Savannah, Ga

September 4, 2010
We've lived in Georgia for a little over two and a half years now and had yet to visit Savannah!! A crime!! On a whim, Doug decided we'd do a day trip (including a 3 hour drive each way) to spend the beautiful day in a beautiful city. (Doug was also scheduled to have knee surgery later that week, so he wanted to do something that he wouldn't be able to do for a while).
Ethan was excited to see all the boats:

...and the airplanes!!!!

We walked along the water for a while and checked out a few of the shops, then took a pretty walk to lunch:

I think the kids' favorite thing while we were there was the trolleys. They wanted to ride one, but it was so expensive and we really didn't have the time for it since we were just there for the day. We said we'd take a longer visit sometime and take a tour on a trolley:

Doug had heard about this restaurant, Pirate's House. So this is where we had lunch. It was yummy :)

Madeline was amazed at how the lemonade was made:

...and Ethan was just tired!

While Ethan napped, we check out a few shops....well, mainly the candy shops!

I could hear angels singing:

Madeline had her after-lunch-and-Ethan-is-sleeping snack:

Then we walked around some more of Savannah and admired some of it's history

The kids were getting tired and needed a little break, so Daddy strolled them around...

while I went inside of the Cathedral of John the Baptist. It was built in 1873 and looked just as amazing on the inside as the outside:

Doug and I loved looking at the moss:

Ethan was ready to do some running around again:

He watched a squirrel for quite some time, which is what he was doing when I took this picture (he looks sad, but he wasn't...the day outside was getting to his allergies!):

The kids and I love water fountains:

We eventually made our way to an awesome park. The kids played for a bit while Doug and I sat on the bench and enjoyed the beauty. Madeline had a little spill and when I pulled out the baggy of band aids, Ethan was so insistent on putting it on "Belle." So we let him:

While the kids played a little longer, Doug walked around and took some more pictures. I'm not even sure what this is, but we hope to take a weekend trip back sometime soon and attempt to soak it all in :)

Savannah is beautiful!

Nana & Grandad's 6/18/09

My Nana and Grandad live in York, PA so we had planned to take a short trip up to their house to see them during our visit to MD. Ethan came down with a little cold that his cousin, Taylor was kind enough to share with him, so we decided it would be best if Doug stayed back with Ethan and just Madeline and I went. We met my mom, Amy, and Taylor there. I didn't get many pictures, so once I see my mom's, I'll add some to this post.
Here is Amy, Nana, and Taylor:
The day before, Doug and I had picked up a little fishing game/toy for Madeline for two bucks! I threw it in my purse to pull out at Nana and Grandad's and it was a lifesaver. She played with it just about the whole time. Here she is showing Grandad how it works:

Taylor loved Grandad's cane. My mom got a picture with Grandad wearing the same type of hat Taylor has on.

The Grant's Babysit 6/17/09

While we were at Luke's wedding the Grants said that they would watch the kids for us one night if Doug and I wanted to go out for a bit. We were VERY happy to take them up on this offer. So Wednesday of our visit we took the kids over for a few hours. We knew Madeline would be OK with this because she's had a lot of opportunities to play with them and as recently as the reception and wedding we went to. Plus, there's seven kids (some now almost adults) in the family, so there would be plenty of attention for the two!
I left them my camera just in case they saw the kids do anything cute. I think it's funny that they make fun of me for how many pictures I take, yet they managed to take 85 pictures in the few hours we were gone. Here's just a few of them:

Jonathan was the one who originally volunteered to watch the kids but when we showed up he was nowhere to be found!! Tsk, Tsk, Tsk Jonathan! He did show up for a short time and play with the kids:

Madeline, Mary, Jesse:

Jonathan, Ethan and Jonathan's friend. Hope they were watching something appropriate for a 9 month old!

Madeline was excited to see Jonathan when he FINALLY showed up:

Maggie and Ethan: This was shortly before we showed up.

Having a snack of carrots:

Thanks again to the Grant family (including Aunt Renee that somehow managed not to show up in any of the pictures). Doug and I had a nice, relaxing, evening knowing our kids were well taken care of. Thanks, thanks, thanks!

The Harkins' 6/16/09 and 6/17/09

During our trip to Maryland, we stayed at Doug's folks' house (Thanks Roger and Liz!). Doug's younger brother, his wife, and their two kids live there too, so it was a pretty kid friendly house :) Liam, our nephew, has a his very own playroom (previously know as the sun room), so it was great for our kids to have a big room full of toys to keep them entertained and happy. However, Eric, Sarah, Liam and Analee went to the beach for the week, so our kids didn't have any playmate for the week. Overall the stay was very nice, but on our second night of staying at their house, Madeline had a little bit of a meltdown at bedtime, crying saying that she wanted to go home. At got her calmed down with a snack, but shortly after that she went crying to the door saying she wanted to go for a ride in the car to go home. We think our poor little girl was homesick and driving around to see people she didn't know. We decided to just stay at the house the next and have a day of playing! This seemed to cure everything and all was happy :)
My mother-in-law and Ethan:
Here is Doug's little sister, Mary, painting with Madeline. Madeline really enjoys her Aunt Mary and asks to call her quite often...but it's usually early in the morning when I know Aunt Mary wouldn't appreciate it :)

It was perfect timing that we happen to be at the house when Doug's Great Uncle Paul stopped by to drop something off at the house. It's always great to see Father Paul!! He married Doug and I and baptised Madeline and Ethan. He's retiring now and we wish him a happy retirement!

Here's a great picture of Uncle Paul, Double-O-Doug (what Uncle Paul calls him), and Ethan:

Mom-Mom showed Madeline how to make brownies. Madeline had soooo much fun, so I've made it a point to have her help me in meal preparations since then. She loves helping!

The blender scared her a little bit. Maybe I need to pull mine out and dust it off?

The best part!!

Thanks Mom-Mom!

Marmie & Pops 6/16/09

I didn't get many pictures from visiting my parents house, but we had a good time and the kids had a lot of fun.
This is Madeline a little too excited to see Pop:
And this is Pop excited to see Lamby:

Visiting Great Gram 6/16/09

On Tuesday of our visit to MD, we went next door to my parents to visit my Grandmother. I grew up living next door to her and even lived in her house for a few years before and after I got married, so I think of her often and miss her a lot. I wish we would have spent more time with her but we enjoyed the time we had.
Madeline loves sitting on this elephant. It scares her a little bit, she's just not sure what to think of it, but she kept asking if she could ride it. My Grandma has had this elephant for as long as I can remember. My aunt and uncle brought it back from Guam with them and my Gram asked if she could borrow it for a little while because she thought it was so neat. Well, some 30 years later my Gram still has it! shhhh don't tell Uncle Joe and Aunt Kris!
Three generations :)

Visit to Annapolis to see Aunt Amy 6/15/09

We drove to Annapolis on Monday of our visit to see my sister, her hubby, and my nephew, Taylor. Taylor is about 3 months younger than Ethan, so it was nice to have an opportunity for the two of them to "play" together. Shortly after we got there we decided to go for a walk to the beach. We didn't bring a stroller with us to MD, but fortunately my sister has a million of them, so we were set!
Madeline and Ethan:

Taylor:
Madeline checking out the water. She was a little concerned with the seaweed...she lost it was poop.

My sister and Taylor:

My sister's dog, Winnie:

I love this pic! We don't get many family shots, in fact this is only one of a few I have with me in it!!

My bro-in-law, Kris, showing Taylor what a crazy dog they have:

Madeline was so excited to stand on these logs!

Until the water started splashing up.

Back at the house, Taylor and Ethan had some playtime: