We have been looking forward to this trip to North Carolina all year and it was definitely worth waiting for! We had such a blast spending time with many of our family members. We were able to see my brother older David and his family (+3 kids, Benjamin, Carter, and Dylan), Ryan's older sister and her family (+5 kids, Joshua, Chase, Beau, Tyler and Zachary), Ryan's younger sister, Ryan's brother who flew in from NYC, and both sets of parents.
We surprised my parents when we arrived because we decided to drive half-way on the way up which made us pull into Charlotte hours before they were actually expecting us. It was a great drive and the girls and Owen did fantastic. We only had to stop twice on both legs and no one had any meltdowns. Owen was an absolute dream! Our stops were between 20 and 40 minutes depending on how much he wanted to eat, but we tried to be as relaxed as we could knowing we were extending our trip minute by minute, which is not what we are used to. When it was just us and the girls, we could stop for 5-10 minutes and only stop a few times on a 10 hour drive. Ellie has been only potty trained for a month now, so for the drive, we had her wear a diaper just in case, but that girl didn't have ANY accidents the entire week!! SO much driving, so many distractions. That girl is a rockstar. When we showed up at my parents house around 2pm, they were SO excited. They picked up my brother and his family from the airport and the party could begin!
That night, the 4th, everyone went to watch fireworks on the boat. I stayed back with little Owen (no babies allowed on the boat). We had fun watching Hallmark movies and cuddling. Everyone had a great time and I'm glad the girls could experience real fireworks, a first for both of them!
The beginning of the week was spent with my family and we ended up filling every single moment with lots of boat time, lots of good food, and lots of fun cousin time for the kids.
My mom set up a fun FHE night of water games. It was a beautiful night to be outside. We were throwing water balloons and my favorite new game, picking up marbles in a kiddle pool with your toes. Brinley and I rocked that game together as a team! Long toes for the win!! haha
I love seeing Brinley and Ellie interact with their cousins. They have constant fun with them. Wish we could all live closer together and enjoy our together time ALL the time! Maybe someday :-)
Since I wasn't constantly with Brinley during the week due to nursing and taking care of Owen, it was such a fun time for me to hear from her all the fun they were having. Brinley had the BEST week of her life. She had so much fun with Benji and Carter and Dylan. She was adventurous on the boat and the tube. She loved riding fast and in circles. She loved being on the sea-doos. She looked and sounded more and more "big kid" more than ever this week. She is nearing 6 years old and this week, she totally acted like it. It showed to me that she is ok not having a constant helicopter mommy (even though I still am, but from a distance). She is responsible, caring, aware of her surroundings, cautious at times, and always up for a good time. She is the best big sister to look up to. Ellie had a great week too. She got to hang with the big kids occasionally, but what I learned about Ellie this week is that she isn't into being apart of the group most of the time. She spent a lot of one-on-one time with either Ryan or I at the house when everyone else was out on the boat. She loved being apart of the group, but only for a short time. Then, she was happy to chat my ear off playing with all of Grandma's toys. And what I learned about Owen is that someone else besides me or Ryan CAN put him down for a nap, and keep him asleep so that I can enjoy myself for a couple of hours and have fun!
NEXT UP: time with the Briggs!
