spent a lot of time rocking on the front porch in the warm weather, one of my favorite things to do in Brookhaven.

It was a pretty relaxing trip.  We shopped some and ate yummy food.  I helped my mom clean out her kitchen.  We went to a couple of movies.

And, let's be real.  I ate a couple of these.

Y'all know I love me some snow cones.

And we may have made a couple of Sonic stops too...