I love Spring Break. It comes at the most perfect time of year. Usually, around March/April, I am just worn out. Teaching is incredibly draining and Brad has been working anywhere from 50-60 hours a week. Both of us needed a break and we were ready to get out of town. Last year, I was pregnant enough that we couldn't travel. Plus I was in nesting mode, so I stayed home over break and started really getting the house ready for our lil' bit. This year was a different story. We wanted to be somewhere warm over break and it was a great time to get down south to see my family!
Dayton loves to "drive"
We left town on Friday night and drove the two hours to the Quad Cities. We stayed with Brad's parents and then headed out early Saturday morning. We drove all day and arrived in Greenville around 10 pm. Whew. Luckily, Dayton is a good sleeper and we all slept in on Sunday. We didn't do too much on Sunday. It was nice to just lay around, relax, watch basketball, and go to dinner. We started our week of eating out at Tupelo Honey (our favorite southern restaurant). On Monday, the hubs and I left Dayton with my parents and then headed on to Savannah, Georgia for a wife/hubby vacation! You can read about it here.
The hubs and I enjoying our "no kids" trip to Savannah!
Dayton with Nanny and Poppy
We arrived back in Greenville on Wednesday afternoon, just in time to go out to dinner! Wednesday night we went to Tsunami. Tsunami is a delicious sushi place that Brad and I went to on our first date! It's one of our favorites and a place that we always enjoy going back to! We had fun playing with Dayton at dinner...as you can see! Haha! We did this for about 10 minutes. Poor kid. He's such a good sport though!
On Thursday, we relaxed, went a few places in town and then went to dinner at Liberty. We were a little disappointed in Liberty. They changed a few things on their menu and it's just not as southern as it used to be! Oh well. At least we got a few good pictures! After Liberty, we went over to Funnalicious (everything you can think of is funnel caked) to see what is was like and get some funnel cakes! After dessert, we headed over to Cabela's. This is a must stop for the hubs.
Dayton loves to stick out his tongue now!
Funnel Cake yumminess
My boys. Just love them!
On Friday, we got up a little early to head to Spartanburg to see if we could find anything at Switcheroos. Oh man, this event is awesome! It's basically a whole community consignment sale. It was help in an auditorium and there were tons of kids clothes, shoes, toys, cribs, play sets, etc. Pretty much anything you need for a kid can be found here. We got a ton of 2T stuff for Dayton. Woohoo!
Switcheroos Spartanburg
Friday afternoon, everyone dropped Dayton and I off at my old school, East North Street. It felt so odd walking back in those doors, but it was so amazing to see all of my co-workers. I missed that place so much. It still felt like home! I was able to spend almost an hour with my best friend, Beth as well as saying "hi" to so many people that I love and miss from there. I didn't get any pictures, darn it. I was just so thankful to see Beth. Miss you lady!!
While Dayton was taking his afternoon nap, Brad and my Dad went back to Cabela's so that Brad could buy the gun he's been eyeing for quite some time now (it was on sale!). When they returned, we got ready and headed to dinner at Smoke on the Water. Delicious!! We had a lot of southern bbq and for dessert the hubs and I split the chocolate chip pecan pie. Oh my-lanta, it's to die for. Dayton was getting sleepy, so he was extra cuddly. My little bug, he's so sweet!
Back at the house we celebrated Dayton's 1st birthday (#waaa) by opening all of his presents from my family. He had more fun trying to eat all of the paper than opening it! Silly baby. We ended the trip with a family photo.
Saturday, we drove the whole way and arrived home around 12:30 am. Whew. What a day. We hit stand still traffic in Lexington, which was horrible and ended up costing us about two hours with trying to take detours. We did get to see a lot of Kentucky and let me tell you, it was gorgeous. I could definitely live in the suburbs of Kentucky. Come on Deere, you know you want to build a plant there... Maybe some day?? Anyways, it was good to be home for Spring Break and I will always cherish the time with my family. I love you and miss you guys more than I can explain. Thank you for everything Mama and Daddy! Love you Jaim.
You know your baby is growing up when...they start eating solid foods. Exciting and fun, but a little sad too. He's not a teeny tiny baby anymore!! but it is so much fun to watch him experience new things. At Dayton's 4 month appointment, our Dr said to practice with rice cereal and then as soon as we were ready, to fly through all the veggies. He also said that we didn't have to wait between each veggie. Yes! We get to start fruit at 5 months. I love our Dr. He is so practical and just realistic. AND he backs up everything we believe about clean eating - completely. He said that we were doing things right and yes, we all ate hot dogs and macaroni as a little kid and survived, but "isn't there a better way?" Yes, yes there is. Both the hubs and I are big on nutrition and we want to pass those good habits down to our kiddos. More on this later.
We figured that since he was so great at eating rice cereal, that he would love eating solid foods too. We were correct! This kid looooves to eat. The first foods he ate were avocados. His face (in the video below) is so funny! I am making his baby food (more on this later too). We buy organic veggies and I puree them. Instead of adding water to smooth them out, I add breast milk. I had read that somewhere and thought it was a great idea! So not only is he getting pesticide free veggies, but he's also getting some extra nutrition and antibodies. Love it. So far, so good! and we're saving about 80% of the cost of buying baby food.
Welp, here it is. Dayton's first time eating food.
Seeing as how so much of our family lives far away...I don't feel bad at all about posting little videos of our lil' bit. I was making dinner for myself (Daddy is out of town) and after a few minutes I went to check on the babe. He was smiling and cooing at his play mat. There is a sun at the top of it and he was smiling away looking at his sun. It was adorable!
