The first thing we did when we got to my mom's house in SC is to have a belated birthday party for Eden and Winnie. We left on our travels on Eden's birthday, so it wasn't much of a fun day for her. However, we had celebrated early already before Kevin left, so it's not like she went without.
My dad and his wife Kathy came over and we party-ed it up Sesame Street style.
Unfortunately I did not have my glasses on when I took these photos, and I didn't realize that NONE of them were in focus (that's what happens when you adjust a manual focus lens using less than perfect eyesight). Sorry for the blurriness.
My dad and Kathy got Eden this wooden food set in which the food pieces stick together with Velcro and there's a wooden knife that Eden can use to "cut" them apart. It's pretty awesome. I just have to show you: the adults were even more intrigued by this than Eden was (and she was super into this toy).
All three of the above photos are of the grandparents playing with this wooden food set. Hilarious.
We were able to get a nice family photo in, too. Too bad Kevin wasn't there to make it complete.
Then we went on a boat ride with my dad and Kathy and her four kids out on Lake Murray.
Eden and Winnie both went tubing for the first time. Eden wasn't a huge fan, but Winnie seemed to enjoy it. Eden's favorite activity was watching other people tube and yelling and waving at them.
The ride back to the docks was really relaxing.
I wish I could fall asleep like this.
Then I left for Michigan! Woo-hoo! Child free for 5 days! Yee-haa!
I stayed with my college roommate's mom (Hey Lizzie!) for a night and got to visit Michigan State's campus and relive the glory days (*cough, cough, cough*).
Then I got to visit Lizzie in Grand Rapids and marvel at how much better Michigan is than Alabama (sorry, there is just no way to sugar blatant truths in life).
This is Dave, Lizzie's husband. In this photo, he embodies my idea of what a vacation should feel like.
Looking good there, Dave! (This is Lizzie and Dave's deck off their awesome condo in downtown Grand Rapids. I had a great time pretending I was a suave cosmopolitan grown-up who never had to worry about peanut butter stains on her clothes and which butt cream to use on diaper rash.)
The weather was perfect while I was there, and we were able to go to this awesome farmers' market in downtown Grand Rapids, where they sold these mini donuts called Go Nuts (does anyone else have the urge to say "gonads" when they hear Go Nuts? No? Just me? Oh.). To die for. Really. These were awesome.
Then I went to Detroit for Andy's roommate's wedding. Oddly, I did not get any photos of the bride or groom (delinquent photographer - that's me), but I did get one of Paul, Kevin's other roommate in college.
Then I flew back to Myrtle Beach and hung out with my friend Amy and her two kids, Noah and little Eden.
Boy, let me tell ya. Being in a 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom beach house with four children under 3-years-old, two of whom were scared of the beach, and a Tropical Storm sending rain our way for a day or so: that's a recipe for adventure. It wasn't a relaxing trip, but I had a lot of fun. It was happy chaos for 5 days.
So this was our most favorite activity: riding on the golf cart. All 6 of us piled into the front seat and went everywhere in that thing. I'm sure people who saw us thought we were crazy.
Before our kids decided the wind and waves were evil, they played on the beach one day (while I stayed home with Winnie while she napped).
Winnie loved the water. She was just a little fish.
While the kids played, little Eden hung out in our make-shift baby holder.
Luckily the baby holder is also doubles as a useful kid hauler (don't mind the apple jammed into Winnie's mouth).
They spent a lot time playing on the porch. Chalk, bubbles, swing, sand, you name it, they did it on the porch.
Inspecting the drain:
Then we came back home. After sleeping in 6 different places in 2 weeks, I was very happy to come back home. I had a great time, and it was so nice to see all of our friends and family.
Our next travels will be to a resort some place in Massachusetts to see Kevin for a week in September. I have a feeling I'll need to rest till then to prepare myself for traveling with my girls again.
Till then, toodles!
