Back to city life

The Famous Amys traveling band returned to Asheville on Saturday evening, and it feels good to be home. Mostly because we now have Chris back with us. And if you could have seen the Taylor-Chris reunion in the Atlanta airport, you would have thought we were filming a scene for a Hallmark movie. As soon as T saw her Dad walking towards us, she went running through the concourse, jumped in his arms and bear-hugged him for about 15 minutes. Absolutely PRECIOUS.

And, once again, my daughter proved that she is, in fact, a jet-setting toddler. And while her airport-behavior was less than desirable, she was amazing on both flights. To which I rewarded her when we got back with her very own baby-stroller and new doll.

So, Lillian, I guess this means when you come visit us in Asheville, you won’t have to worry about the baby stealing your toys. Or maybe you will. But I promise to have lots and lots of iced animal cookies for you.

And now that I am completely unpacked, have our clothes clean and the cupboards stocked, I can sit back and reflect on how wonderful our trip to the farm really was. Being there for eight nights not only allowed me enough time to see everyone I wanted to see, but it let Taylor become completely comfortable with my parents and sister, and by the end she was stomping around the farm like she owned it.

Not only did she enjoy having more space than she’s ever had to run and play, but she also had first-time run ins with both my parents’ farm cats and, from the sidelines, the bulls in the pasture. Neither of which she was too hot about at first. But by the third day she was stampeding after the kitties, only to be disappointed that they would run madly away from her. Which I can’t blame them. They were half-wild to begin with, and then this gigantic toddler shows up, stomping after them, screaming KITTY! I’d run away too.

And I proved to have raised a city-baby when the first time I showed her the bulls and asked her, What’s the cow say? And she responded, Mwah. Mwah. My Dad almost fell over. And after some serious practice, we finally had our little urban girl yelling MOO to our livestock by the middle of the week.

We also got to see the beginning stages of my parents’ new pond, appropriately dubbed Taylor Lake. It was dug in July, and won’t be completely full until next spring, but just to see it rise a little bit every day was awesome. I can’t wait until next summer when it’s namesake will be able to swim off the dock, make sand castles on the beach and fish to her heart’s content from the shore.

And while the scenery was heavenly, the best part of the whole trip was being able to spend time with my family and friends. And watching Taylor interact with her Papa Don, Ya-Ya and Aunt Beeba made my heart smile.

It was a truly wonderful trip back home, marked somewhat by the tons and tons of pictures my sister and I took. Which, no surprise, the majority of the images were of Taylor. But, come on. If your daughter-granddaughter-niece was THIS cute, you’d take lots of pictures of her too.