The Week of Mishaps

We have had some highs and lows over the last few days! With each of our adventures this week, it seems we have had some mishap, inconvenience, or flatout disaster. Here it goes...

During our fourth week of summer, we kicked off with a pool day at the YMCA with the Williamses. The Y has several new policies in place due to the coronavirus, including a reservation system and assigned areas on the pool deck. I had my hesitations about going because of the health risks and also because it would be my first time with two kids and an open body of water! The entire outing went really well...until the very end as we were loading into the car. I must have forgotten to put the parking brake on Eli's stroller, and he went for a joyride through the parking lot! And then in the chaos, I somehow lost my phone! It was a very stressful hour as I frantically searched for it, only to finally give up and drive home. Thankfully the phone was somehow wedged inside of Eli's car seat, and it dropped out when I gave the car seat a good shake. We are going to attempt another pool day next week - fingers crossed for no "mommy-brain" moments! On a positive note, Emmy jumped off the side of the big pool several times. I was so proud of her for being so brave. 

On Tuesday, we met my friend Michelle and her two kids Stella and Sam at 4th of July Park. We walked around and then had a picnic lunch. (My phone stayed in my bag on this day!) On Wednesday, we celebrated Megan's birthday with a walk at Reynolda and the Wake Forest campus. All the cousins took turns actin' a fool, but things turned around when we got some doughnuts for a sweet treat. Happy birthday, Aunt M! 

We met up with the cousins again the next day for a picnic at Quarry Park. Luckily there were no tantrums or bike wipe-outs this day! I am finding that outings with kids are very unpredictable. You win some, you lose some! 

We ended the week with a mini-getaway to Morganton and Asheville. I was quite surprised when Boomer made the suggestion a few weeks ago. I suppose we were all itching for a change in scenery, especially since we are missing our baseball trip this year. We tossed around other locations (like the beach, Savannah, Charleston) but decided on Morganton because of its close distance from Kernersville and the cooler temperatures in the mountains. Before going on our trip, the day started with a major leak in our downstairs bathroom. Boomer discovered it just before he left for work and had to use almost every towel we own to soak up the water. He was able to quickly shut the water off so it didn't do any further damage. With that major catastrophe avoided, we are so thankful it didn't happen while we were already on our trip! The kids and I left later that afternoon and picked up Boomer in Yadkinville after he got off work. The day's mishaps were not over yet: a wreck on I-40 turned our 2 hour trip into 3.5 hours, putting us in Morganton a little after 8PM. We had to abandon our plans of meeting Coley for dinner, and instead we settled for eating McDonald's at the hotel pool before hustling to get the kids to bed. Emmy was quite excited to have her own special fort (i.e. couch pushed against the wall!)

Considering it was our first night in a hotel room as a family of four, everyone slept pretty well. On Friday, after a coffee stop at The Grind Cafe, we arrived in Asheville a little after 10AM in positive spirits. Boomer had a "quick" work errand to drop off a few school banners for screen-printing, but staying true to our luck this week, we had trouble finding the business. GPS led us to a residential home off of a gravel road! After wasting about 30 minutes driving around, Boomer confirmed that it was in fact the correct location. Not to be dismayed, we left the banners and headed off to the NC Arboretum. This was another fail! I regret not doing my research, because once again, we blindly followed our GPS, and it took us to a storage facility and then a mobile home park! It was close to noon by this point, so we completely scrapped our original plans and went to Lake Julian Park, a park that we had seen earlier in our aimless driving around. After stretching our legs for a bit, we loaded back in the car in search of lunch. We went to 12 Bones Smokehouse (a favorite of the Obamas!) in the River Arts District. Boomer got the blueberry chipotle half-rack of ribs, with jalapeno cheddar grits and mac 'n cheese. I got the pulled pork sandwich with the smoked potato salad. We had called ahead to place our order, and it was ready when we got there. Plus, there was a table outside in the shade - score! Things were looking up! Rather than extending our Asheville adventure, we decided to end on a win and headed back to Morganton. We went for a walk on the Greenway, which gave me lots of memories from my teenage years. Then we got a sweet treat from Scooper's Creamery before heading back to our hotel. We ended the day by watching the Forbush High School Virtual Graduation on Boomer's laptop. The recording included the traditional commencement speeches, and I was so proud of Boomer's address to the graduates. He has a few more days as the principal of Forbush, but Friday's graduation basically concludes his duties. He will soon be turning over the reins to the next principal. I know he has enjoyed the last few years. They have been challenging and fulfilling, tiring and energizing. We will always have fond memories of his time at Forbush. Go Falcons!

To conclude our Morganton vacation, we met Coley for an early lunch at the Grind (two days in a row - it's that good!) The weather was cloudy and breezy, so it was comfortable for sitting outside. I'm glad we could see Coley after our plans fell through on Thursday evening. 

So it has been a week of mishaps to say the least, but hopefully we will only remember the good moments! In other news, Eli is fully rolling around now, and we have also transitioned to the sleep sack for naps and nighttime. What a big boy!  

Florida and Father's Day

In addition to Eli turning 7 months old, this third week of summer break included a trip to Florida to visit my grandparents. It is the first time that both Emmy and Eli have been to my birth state. The last time Boomer and I were in Florida was in April 2016 when we went to Disney World and I was newly pregnant with Emmy. For this trip, Boomer (and Zack) stayed home while my parents, sister, and I took the four kiddos to visit Grandma Harriet and Grandpa Bill. It was a quick trip from Wednesday to Friday. To make for a more comfortable ride there and back, my dad rented a 15-passenger van. It was pretty spacious, and all the cousins loved looking out the big windows and watching movies. 

My Dad's diagram for seating in the van - which was not how we sat at all! :) (Love you, Dad!)

We made a couple of stops along the way for lunch and bathroom breaks. There is still a lot of concern with the spreading of the coronavirus, so we tried to take precautions by frequently washing our hands and using hand sanitizer. Of course one kiddo (ahem, Maddox!) decided to put his hands in the cigarette 'sand' at a rest stop in South Carolina, so I suppose you can only do so much to prevent germs! On our trip down, we made a detour to Gainesville, about 20 miles west of Hawthorne where my grandparents live. We were able to drive through the University of Florida campus and see the football stadium, the basketball arena, the student union, the dorm that my Dad lived in, and the Krispy Kreme that he often went to. Because of him, we are all diehard Florida fans, and it was memorable for him to show the campus to his grandchildren. Go Gators!   

After our stop in Gainesville, we made the last leg of the journey to my grandparents' house. The total trip time was about 12 hours, and all of the kiddos were troopers. It was around 8PM when we arrived, so we quickly got them ready for bed. Unfortunately, only Eli had napped during the car ride, so the other three were running on fumes. After a momentary panic when the pump for the blow-up mattress didn't work, we were all settled for the evening. I found out that first night that my bed mate likes to move a lot in her sleep. Although Mommy didn't sleep well, Emmy didn't seem too affected by sharing a bed! 

It was special for my grandparents to meet Eli and to see how big the other kids have gotten. Luckily nothing got broken or destroyed during our time there, and Zander, Maddox, and Emmy loved playing with Great Grandpa's cars and coloring with the coloring books Great Grandma bought. They also were fascinated by the cuckoo clock that chimed each hour. It sure was neat to have four generations together!  

I was so impressed with how well the kids did while traveling. There were still smiles on the way home when we ate dinner in the van during the final stretch and when we arrived home to be reunited with Daddy. We sure missed him while we were gone! 

We've had a fun weekend back at home with Boomer celebrating Father's Day. On Saturday morning, we went to the Farmer's Market in Greensboro. Our only purchases were some peaches from Johnson's in Candor (a competitor to the peach stand that Boomer worked at growing up!) After walking through the different stalls, we had lunch at the Moose Cafe. 

On Saturday evening, we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Our friends JR and Becki had a virtual birthday celebration for their daughter Madelyn who just turned 1, and in honor of the lemon theme, we turned our walk into a scavenger hunt for anything yellow. I didn't intend to post these pictures, but it turned out to be so fun, and Emmy really loved it.

Boomer's requests for Father's Day have been pretty simple: first we watched church on the computer; then we had a Taco Bell picnic at the park, and now this afternoon Boomer has had some time in his recliner. There are so many photos that I love of my crew, but perhaps one of my favorites from this past year is this first photo of Boomer as a father of 2. Happy Father's Day, Boomer! 

7 Months Old

It is hard to believe that we are on the downward slide to the 1-year mark! On Thursday, Eli will be 7 months old. I am posting a few days early because we will be leaving tomorrow for our trip to Florida, and I do not want to miss taking his monthly photos. My little assistant and I had trouble getting Eli to sit still, but I think these photos capture our joyful, playful 7-month E-Guy!

At 7 months, Eli likes jumping in his exersaucer, gripping on to toys, and cuddling with Mommy. He also likes watching his big sister, scooting around the room on his back, and grabbing at anything within reach. Boomer and I think that Eli may be our destructive child. We have noticed that he likes banging his hands on the table and making noises with different objects. We may have to actually baby-proof our house this time around. Eli is all boy, with loud burps and sweaty feet. He is an enthusiastic eater and will quickly finish his bowl of rice cereal or baby food. He continues to like bathtime, which we do about twice a week, usually on Mondays and Fridays. 

He also likes playing with his feet...

...and sucking on his fingers. 

Now that Eli has completely mastered rolling over, he has started to sleep on his tummy some. It surprised me the first time I found him like that in his crib. The saying "back is best" is true in the infant stage, but now that Eli is strong enough to roll back over, I let him sleep however he chooses.

Eli's legs are getting stronger and stronger. He doesn't need any help from Daddy when he is standing in his crib...

...and he is so very proud of himself!

Eli is still in size 2 diapers and is wearing 6 month clothes. He has two teeth on the bottom that came through a few weeks ago, but so far no signs of any others. Bedtime is around 7:30PM, and he generally sleeps until 6:30AM. There are not too many things that Eli dislikes. Besides green beans (our third vegetable which produced a lot of gagging and funny faces), the only thing that comes to mind is that he does not like to be left alone. He will let out little cries if he does not have someone in sight at all times. Our social butterfly likes being around people. He is our laidback, easy-to-please Eli, Bee-lie, Boop-de-boo!