Home to Georgia!

To say our trip home to Georgia was awesome would be an understatement.  In fact, I've (well, we...) have had a hard time coming back to Maryland this time.  We crashed after our "georgia high" and it's taken a while to get back into the groove of our home away from home.  Our visit was great.  Filled with so many fun visits with family and friends.  Not a minute went by that we were not hugging necks or laughing with our favorite people.  It was truly perfect. 

We arrived on a Thursday around 11pm.  Yes, it took us almost 15 hours to get home.  My sweet husband likes to make sure everyone is comfortable and loves to make lots of pit stops. We arrived at home and discovered our house had been cleaned by aunt shannon, food stocked by mimi & papa, and the breakfast fairy (sweet Laura) came to deliver some really yummy treats. Here is our trip home in a nutshell.  I'm quite sure I'm leaving out some fun things, but it's been a while. 

We played at the park with lots of our favorite buddies.  Unfortunately, I didn't have my memory card this day because I left it at Walmart.  This picture was stolen from Erin's camera.  I love it because it will help me remember Carson's new smile.  Isn't it lovely?  The kids had a ball and Carson loved carrying around her new Strawberry Shortcake doll that her friends, the Garretts, gave her for her birthday!  The mamas had a blast catching up, too!  I look forward to many more park days in the future.  After being in Maryland, I've found that good friends really are a gem.  I'm so thankful for the ones we have.

We celebrated Carson's 2nd Birthday!  (more on this later...) What a fun Mother's Day and Birthday celebration.  The weather & company of our family made it just right for this birthday girl. 

And, don't be jealous that I got to go here for Mother's Day... chocolate covered strawberries and people watching made the day complete.  What's a visit to GA without a trip to HELEN, right?

We stopped by the Stahl's house on the way home from taking Shane to the airport.  A quick visit turned into 4 hours of fun.  The kids had a blast signing Happy Birthday and not eating their dinner.  So fun to watch them play together & I was able to steal some really good hugs from Christian & Callie. 

(i'm working on replacing this picture with the original one...)

Playing with the Williams crew and getting lots of Gus & Davis time were high on our priority list.  These two have been best buds since birth...literally.  Ok, so maybe we've made them that way, but they really do love being together.  They were truly this happy to be hanging out!

Fishing together, laughing their heads off, spend the night parties, running through sprinklers...all with our favorite cousins.  Oh, how these kids have a ball.  So fun to see them pick right back up where they left off. 

We also had a blast meeting the Becklers for some hiking at Amicalola Falls.  Charlie & Will have grown up so much and it was so great to be with them for the day.  Such fun kiddos...and always great to see Davis react when he seems them.  They hug, they laugh for a few minutes, and then run off and play together...and this time including miss carson.  Our day was perfect.  We hiked, saw waterfalls, played at the playground, threw rocks in the river, and celebrated birthdays with cupcakes. 

I was very excited that we were home for the Mt. Laurel parade.  So the kids didn't loooove the parade and the loud sounds, but sure did love the company of Nana!  She came to spend the day with us & we had a blast.  We rode the train and she got suckered into buying them Silly Bandz at the festival.  She was a super big help with the kids so I could pack up to come back North. 

The kids and I drove back to Maryland on Sunday.  Knock on some serious wood, the trip was perfect.  Well, except for that silly policeman who was trying to "help us out"....or so I told Davis.  :-)  We made it in 12 long hours with only a few stops.  I didn't get sleepy and neither did the kids unfortunately, but they did great.  Dad sure was excited to see us.  Being home was good for us.