Road Trip

This weekend we took Hayden for her first trip to Ameila Island, the continuation of one of our favorite family traditions. Chris and I have gone every year to the Concours D'elegance, an annual car show held on the fairways of the Ritz Carlton. Last year, this picture of us was taken posing in the Thomas Flyer that won the 1908 New York to Paris Race. Normally, however, we are just attendees to the Concours, and not participants. It is one of Chris's dreams to have a car worthy to show at this event, and I can't wait until we do. In the meantime, it was still a very big deal for Hayden as this was truly her first experience with her daddy's addiction...er, obsession...um, hobby.

When we told Hayden we were going to Amelia, she was so happy! It was our first trip out of state as a family, and we promised to have lots of eating of good food, visiting of good friends and even some sing-a-longs!



She started warming up her voice while we were packing, singing us a few tunes she's been working on at daycare. You may know them - "oooohhhhaaaahhhh -EEEEEEhhhhhaaaa", and "ddddaaaaaaaHEEEeeeeee-aaaaahhhhhooooo". She kept us entertained with these for quite a while. The kid's got some range!




She also helped us pick out our clothes - "You're not wearing that, are you, Mom?"
(By the way, if your 3-month old makes this face when you're trying on an outfit, you can bet others will, too...)



As we got ready, we entertained her with tales of where all we'd go, and what we'd do. You can almost see the sugarplums dancing, can't you?



And like a herd of turtles, we were finally ready to hit the road. We got snapped, buckled, tucked and locked in the car, and did a final verification to ensure we had all our necessities - Sunny sunshine rattle? check. Dangly dragonfly? check. Clangy caterpiller? check. Shoulder-strap doggies? check. Pooh Bear paci? check. Mama's milk? CHECK.



Before long, we were settled in and on our way. Hayden promptly fell asleep, a choice she elected to excercise for most of the ride, thankfully!

Our first stop - always - is at the Crab Shack at Tybee Island. We LOVE that place. It's a total hole, but has some of the best low country boil, and we dream about it for months before we go.
It doesn't matter - rain, shine or snow, we go to the Crab Shack if we're anywhere near Savannah! Hayden just insisted on posing with the giant Alligator, so of course we indulged her.

Hayden's become an old pro at traveling, so she wasn't impressed by our fancy hotel digs... She decided to relax for a bit, and try on her new shades -we were in the Sunshine State, after all!

Then, she decided to work off some of that big lunch with some calisthenics. First some arm work and tummy time...

...followed by some jelly rolls...

... then some leg lifts...

After all that fun, we were completely exhausted and decided to crash and catch some zzz's before the big show on Sunday...

Stay posted for the exciting conclusion to our trip and more fun pictures from Hayden's first car event!

Giving me pause...

I just read this post, written by my friend Jenni about her new son Tilden. It gave me goose bumps to read it because I'd felt that about my daughter, but hadn't yet wrapped my mind around it enough to put it into words. Jenni does so beautifully.


Oh, that our children could always remain so innocent and pure and accepting! I look into Hayden's eyes and her delight and excitement at seeing me overwhelms her whole body. She wriggles and grins and gurgles with joy at being near me. All she knows now is the good in me - I hold her close, keep her warm, feed her and love her. She doesn't yet know that her mother is human and broken and sinful. It truly makes me want to be a better woman, to earn her love.

I think that's why God sends us babies - to be reminders of Him and His love for us. No matter what we do, or how badly we fail or fall short, He's always there with open arms, ready to welcome us back, seeing straight through to the good in us. To the God in us.

How, in the presence of a child, can you not believe in God? To know love like that, so pure and unadulterated. There is no theory or science or equation that can account for that feeling. That must be God.

The countdown is on!

We have officially locked in a mortgage rate, which means the clock is ticking. We have to close by April 9 to keep our rate, and I've assured my builder and architect that I intend to close on time!!! Of course, it's hard to believe that it's real yet, which makes it difficult to get motivated packing all those boxes I know are waiting at the rental...

Monday should be countertops and fireplace surround (YAY!) and Tuesday, the rest of the kitchen cabinetry (double YAY!). I just can't wait to see it all finished! Sooooo close!

In the meantime, it's fun to see how much closer we are. Here are the latest pictures.

Our front steps, in progress. They're a native flagstone, and add a great touch to the front porch.

Our fireplace surround - black slate. The rest of the trimwork should go up next week.

The great room, with Hayden's favorite feature - the fan!

The entryway and stairs, view from the great room.

The dining room, view from the great room (and you can see a little of the kitchen peeking at you on the left).

Chris's favorite room - the Victorian powder room (also known as our guest bath/Hayden's bathroom). The toilet has a mahogany seat that has yet to be installed, as someone doesn't want anyone else 'doing the honors' in that room first! We'll not name names... You can see the marble floors a little in here. That's my favorite part of the room, although I will probably fill most of it up with rugs, to make sure Hayden and I don't slip and fall coming through here.

Our bedroom. Doesn't it just make you want to curl up in a great knit sweatshirt with a steaming mug of soup and look out the window at the rain? I can't even describe how happy this room makes me everytime I go in it. "Soothing" is the word that comes to mind, and I just instantly want to nap when I'm in here! LOVE it!

The master bathroom - our shower. I love this for so many reasons. I got the rain head I wanted, and the removable showerhead for cleaning. The seat is wonderful, and it's so spacious! This is the tub side of the wall, here. See how the shower seat becomes the tub surround? Nifty little detail our architect thought up, there... The best part about this bathroom though, is that was all made with our amazing bargain tile - $.27 a square foot, baby! I bought this stuff almost 2 years ago when I saw it on sale outside our Home Depot, and didn't even give Chris a chance to look at it. I just called him and told him I had our tile. For that price, he wasn't getting a choice! What he never told me was that he HATED that tile. Couldn't envision how or where we'd use it that it wouldn't be hideous. Enter the world's slowest (but probably best) tile guy, a few fancy trim pieces I picked out, and a napkin sketch of what I wanted, and VOILA! Suddenly it looks like Southern Living in our bathroom, at a bargain basement investment!

And, this, next to my bedroom and kitchen (oh! and my closet), is probably one of my favorite rooms of the house... my screened porch. At my mom and dad's house, we're always out on the back porch. It's almost never too cold or hot to enjoy it, and I just love being out near nature, without nature being too near to me (if you've ever spent a summer in Georgia, you know what I'm talking about, and our cute little pond out front will be mosquito heaven in a few months!). This one is huge, with central access to the rest of the house, and I can just see Hayden playing out here in no time...

So, here's hoping I have some pictures of the final product in the next few weeks to show you! Keep your fingers crossed!