Mallory and I headed off on our adventure on Sunday afternoon, July 16th. Our first stop was Elberton, GA to meet my mom. We left her place on Monday morning around 8am after Mallory's first feeding of the day.
We stopped about an hour and a half later for Mallory to eat and stretch before we got back in the car. She was such a trooper during the entire trip! She napped well and played with herself while she was awake. My mom bought her this cute little mirror that allowed us to see what she was up to and gave her some distraction from the long trip! I loved having this mirror!
After one more stop on the road, we made our first destination around 3:30pm, which was Orange Park, FL. We made two stops here; one stop included cookies and ice cream with a long-time family friend, Mary. Her house was the only house I didn't take a picture at!!! But, it was nice to visit with Mary and show off my baby! The next stop was at my Uncle Bob (my dad's brother) and Aunt Gail's house, which was also in Orange Park. They lovingly made us dinner and we enjoyed having another opportunity to stretch out our muscles and play with the baby.
After we left their house around 8:15, we headed up to Jacksonville Beach to stay with one of my best friends, Kristin. We got there about 9pm and were TIRED! It was good to see Kristin's house, though, which was about 9 blocks from the ocean. The next day, we headed out to the beach for a few pictures, but we were only outside briefly, since it was so HOT! But, I got several pictures of Mallory's first time at the beach. She slept through it all!!!
We at lunch at a really neat beachy restaurant in Atlantic beach (2 beaches up), visited a little more, and then headed off around 2pm to go to our next destination, which was my brother-in-law's parents, who live just within the border of the Ocala National Forest in Silver Springs, FL. Now, if you've never been to the Forest, it's pretty dismal! Nothing but pine trees for miles! It's been a LONG time since I've asked the question "Are we there yet?", but I think I asked my mom that question a couple of times on that leg of the journey. We FINALLY arrived at the Latonas around 4:30pm on Tuesday. They LOVED seeing Mallory and it was so much fun to have them gush over her!
It was nice to be able to visit them and catch up on their lives. After Mrs. Latona fed us some delicious coconut cream pie (one of my favorites), we headed up to Candler, FL to see my grandparents.
We briefly visited with my grandma and grandpa on Tuesday night, but we were so tired that we headed over to my Uncle Dave (mom's brother) and Aunt Maureen's house for some dinner and bed!!! On Wednesday, we went back to my grandparents to visit. It had been over a year since I've seen grandma and grandpa and it was SOOO good to be able to hug them! I've missed seeing them. I have so many good memories with them as a kid and it's hard to be so far away. But, the time I do get to spend with them is always sweet. My grandmother has been struggling with her health over the past year or two and is gradually getting worse. I was expecting the worst when I went to visit her, but she looked really good and I was able to have some very nice conversations with her. She was very happy to comply to a "4 generation" picture!!!
She enjoyed Mallory so much and I was so thankful that she was able to meet her second great-granddaughter! This picture was actually taken on Mallory's 3-month birthday, so it will actually be Mallory's 3-month picture. It was such a sweet time! Here is a picture of my grandpa and grandma with Mallory...
We spent all day on Wednesday in Candler with my family. I have 5 cousins on this side of my family and I was able to see 3 of them. My cousin, Aaron, and his wife have 1 1/2 year old daughter, Peighton, who came over on Wednesday night to visit. I also have a cousin, Elisha (a girl...pronounced "Alicia"), who is 1 year older than Mallory (my aunt had her at 39!!!) and having all three little girls there was so much fun! We had a big dinner together that night and it was nice to just catch up and watch the girls! Elisha's sister, Kenzie, is 11 and she's such a beautiful girl! We spent a lot of the day on Wednesday with her, too. I took some beautful portraits of Kenzie and Elisha that I can't wait to show them.
On Thursday, we said a tearful goodbye to my grandparents and headed up to Albany, GA to see my sister and brother-in-law. We stopped in Gainesville (my hometown) for a brief visit to some old family friends, the Clendenins. It had been over 10 years since I had been to their house, so it brought back a lot of memories for me! It was fun to show off Mallory, yet again, and she was being so cute...as always! Later that afternoon, we headed up to my sisters (finally!!!). It had been several years (probably around 6 years) that I had see my sister's dwelling place, so it was LONG overdue for me to go and see her! We had a great time together!!! My cousin, Charmaigne, and her family came over to visit that night, too! Goodness, we had LOTS of visiting going on! Anyway, we stayed in Albany for a night and my sister had the opportunity to show us around her city for a few hours on Friday, after a mean game of Texas Hold'em, which I beat out my brother-in-law for the VICTORY!!! It was a nice visit, but too short! I wish I could have stayed longer.
We left Albany about 4pm on Friday to head back to Elberton. Mallory had been so good on each leg of the journey, except this last one! Our nerves were pretty frazzled by the end of the trip. A normally 4.5 hour trip took about 5.5 hours....most of which included us entertaining a fussy baby! But, it was all worth it.
My dad was anxious to spend some time with Mallory before we went to bed that night, since he had only seen her a little bit on my brief stops there. But, he was able to get some of her sugar before we headed back to Charlotte the next day.
After loading and unloading the car several times in 7 days, I was ready to be home! It was good to be in Patrick's embrace again and he spent a lot of time holding and kissing Mallory. He missed his girls!
I was SOOO thankful Mallory and I were able to make this trip with my mom. She was so helpful with me and the baby; she seemed to know what I needed before I said anything. That was nice! Plus, we had a lot of time to visit with each other over the many hours we spent in the car. I don't think many girls can say her mom is one of her very best friends, but I can honestly say that! I have such an awesome relationship with my mom and I appreciate her so much more, now that I'm a mom myself.
I know this was a newsy post, but I wanted to get the outline of the week we spent in Florida down before I forgot it! Our life is about to go into overdrive pretty soon and my brain is not the same as pre-mommy days! I hope you enjoyed with account of my trip!
4 comments:
Glad you had such a good trip! It sounds like Mallory is an easy-going baby. Cute pics! from Karen
Hi! I'm so glad your trip went well. It's great that you were able to see so much family in such a short amount of time. I'm sure you'll cherish that...Take care & miss ya! :)
Wow, what a week!
I'm so glad you were able to go on this trip! What a treat for your mom, too!!
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