Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Summer in Photos, Part 2: Georgia!

We had the opportunity to go to Georgia for about 2 weeks this summer to see our families. The primary reason we went was to see Kevin's brothers, both of whom live in other countries, but were in the States. The stars aligned and all three of them converged on Marietta, Georgia at the same time!


Here is Jude playing with cousin Everett, it was fun to watch them cautiously playing together...



Standing at attention in front of the Cars movie, a first time viewing experience for Jude. He is still asking to watch the cars. They cracked me up standing like this for so long. They are wearing matching Big Brother shirts because Everett also just became a big brother!
At the Atlanta Zoo with Scott, Brooke and Grandmom
It was pretty HOT, poor baby...
Aunt Brooke braving the goats with Jude

Grandmom took him on the train! It doesn't look like it, but this was one of the highlights of his zoo experience!
Evelyn has a nice pool in her condo complex
Oh, the boys
We stayed at my mom's house and then drove to meet Evelyn each day. Scott and Brooke stayed there as well since Brian and Noelle and their 2 kids were at Evelyn's. One day Mr. Pounds came over to spend the day with the boys. They had fun playing in the yard.


They were so funny. They kind of "politely" fought over things.

"And I'm just so afraid that one day my belly is going to hang down here if I keep eating chips and salsa at the rate I've been going."



We had a nice time staying with Oma, she has lots of toys and there were always people in and out.

Wren: "Opa is so funny!" Opa: "Don't you dare spit up on me."

The piano, magical instrument.
Oma and Opa had a great pool on the deck. Jude and cousin Lyla loved it. Here you can see what will become a quarter hour of Jude drinking water out of this bowl.


Again with the piano
After a week with the Pounds' and Wolcotts', we headed over to the Conley's to visit with my Nanny who was in town from Texas. We took advantage of the event by hiring Christy Parry to take pictures! If you live in the Atlanta area, she is amazing, call her to take pictures of your family!



Here is my gorgeous Nanny, she loved holding Wren



Jude wasn't sure what he was supposed to do whenever the camera came his way


Bekah and Jared, awww!
Shannon and Lyla (miss you, Austin!)
And again, the piano

Lovely!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Summer in Photos, part 1

What a summer. I mean, what a summer! I cannot believe all that we did this summer, it was truly wonderful. Here are about a million pictures, mostly of ALL the VISITORS we had over the summer.


My mother was the first to arrive and the longest to stay. I wanted her here for when Wren was born, but that is always tricky when you don't know when the baby will arrive. Since she works from home she decided that she could just come 2 weeks before my due date and leave 2 weeks after it. I just couldn't believe it, Kevin and I were both so excited (and relieved) to have her so long. It was the best thing we could have done for Jude, I think his transition to having a new baby was much easier since Oma was around. And when she went back to GA I was left marvelling at the sudden bulk of dirty dishes that weren't miraculously cleaned every night. I just can't say enough about how helpful she was, we were very blessed by the time she spent here with us. I cried (as usual) when she left, it just felt very natural to have her around.


I love this picture, it about sums it up. Oma is soooo FUN and Jude just loves her.



Overdue, we took some long walks




Mom did this in Wren's room



Touch a Truck Day




Oma trying real hard to convince Jude that Wren is a good thing


Ok, we have a cemetary accross the street from our house... AGAIN!

Then my sister, Rebekah came for a week. Sooo fun with "Aunt Bek." Jude loved her immediately. She jumped right into our chaos as if she belonged there. We did lots of things, including throwing a baby shower, hiking, strawberry picking, and biking (Kevin took Bekah on a bike tour and then she ventured out solo another day). She left a lasting impression on Jude, he often asks to call Aunt Bek on the phone. And we can't eat a strawberry without him saying something about picking them with her.



Went on a little waterfall hike




Lovely walk by the lake






The aforementioned strawberry picking.


Friend Stephanie with Jude's best buddy, Augustina came too.




And then came Grandmom. Grandmom's visit was special because she came during Jude's birthday! We had such a great time, she really enjoyed holding Wren a lot and doing crafts with Jude. She did ALL my dishes everyday and we just had the best time. It truly felt like a relaxing vacation for us all. This is the awesome tractor that she bought for him at the farm we visited.





I love this picture of Kevin with his mom


King Jude, age 2


Wilton train pan, 3 loaf pans, star icing tip, and 1 carpal tunnel syndrome later...




Grandmom spent a lot of time holding Wren.







We took Jude to a great local farm, he loved seeing all the animals.


We also went on a touristy cruise around Burlington, it was even educational!



Next some dear friends from NJ came to spend the weekend with us. David, Kevin, Whitney, Josh, Frank, Rosy






Sunning


Um...

David and Kevin led worship for us on Sunday morning, it was so nice to hear them again. Of course, Jude LOVES it when David plays the guitar with him.


THEN, the next weekend we headed down to NJ ourselves. Kevin taught on Sunday morning at the Point. We saw some lovely friends, visited our favorite spots, but were ready to get back "home" to VT. Jude buckled down for the long car ride with some light reading about trucks and trains.







Next we had Mimi and Papa come to town! We had such a special fun time with them. We did lots of things, farmer's market, Summervale picnic, shopped Church Street, beached, kayaked. I'm so glad that they liked Burlington, we were not ready for them to leave! Here we are on Church Street watching some street performers.





We spent a morning at the beach, Wren wiped out on the sand. We had a picnic breakfast and Dad and Kevin went for a ride on the kayaks.





Jude loved playing with Mimi in the sand.


One evening we went to a weekly summertime event in a farming area of Burlington, called the Intervale. They have live music and several local restaurants set up booths with good food to purchase. This was a lot of fun, a relaxing evening.







Oh my goodness, Jude immediately wanted to hang out with Papa from day one. He went right to him and sat on his lap and started showing him things. He looooves his Papa.




We had so much fun with them, here is Mimi acting like the coolest thing in the world to do is push around little trains on a big map.




Part 2 to come of our time in Georgia.