Family Weekend

Dad, Mom and Grandma came down Thursday night to visit us for the weekend. Harrison was asleep when they got there so we just chatted and went to sleep.

Friday we hung out at the house mainly watching Harrison. Mom and I took a walk around the neighborhood because there was a neighborhood yard sale going on. Mom got a pack-n-play and we had fun looking. Grandma watched Harrison's farm video with him and mom and dad planted some pansies in our yard that look beautiful! Friday night I went to a Arbonne party (has anyone heard of that? I had not). I left Harrison with the grandparents and great grandma for playtime a bath and bedtime.

Saturday we scurried around and cleaned up the house because someone was coming to see it that afternoon. Then we took a picnic lunch down to Noah's Ark (it is a animal rescue park and an orphanage for children). We had a wonderful afternoon and saw lots of animals! We had a relaxing evening just hanging out at the house.

Sunday morning we headed off to church and Dad, mom and Grandma headed back to SC. Thanks so much for coming! We had a great time and it was so nice to not be the ones packing and driving! :)

Here are some pictures from Noah's Ark...

Here is Grandma scratching the pig behind it's ears!

Harrison and me with the big pig!

This lion's name is Judah. He was taken from an apartment in downtown Atlanta. He was owned by a gang and they would use him to walk their "territory" every night - isn't that crazy!

This was the ugliest turkey I have ever seen! It had so much skin or whatever that stuff is just hanging off his face. I don't know how it could eat!

Mom and Harrison just strolling around.

Harrison and Great Grandma are just watching the monkeys!This was hilarious! This baboon was rumaging through this dog's fur looking for fleas or something. The dog loved it and was just laying there as still as he could.

Last, but not least, the llamas for my mama!

Sorry, I still didn't learn how to do slide shows yet. I will when Mike gets here!

Rock Ranch

This was from 2 weekends ago. I thought I was going to figure out how to do a slide show thing but I didn't figure it out so I will just put some of my favorite pictures from that weekend up here.

The Rock Ranch is in The Rock, GA - no kidding! It is owned by Truett Cathy, he owns Chick-fil-A. It is a very cool ranch with lots of cows (we even saw the last of the original black and white cows - the other 2 have died). He allows for field trips to the ranch and you can also have a campout in a covered wagon! The wagon's sleep 8 and they take you way out on the ranch. You get all the supplies you will need like drinking water, fire building material etc. and for only $5 a person you get a hot dog supper with 2 hot dogs, chips lemonade and the supplies for making smores! I may have forgotten something but doesn't that sound like fun! I want to take Harrison sometime when he gets a little older.

Here are some pictures from that day. They were also having hot air ballons that day which were beautiful!

This is the tractor that took us from the parking area to the ranch!

The ranch was beautiful!

Harrison did not like the pony ride very much!

This was a pumpkin cannon! In the picture below you can see the pumpkin flying through the air.

Harrison and Aunt Amanda look at hot air balloons.

We could walk right up to the balloons and watch them being blown up.

We took at ride around the ranch on a little train. Harrison loved looking out the windows and pointing at the things we drove by.

Harrison loved petting the goats and sheep and donkey at the petting farm.

Isn't this donkey cute! I wish he hadn't closed his eyes for the picture.
I can ONLY pick one pumpkin!
OK, I pick this one!

I'm done, let's go home.

Sorry this is so long. I will figure out how to do the slide show for next time!

A Funny "Hurt"

Harrison fell and bumped his head today. I just thought the bump ended up in a pretty funny looking place! He looks like my little Hindu :)

For Mom and John

This is a tree we saw on the trail to the falls at Lake Lure. I thought you would like to see it.

Here are the roots - out of the ground!

The top is very alive and looks great!

Here is a little friend that likes to sit on our back door!

Harrison can climb!

Since Harrison has been able to pull up to standing he has LOVED the dishwasher and being able to get his spoons out. Now that he can climb he has decided THIS (below) is the best seat is the house!

Our silly little man with his spoon!

Catch up...

Jack, Harrison, Charlotte and Piper in front of a castle the zoo had set up for Boo in the Zoo. Notice Jack and Harrison are holding hands! Jack LOVES his only boy cousin and Harrison thinks Jack is the coolest too!

Harrison loved looking at the snakes!

So, here is what we have been doing for the past week and a half.

Thursday Oct. 11 Left GA to visit SC

Saturday Oct. 13 Baby shower in Gastoia NC for my sister in law Amanda (Harrison will soon have a new cousin Ava Rebekah!!!)

Sunday Oct. 14 Family trip to Lake Lure and Chimney Rock (pictures below)

Monday Oct. 15 Lunch and shopping with Crystal (my best friend from high school who is now a doctor in Alabama!)

Tuesday Oct. 16 Greenville Zoo trip with Ellie, Jack, Charlotte and Piper (Jack and Charlotte are Harrison's cousins and Piper is Jack and Charlotte's cousin) (pictures above) We also drove back to GA Tuesday night

Obviously more things happened in the last two weeks, but since i am so far behind we are just hitting the highlights and then I will try and do better to keep up. :)

At the bottom of the falls that we hiked to - yes, we took the dogs and Mike says "Never again!"Harrison is peering over at the falls from the platform above.Harrison wanted to try and climb this rock. Climbing is his new thing!We ended the day at Chimney Rock with ice cream - the only way to end a day!

New Posts Coming Soon....

Sorry everyone about not having posted anything lately. We have been out of town, then our computer died (we got a new one and so now I can use it again), and right now I am too tired so I will get some new things up this week - Harrison has been very busy over the last few weeks!

Harrison Can Walk!!!!!

Well, our little man has taken his first steps away from couches and chairs and without holding on to anything. Harrison can now walk out into the middle of the room and get whatever it is he has is eye on. It is so cute! And we are so proud of him! He has actually been walking for over a week now (he started on Oct. 6th) I couldn't blog about it though because we were coming to SC this weekend and we wanted to surprise everyone who would be able to see him do it. If you haven't been able to see him yet you will, because it is just too adorable to miss. Show times are every thrity minutes (except during nap times) and you need to call quickly before all the shows are sold out! (just kidding - but it really is that cute)

Here a few pictures but they don't do him justice - I will try to put a video up as soon as we get back home.

A Crazy 24 Hours

So in the last 24 we have been SO busy. I cannot remember the last time we did so much in such a short amount of time. On Friday our friends David and Julie were moving to SC. We were helping - Mike putting all the heavy stuff in the truck and I was babysitting Max and Jake. They finished packing the trailer around 10:30 pm Friday night we ran home for Mike to shower so we could drive to SC for a very busy Saturday!

We left our house at 11:30 pm and arrived at my parents' house at 2:30 am. We slept in until 9:00 am, got up and dressed and headed to Paris Mountain for a picnic with some of Mike's high school friends. We had a great time visiting with everyone. Quay and Michelle (Quay is Mike's friend from high school and Michelle is his wife) were able to come down from NC to visit with everyone too! We had some great grilled chicken thanks to Brian and lots of other yummy salads and desserts! The men had fun playing bocce ball and the ladies talked and took pictures and cared for all the sweet baby boys.

After we left Paris Mtn. we went to look at 2 houses in Greenville. We liked both of them - the 1st one was really small and the second one was absolutely wonderful but they are not looking to do a lease to own right now so we can't afford it with our house in GA. I am praying super hard that our house will sell and we could maybe get this house! It had the best back yard for Harrison and the dogs and a really nice side porch for swinging!

Next we went to David and Julie's new house and helped unload the trailer. They have a lot of boxes to unpack now!

We headed back to Spartanburg and Mike dropped me off to visit with my friend Katie (we worked at Picture Perfect together and now she lives in Florida - I hope one day she will move back to SC though). I got to meet her really nice boyfriend Jon and see Katie's mom, sister, her three nieces (and one nephew on the way). We had a good visit and Harrison was even in a good mood even though it was after his bedtime and he had already had a very busy day. Mike went back to my mom's house to get our things packed up and take a shower. He came back and got us and we headed back down to GA around 9:30 pm. We arrived back at our house at 12:15 am (24 hours and 45 min after we had left!).

Why did we come back so quickly you ask? Mike misses his own bed and home! He is working from home on Monday and wanted 2 nights in his own house - after living out of a suitcase for 10 months I can't really blame him either!

We are taking it easy today and just spending some lazy family time together.

Here are a few pictures of our picnic at Paris Mtn.

OK, so I didn't really get that many pictures! I would love some more if anyone is willing to email them to me that would be great!

Harrison's Birthday!

We had a really wonderful time at Harrison's party! The weather was perfect and the park was a great place to be to keep everyone busy and entertained. We are so thankful for all of our family and friends and thank them all SO SO much for all of the wonderful things Harrison got for his birthday. Harrison had a great time too and is still trying to catch up his sleep from all the fun he had last week! Thank you to everyone who helped to make this a special day for Harrison, Mike and me!!

P.S. Several other people were taking pictures and when I get some of them I will add them so check back every now and then!

Harrison and his daddy riding the train at Cleveland Park.

Harrison walking to his party!

Opening his gifts!

Harrison and his cake. Yes, his pacie is in his mouth! Of course he did not take good naps on this day so by the time it was cake time he was getting tired ;(

Mike stuck his right hand in the icing, but Harrison did not like it. He kept shaking his hand trying to get it off. We tried to give him some icing on his pacie too but he did not like that either.
Next time I have a one year old birthday I am going to just cut up little bite size pieces of the cake for them to pick up because that is how they are used to eating. They are not used to just diving into a big cake to get something to eat! I think they will still get messy with little bits of cake too!

We did "paint" his face with a little icing just for some fun!

Harrison did not like his face covered with icing for very long!

This is Harrison and his buddy Max in the wagon we used to carry everything out to the pavilion. They took a ride in it to the playground!

Harrison and Mike with his birthday balloons!

Harrison and his cousins Jack and Charlotte.

Fun in the swing!!
Harrison is not afraid to go really high in the swing!
These were the monkey cupcakes we made for the party.