We leisurely woke up Friday morning to welcomed cooler temps than we had yet to experience in our new coastal town. Mama and Brooks and I strolled the hills of their neighborhood. Ahhhh......another welcomed detail - hills! I love hills in Atlanta. I love them while walking. I love them for sight seeing. I love the dimension they give to the neighborhoods. I love the hills and never thought I would miss them.
We made our way out of town with a stop at Willy's. Have you ever tried to eat a burrito in the car while in metro-Atlanta traffic? Do not attempt. Needless to say, Amos loved finding surprises of rice and cheese throughout the floor board as he made himself cozy for the next 3.5 hour drive to the mountains. Oh, and, we decided it was worth the move to not experience traffic at 11am on a Friday. Trip numero dos proved to be another joy. Brooks took a long afternoon nap all the way up 85 and 985 until we could actually see the rim of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Then I had to get a little creative with my tools for entertainment. Traveling with baby lesson number one - bring enough flashy, singing, annoying toys to distract baby whether or not they make you want to pull your hair out. Objects in your purse only work for about 7 minutes max. As we actually pulled into the mountain community where we were vacationing Brooks was playing with a plastic spoon and the paper from a Chick-Fil-A straw (not to worry grandma's out there...this was under my close watch). We'll call this segment of the trip improvisation.
Luckily in between trip 2 and trip 3 of the long weekend there was a nice, relaxing, juicy, action packed, tasty, adventurous weekend in the middle full of a babysitter, fly fishing, a little vino, a hike or 2, smores and many indoor and outdoor fires and amazing eats (see below). Whew......I have to take a breath just recounting all of the thrills of the weekend.
Look at the two mountaineers below. Brooks and his first friend, John Quincy are only 6 weeks apart. John Quincy taught Brooks how to be a man this weekend. I can't wait until they get to see each other next time and continue to learn the ways of the world with each other. By the way, if you are pregnant - find a friend to have a baby too because it makes it so much easier! It was truly the Lord that just dropped this couple in our lives at the perfect time!(And luckily there are several dear friends who have either laughed with us over the trials of being a new parent or are so encouraging whether they have children or not. We are truly blessed in the good friends department!) The added bonus of having these two boogers so close in age is now the little people are just starting to entertain each other and give the mama's and daddy's some welcomed adult conversation.
A little snapshot of our twisty-turvy hike/stroll through Bear Lake Reserve. This property was breathtaking! The time with good friends that know us was even more breathtaking.....what a treat!
And here is the stud who caught the sole fish on our day of fly fishing in the rain. He looks like he is lassoing a tornado but don't be fooled - the fish was no longer than his index finger. He looked good catching it and that is all that matters, right?
Yesterday after some coffee by the fire and a beautiful hike we had to say our goodbyes and head back down the state to our new "home." Brad asked me as we were going to sleep last night how much I would need to be paid to repeat the whole day. Without a thought I replied that there was no amount of money that would work. So, I'll spare you the minute by minute but let's just picture this....packed car, 5 month old who just wanted to be home in his bed and was tired of his plastic spoon and crumpled paper standing in as toys, a stinky dog, 422 miles, poopy diaper (like unthinkable kind of poopy), and a little sad wife who couldn't even look as we drove through downtown Atlanta. Poor Brad. I figured if I didn't look then I wasn't really driving right though my home town. A few lessons from this final stint of our long weekend. Baby Einstein on the iphone is a miracle from God - I am now a believer in the iphone. Brooks watched every 10 minute video available on the internet over and over until he was royally mad and joyfully let us know. Second, the dollar tree rocks! We made an hour-plus stop in Macon and spent half of our time finding treats for the road in the dollar tree. Everyone was happy for this hour. Lesson number 3 - when all else fails feed your baby even if it means he eats 4 times in 4 hours. I can't wonder why he is so chubby compared to his dapper, little friend John Quincy. Brooks is a hoss and is comforted only by milk when he is mad. I think Brad and I exchanged 12 words the whole 8 hours because we were so focused on keeping our sanity and trying to maintain some sense of quiet in the car. Overall, the little guy was a trooper but I doubt we will attempt anything longer than a 4 hour trip in one day from now on. Fortunately, the weekend was just splendid and well worth every scream, gag, grunt, tear and raging fit and I feel quite rejuvenated despite the chaos of the last phase of the trip.
A few more pictures of the little guys on this Halloween weekend.....
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