Our trip to see Beeba, Budgie and Birmingham

After spending a mere 18-hours with my sister and her sweet baby Parker this past March on our way to the beach, it was immediately decided that the kids and I needed to make a trip down to Birmingham for a long weekend. My adorable niece is getting so big, and at nearly six months, she’s at that precious, giggly baby age that she melts your heart whenever you look at her. So last weekend, I loaded up the kids and all of our gear and headed down south to soak up some family time.

However. We only got about 45 minutes down the road when my car’s transmission started jumping. So I called Chris at work and he immediately hopped in his Envoy and drove to Travelers Rest to switch cars with us. Because not going was not an option. And because of the delay, we ended up hitting Atlanta at 4.00, meaning we got stuck in traffic for about an hour. Ugh.

Did I mention that the air conditioning in Chris’s car fades in and out? Double Ugh. So Hot-lanta was pretty miserable. Especially with leather seats and screaming kids and two rather sketchy bathroom pit-stops. Needless to say, when we finally did pull into Lib’s driveway late that afternoon, I was ready for a drink. Or five. And my kids were thrilled to be out of their carseats and able to smother Parker with lots of cousin love. Unfortunately, it was sweet Budgie’s bedtime.

But the next morning we woke up to smiles, sunshine and cereal.

It was beautiful Friday, and we were excited to take Sweet P on her very first zoo adventure.

Lib was trying to get a good picture of this peacock, and it almost charged us. I’m still laughing when I think about how fast we ran away from it.

And after our visit to the Birmingham Zoo last fall, Taylor was looking forward to feeding the giraffes again. And she did awesome.

Parker was over it:

Taylor and her best flamingo pose:

We pretty much covered the whole zoo in a few hours, then loaded up all our gear in Lib's car and got take-out for lunch and brought it over to my Aunt Jane’s house to eat. And after the kids got their belly’s full of food, they were all happy again.

That night, Libba’s bestie, Mary Claire, was sweet enough to invite our circus over for dinner at her new, fancy house. I can see why my sister loves her so much, as she’s just an awesome friend and mother. And I was so very grateful for her generosity of feeding us and letting my kids play with all their toys.

The rest of the weekend was spent eating cookies, playing at the park and watching Luke suck down his first ever Shirley Temple.

Libba was kind enough to point her camera at both Taylor and Luke on separate photo shoots. Oh my. My sister is so talented. Check out the results on her blog: Taylor here, and Luke here. Lots and lots of framers from those sessions.

We spent some time with my beloved Granddaddy:

And the last night we were there, three-fifths of my dear Graffeo family came over for dinner, where Luke and Matt had some Blackwell Boy time:

And then it was over. And as awful as the drive down was, the trek back north to Asheville was totally uneventful. Well, other than Pookie running away from me at the McDonald’s Play Yard in North Atlanta.

Really, Atlanta? What have I ever done to you? Why do you hate me so much?

It was a great trip, and I was ever thankful to my sister and Dirk for opening their home to us. I hope I didn’t scare them too much into what life is like with older children, but at least they’ll cuddle their sweet non-moving, non-talking and non-tantrum-throwing Budgie a little tighter and cherish every moment with her. She’s just so precious, and my sister is an amazing mother. And I can’t wait to see them all again.

About the second best time I've ever had in South Carolina

Earlier this summer, our good friend Robert mentioned to Chris that his family, our family and the Sinclair family should try to get together for a vacation this year. Wait? Did someone say, Vacation? Um. Yes, please.

And being that each family is spread out across the country, the Betts in Northern California, the Sinclairs in Denver and us here in Asheville, we preemptively decreed that this tri-family get together would be a yearly occasion, and because we all live in such awesome places, we should take turns hosting. And since the last time we were all together was two years ago at Robert and Emily’s wedding in Santa Rosa, Chris and I offered up the fabulous mountains of Western North Carolina for this summer’s getaway. But six adults and four kids would be a bit cramped in our house, so I found a perfect rental house about an hour south of town, actually it was just across the South Carolina border, and so last week we all met up at a little piece of heaven called Pentimento. Otherwise known as the best mountain house ever.

And because our lives had all changed so much since our last get together, we all had a ton to catch up on. Eric and Brigitte had gotten married right after we saw them at Robert and Emily’s wedding, and then all three of us had gotten pregnant and delivered boys within three months of each other. Lives had changed drastically. But it took no time to forge into a groove, and it was wonderful to see every single one of these people.

I was especially excited to spend time with Brigitte and Emily. While Chris, Robert and Eric have all been best friends since grade school, Brigitte was in a younger class at Cedar Falls, I was a college add-on and Emily joined us after meeting Robert in San Francisco. But even though the three of us ladies had only spent one previous occasion together, we formed our own friendship through sharing our pregnancy and newborn tragedies and triumphs via WWF and facebook. We were all in the same boat for the late night feedings and non-sleeping episodes, and though we were stretched across three different time zones, we each got to know and respect and root for one another through the awesomeness of social media. I felt very connected to Brigitte and Emily throughout that first year of Luke’s arrival, and I couldn’t wait to give each of them big hugs and meet both Trey and Ashby, whom I felt like I already knew.

So there we were, all gathered to catch-up and watch as our kids introduced themselves to each other. And we were in one the most beautiful places in the country. We knew it was going to be a good time, but that was a gross understatement. It was an amazing time. A weekend I will never forget. Especially the semi-foggy late-night conversations we had on the porch while the wee-ones slept. In fact, the majority of weekend together was spent on that heavenly wrap-around porch. 

And on the lush, adventurous acres surrounding the house.

We did adventure away from Pentimento twice, once to come to Asheville for a kid-free afternoon downtown, and once to take a hike to see, what one ranger described to Eric as, About the second biggest waterfall in South Carolina. Well, after a little research and a trip down memory lane by Emily, we realized it was in fact THE biggest waterfall in the state. But the hike in to see the beauty was a hilly two-and-a-half miles in, and then two-and-a-half miles back. And in theory, it was a no-brainer. We needed to see that waterfall. So the big boys strapped the little boys on their backs, and away we went. 

See how Chris has a lot less pep-in-his-step than Eric and Robert? Well, our little Pookie had four pounds on Trey and about ten on Ashby. And even though Taylor and her four year old legs did pretty awesome, she still couldn’t keep up with the rest of us. And I carried her a few times in to see the falls, and Chris carried her on his back the whole way back to our car. Which meant I had the little big man on my back. And when the four of us emerged from the forest, Chris and I were dripping with sweat and our legs were weak. And it was one of our prouder moments. We did that.

So we hiked enough that day to last us the rest of the weekend, meaning we spent the rest of our time in the mountains chasing kids, catching up, eating home-cooked gourmet meals and laughing harder than we have in a long time. It was awesome, and the three families cohabitated wonderfully. And I can’t wait until next year.