Water park day

On Monday Brad and I headed to the on-site water park with Nolan, Kylie, and Nicolas. They have a kiddie pool, two water slides, a lazy river, hot tubs, a regular pool, and an activity/play area pool (more pictures later). We love it!! Nolan loved the kiddie pool, and the water there was a little warmer than anywhere else.

The rest of the day we just spent hanging out - it was great! Here are a couple of random shots:

Collin & Nic wrestling

Uncle Brad reading to Molly

Nolan, Molly, & Kenzie

Nanny with her two babies of the bunch

Road Trip!

Sunday morning the road trip to TN began! Cary, Mark, and Mackenzie followed Mom, me, Nolan, and Collin. Collin and Mackenzie switched a couple of times so they both got to ride with Nolan and Nanny. We left around 7am and had a very unexpectedly (at least for me) smooth trip! We only had to make two stops - one about an hour into the drive for Collin to potty - and another one at lunchtime to eat and gas up.

We ended up getting to the Westgate resort a little before 3pm.....we made good time with a 3-year old, almost 2-year old, and a baby! And I only had to hear the same Silly Songs CD about 12,000 times.....

Ryan, Rhiannon, and the kids were right behind us - they got there around 4pm and we got all the cars unloaded. Brad flew into Indy that afternoon, and Dad stayed back to pick him up. I think he did that on purpose so he wouldn't have to help with the unloading....haha Actually the car they drove was probably just as full as ours! They had to drive through a pretty good rainstorm, but made it to Gatlinburg around 9pm.

The girls all went grocery shopping while we were waiting on Dad and Brad to get there. We left Mark and Ryan to corral all the kids, and they did a pretty good job! Every year we have a deal: Mom and Dad buy all the groceries if each family makes dinner for everyone on a separate night. You have to pick your meal and know what you need to make it. It works out pretty well - you get a variety of recipes and you only have to cook once! We ordered pizza a couple times, and for lunch we usually have leftovers or something easy like sandwiches. It seems like we're constantly eating, but that's what vacation is all about, right??

We decided the next day we wouldn't do anything but relax. We were all ready for that!!

Mackenzie actually smiled at me!

Saturday afternoon we headed down to Clay City to see everyone. I just had to post this picture of Mackenzie because she hardly ever smiles at me. I'm the one who brought Nolan around so she's not the baby anymore....I think she resents me for that.....haha :) Mark actually got her to smile, I just happened to snap the picture at the right second!

We tried to make it to the fair to check out Kylie's 4-H projects, but by the time the building was open, Nolan was ready to be out of his car seat/stroller and crawl around for awhile. Maybe next year, Kylie! She did get blue ribbons and honor ribbons for both of her projects though - way to go! Now if only she'd get better grades in math.....:)

Visit with Tracy & Grady (& Kona)

Saturday morning, Nolan and I headed to Indianapolis to visit my college roommate Tracy and her one month old son, Grady. He's a doll! It was nice to catch up and hang out, even it was just for a couple hours. And we went to Steak 'N Shake for lunch.....mmmmm, I miss Steak 'N Shake!!!

Grady, hangin' out on his boppy

Nolan had a blast playing with Kona, Tracy & Mark's dog. He was laughing so hard, it was cracking both of us up! Here's a video:

Our little traveler

Nolan and I headed out to Indiana on the 27th, and the morning got off to a rocky start. When we got to the airport we figured out my flight on Delta had been cancelled. Great! They had already transferred us to a flight on Northwestern that left an hour later. The extra bonus was that we no longer had a nonstop flight, but we had a connection through Cincinnati and got to Indy an hour later. But by far the best part about the cancellation is that when they transferred my flight, it looked like I made a last minute purchase. Translated: I was automatically selected for additional screening while going through security. Ugh!!! It ended up not being so bad, but I hadn't prepared myself mentally for a connecting flight and all the extra downtime at the airport. Nolan was pretty good on the plane(s) - he liked looking out the window. That kept him busy for a good 20 minutes at the end of the flight!

So we both made it to Indiana safely and I suppose that's what's most important. But I did speak my mind to Northwest before the plane left - and I got a $100 voucher for my next flight, plus some money to use at the airport for food while I waited. Better than nothing, right?

Mom picked us up at the airport and had Kylie and Nicolas with her, so that was fun to see them right away. We had planned on going to the fair that night, but I was pooped and we just headed back to Terre Haute instead. It was a long day!!

Vacation 2008

Apparently I am slacking off on my blog! My niece Kylie has e-mailed me quite a bit to remind me that I still have not updated it and that she's waiting. I actually thought about posting a 'fake' entry that had no pictures just to see what happened. But then I figured I'd get a mean phone call from Kylie.....haha

So here it is, the much anticipated series of blog posts from Vacation 2008!!!!

8 months old....

....already!!! Nolan's getting bigger and more active every day. We love watching him figure things out and discover new things. He definitely keeps us busy! Brad said the other day, "There's no such thing as relaxing anymore, is there?" :)


We had a busy weekend.....here are the highlights:


Saturday afternoon we all took a trip to the vet. The dogs are going to the groomer next weekend (they need it!) and needed to get their shots updated before that. It was pretty hot that day, so instead of taking the no-A/C truck, we all piled into my car. Our dogs are super hairy and shed everywhere so we always put sheets over the seats to try and contain it. I think Nolan was happy to have some company in the back seat for once!





























I had an impulse buy last week at Walgreen's! I actually went to buy teething tablets that we haven't even tried yet, but in the baby section, I saw this little mesh bag to put big pieces of food in for teething babies. That way they can chew and not get any pieces that are too big. I've seen them before and my mom said she sees a lot of patients with them in her office. I thought I'd try it out. We put a couple of orange slices in there and let Nolan go to town - he loved it! He had tried a lemon for the first time Friday night and made some funny faces at first, but then couldn't get enough of it.





























Saturday we broke out Nolan's pool! It was his first time swimming and after getting used to the cold, he loved it. I got the pool at One Step Ahead, it has little sprinklers on it and you just hook it up to your garden hose. The water was a little chilly! I think I took like 30 pictures, but here are just a couple....and a video, I couldn't help it! Brad was working in the back yard while we were playing, but I promised I wouldn't post the picture I got of him.....:)














































Nolan wearing sunglasses for the first time - he wasn't sure what to think!



















Brad's friend Jim was in the neighborhood Saturday evening, so he stopped by and had dinner with us and played with Nolan. Nolan's shirt says "it seemed like a good idea at the time"....thanks for the cute hand-me-down, Sam (and SB)!!




















We had a lot of family time this weekend, just hanging out at home. Brad and I joked that Nolan barely had clothes on for most of Saturday and Sunday! It's just easier because I know he's just going to spit up on everything....I'm saving myself some laundry! haha Here are some pictures (at least he's halfway dressed in most of them) of Nolan exploring/roaming the house and checking things out:

In front of the fireplace

Crawling through the bar stools

Taking a look out the front door

Nolan's 'secret' route to the kitchen. He has sort of learned 'no', but chooses to ignore it. He likes to play with the lamp cord - I'm afraid he's going to pull the whole lamp over one of these days! Luckily, most of the time he's just happy with crawling through to get to the kitchen so he can get to the dogs' water bowl!

Sleepy monster.....

After our nice weekend, we have a short week! Nolan and I leave for Indiana on Friday. We'll be (hopefully) going to the Clay City Fair Friday night and Saturday we're going to Indy to visit my friend Tracy and her new baby, Grady. I'm so excited! Sunday morning, my mom, Cary, Collin, Mackenzie, Nolan, and I will take off for Gatlinburg. Ryan and his family will meet us down there, while my dad and Mark will pick Brad up at the airport on Sunday afternoon and then head to TN together. We don't have much planned, just relaxing! There will be lots of swimming at the pool and the water park, eating, napping, playing games, hiking, and shopping I'm sure! I plan on taking a couple of books to keep me occupied. I'll have plenty of pictures to share in my next post!

Have a safe and happy July 4th holiday!