We went back. And man did it feel so good. Amidst the frenzy of life in a new city with a toddler and newborn, it was a well deserved break to whisk our family away to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday.
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| Tripp had his first flight. And like most 3 month olds was content to just chill with mom and dad. |
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First stop: Poppa & Grandma C's. Days were spent feeding cows, chickens, ducks
and trying not to endure too many farm injuries. Only lost one fingernail. Ouch! |
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Palmer's 2 year old life was made complete with his very own bounce house for his birthday.
It's being shipped up here for permanent residence in his basement aka where Toys R Us exploded. |
After a fantastic couple of days at my Dad's we went on to Bay Hill. We were sharing stories of how life use to be as we drove in. I immediately was overwhelmed with emotion when I saw our old house. Sobbing commenced. Took me a good 10 minutes to regain my composure and begin enjoying our first trip back as guests.
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Everyone finally met Trippy! Including Baby Beckett, Braxton's little brother.
They are 6 months apart like Palmer and Brax. Destined to be best of buds despite the distance. |
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| Palmer wasted no time getting back out on the greens. |
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| Thanks to old babysitters we enjoyed a couple nights out with our friends at our old stomping grounds. |
It felt like we never left. It felt like coming home. It was so, so good. We are looking forward to getting back next month for another getaway and planning Tripp's baptism with the same Priest who performed our wedding and Palmer's baptism. It may not be our main home anymore, but it will always be where our family began and our roots are planted.
Despite all the heart warming memories, it did feel refreshing to get back to our new home. Palmer's favorite phrase lately is, "Help momma cook!" He's become an expert salt-and-pepper-er, egg cracker and is becoming an old pro' at making our weekly batches of almond milk. This week we were inspired by our Florida visit and made fresh orange juice.
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| My mini-sous chef |
Before we left for Florida, we had a very big day to celebrate. Palmer Doyle's 2nd Birthday! The main event was a trip to the Atlanta Aquarium. While the moving tunnel of sea life was pretty darn cool, the $90 admission cost for our family left us feeling like this...
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We hit up Sea World in Florida per Palmer's request after he saw the Atlanta Aquarium's dolphin show.
Their show was cool...maybe for those over the age of 10. Nothing beats Orlando's original. |
At home, we had a proper celebration including the newest member of our family, Poppa Bear.
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| Palmer was smitten |
Palmer has come a long way in 2 years. And Tripp has given me a new appreciation for the sleep magician that Palmer has always been.
In Christmas news, we hit Scottsdale Farms just down the road to pick out our first Georgia tree! That place rocks. There were ponies and pigs and a full on tree forest to forage through. Waaaaay different than my parking lot tree purchases in Florida.
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| Making sure it was just right |
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We put on Christmas music, sipped wine and decorated the tree. Palmer helped.
By placing, oh, about 5,000 hooks amongst the branches. Just hooks. No ornaments. |
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| Christmas Jammies! Need a hem...like all of Palmer's pants. He's got 3T width but 2T height. |
And lastly, a terribly captured iPhone photo of my long awaited chandelier for the eat in kitchen. It was supposed to be here in September, then October, then November, and FINALLY it made it for the holidays (first world problems is the saying, right?) It was worth the wait.
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| My unexpected light models, Gra Gra and Palmer |
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| And the newest Laura Ramsey finds. Butterfly prints. Thanks, honey, for letting me decorate with polka dots and butterflies. I love you eternally. |
