July is flying by!

Over the last few weeks we have kept busy around the house, the library, and the YMCA. Our most recent adventure has been Abby's swimming lessons. We were going to enroll her in the Mom and Tots swimming again, but the teacher has taken the summer off. So, I talked to the aquatics director at the Y, and she told me to go ahead and enroll her in the Pike swimming class with the understanding that we would pull her out if it didn't work. This class is for 3-5 year old beginners, so she is still quite young for the class. Since she is so fearless in the water we really thought she needed some formal lessons. She is actually doing quite well. We are pleased with how well she is listening to her teacher and following directions. She is still working on putting her head back in the water when they try backstroke and she is hesitant to jump off the side of the pool. She may need to take the class over, but that's fine because we just really wanted her to be exposed to the water this go 'round. Wow, this is starting to sound like report card comments...school must be around the corner unfortunately. Other than swimming, Abby is still enjoying our weekly library story time. The summer reading program is coming to a close, and we have the end of summer party this coming Tuesday.
We also have a lot to report with our Tylerbug. He is scooting EVERYWHERE! I can leave him playing in the living room, come back a minute later and he is down the hall looking for me. He is not crawling on his hands and knees. He prefers to army crawl where ever he goes, but hey, it works! He is babbling more and more, and yesterday we started to hear dada for the first time. He can be really loud sometimes, but I think he's trying to talk over his sister:). He almost pulled up yesterday on Abby's block table. He made it to his knees. He is getting stronger with his sitting up. It is so nice now that he can sit in a restaurant high chair and grocery cart. He's still an easy-going little guy for the most part, but he is very much a Mama's boy. He tolerates Daddy, and will even have some fun with him if I'm not around. But, as soon as I come into view, he fussing and holding his arms out to me. I secretly don't mind, but it does make it hard to get things done because he wants me to hold him, or is crying for me to hold him quite a bit. Well, unless he is crawling and getting into something he shouldn't. Then he is perfectly content without me:).
Enjoy the pictures of our cuties!

July 2009

Vacation 2009

On Monday, June 29 the Williamson crew embarked on an eight day journey. This was the longest we have ever been away from home with the kids (including when we just had Abby), so we were quite nervous about packing enough and how temperments would be. To our surprise, packing for 8 days was not much different than packing for a night or two when you have small children. You just need more clothes. And the kids were surprisingly well behaved (although you always have moments). We spent four wonderful days in Sanford with Granny and Papa, and then four days in the Boone area with Nana and Grandaddy. Here is a journal of our journey:

Monday, June 29: We left for Sanford around 2 in the afternoon. We got to Sanford after 5. Quick dinner and then Todd had to rush off to a memorial service for a friend's father.

Tuesday, June 30: Despite temperatures in the 90s we went to the NC Zoo in Asheboro. It was actually not too bad temperature wise because most of the zoo is shaded. Abby had a ball! Her favorite animals were the flamingos, pronounced "flumingos." Tyler liked the zoo alright as long as the stroller was moving. You'll see a picture where he's screaming in the stroller because we stopped. The big drama for that day was that in our haste out of the door in the morning we left Tyler's milk, baby food, and bottle in Sanford. I had a can of formula in the car, but without a bottle that's not much help. I ended up having to find a secluded area to nurse him. And of course, I didn't have my nursing cover-up with me, so I did the best I could with a large burp cloth. Wow, I really earned my mother of the year award with that one!

Wednesday, July 1: In the afternoon we took Abby and Tyler to the Marbles Kid's Museum in Raleigh. It was awesome. She was able to do most everything in there. We really appreciated that because most places are more geared towards kids and have little to offer toddlers. There is a huge area with all kinds of real-life things that are on a kid's scale. A boat, ambulance, fire truck, post office, grocery store, kitchen, and more...all with props for them to use. Tyler even got in on the action in the "Baby Marbles" section where he could roll around basically in a padded room...hahahaha. That evening we drove up to Kara and Christopher's house and had a yummy taco dinner.

Thursday, July 2: In the morning we went to a great little park in Sanford with Granny and Papa and then had lunch at the Dairy Bar. After lunch, Todd took Abby and Tyler home for a nap, and I drove up to Raleigh to see Kara's ultrasound. I had never seen one that wasn't my own, so it was a special treat for me to be there with her. I even got to see the 3D and 4D images. Wow! I had thought about having a 3D with both Abby and Tyler and now regret not doing it. The regular 2D ultraound was also very detailed. We were able to see the valves moving in his tiny heart...which was no bigger than your fingernail! What an AWESOME God we have! It reminded me again just what a miracle life is! We are certainly fearfully and wonderfully made.

Friday, July 3: Friday held a frenzied morning of repacking the car and grocery shopping for the mountains. We did manage to see out of the back window, and we didn't have to ride with anything in our laps! We left Sanford around 12:30 and grabbed lunch on the road. After a very long ride (the last hour of which was a very curvy mountain road and a screaming, hungry Tyler and a fussing, hungry Abby) we made it to our "cabinet" as Abby would end up calling it. This was near Linville Falls. That night we ate at Famous Louise's Rockhouse Restaurant, famous for being built in three counties. It is where McDowell, Burke, and Avery counties come together.

Saturday, July 4: Tweetsie Railroad! We had a great day at Tweetsie. Not too hot and not too crowded. Abby liked the train okay until the cowboys started running around and shooting. I think she was just a little too young for all of that. She really enjoyed the rides, except for a little helicopter one she couldn't ride with an adult. We did a lot of uphill walking. We saw the baby animals in the deer park. Tyler LOVED the goats! I held him close to the fence and he would just laugh out loud. We left Tweetsie and went to dinner at the Mellow Mushroom (a lot of fun) in Boone, and then watched fireworks in a sweet little town called Crossnore.

Sunday, July 5: Proved to be a rainy day, so we packed up and went to Linville Caverns. Really cool cave tour. Both of the kids did pretty well in there. Afterwards we went to the original Mast General Store in Valle Crucis. Neat place, but very crowded. Everyone had the same idea on a rainy day. We also rode to West Jefferson to see Fresco paintings in a little Episcopal church. After dinner at Bandana's BBQ restaurant, we were pretty tired and went back to the cabinet to rest.

Monday, July 6: It was a cloudy morning, but the clouds were supposed to clear up. So, we hiked Linville Falls. Yes, we took the children. We'll push a stroller anywhere :). We hiked to the first set of falls and they were beautiful. Somehow I don't have a picture, but we really enjoyed them. Then the trail got too rough/uphill to push the stroller, so Nana watched Abby and Tyler so Grandaddy, "Justing" as Abby calls him, Todd, and I could hike the rest of the trail. Long, hard walk uphill but the view was worth it. On the way down, there were a few sprinkles, but I didn't think much of it. When we got back to where Nana was with the kids the bottom fell out. I mean pouring, and a half-mile curvy trail to get back to the welcome center and our cars. And you guessed it, only one small umbrella between the seven of us. And to make it better, we had left the rain/sun canopies to the stroller in the car. It was a long, cold, wet walk back. So, the zoo incident was my nomination for mother of the year, but this sealed the deal! Later that afternoon we visited Todd, NC. Apparently Todd is so special that they named a town after him! We concluded our evening by eating like hogs at the Daniel Boone Inn.

Tuesday, July 7: Packed up and went home. We were 1.5 hours into our trip before we got out of Boone because of road construction, but the kids held up remarkably well.

So, here we are back at home, still getting back to our normal routines. We enjoyed vacation, but boy are we glad to be home!

Oh, and Tyler has grown up so much in the last two weeks. He's now sitting up unsupported for long periods of time, making a grabbing motion for things he wants, and scooting across the floor. It's time to babyproof the house again...this time the problem is Abby's smaller toys!

Vacation 2009