August 12 = Vase Day

Malia has continued her fascination with collecting flowers.  She collected a pretty impressive bouquet today so we put it in a vase!  She was very proud.

She's also a very proud big sister!

Also, I had to screenshot this and send it to Zachary because this is very accurate for us.

April 19 = Go Back Home Day

We got good night's rest last night and woke up at a decent hour to go back home today!

... but we forgot one of our suitcases.  Stay tuned to see if we get it back!

December 17 = Go to NC Day

Matt's birthday is Saturday and while we were talking on the phone last night he offered to come pick us up.  He drove five hours up, came inside, refilled his water bottle, helped finish packing up the car and we headed back.  I would have never predicted this but Liam actually slept a little and Malia didn't.

At one point, Malia started screaming.  We changed her, fed her, gave her something to drink, gave her toys, tried everything, but there was nothing we could do to make her stop.  Matt, not used to this level of noise, got a headache so I started driving and he used some noise canceling headphones.  While they were not quite a match for Malia's pipes, they did help but I missed a turn at some point. Zachary said there's a spot coming down where the GPS signal is really weak and it's confusing so he thinks he knows exactly where I went wrong but it ended up taking over seven hours and Malia screamed for the last four.  Matt definitely got more than he bargained for!

June 15 = Come Home Day

Well it was time to return to Maryland.  The morning we left for Smithfield, I found a pacifier clip- it was very exciting.  As we were packing everything up to come back home, we couldn't find the pacifier clip.  So Zachary made one of his own using yarn:

 As soon as we got home, as I do every time we come home now, I checked out my plants- very exciting!

June 12 = Travel Day

Zachary was talking to his parents the other day- his dad is having a medical procedure done soon and he told them that if they needed anything, he could take leave and we could come down to Smithfield to help out.  What we can do to help with two crazy babies, I'm not sure, but the sentiment was definitely there.  They said they wouldn't need any help but if he's able to take leave- he should take some and come down just to visit.  So we did!  This crazy husband of mine decided to see if there were any kind of races down there while we were visiting and sure enough he found a triathlon.  So that's tomorrow but today we drove down.  Both kids were pretty good- they did take a short nap which was nice:

 Once we got there, Malia became fast friends with Sadie.  Sadie's not so sure about Malia though.

May 25 = Hiking Day!

Woo-hoo! Today's the day!  I will miss my kids but Zachary and I are overdue for a little alone time.  We headed to Philadelphia mid-morning- we enjoyed car ride conversations- something that only occurs when no kids are in the car.  We casually made pit stops for bathroom breaks, picking up sunscreen and getting snacks.  We made a couple wrong turns but it was okay because we weren't in a huge hurry counting down the minutes until a backseat breakdown. We made it to the park and set out on the closest trail.  Here are some pictures from our 6 mile hike:

We saw a deer!

After the hike, we headed to the hotel to check-in.  We showered, got dressed, and headed to dinner.  We went to Cantina Laredo- one of Zachary's favorite places to eat- there's one in Jacksonville and it's actually the last place we ate out in Jacksonville because it is his favorite so when I was looking for somewhere for dinner and saw this, I was so excited to tell him!  This picture was sneakily taken by my husband after I had consumed a margarita or two...

The restaurant was in a mall so we walked off the tequila and looked around a little bit.  We headed back to the hotel and had a quiet night in.  A great first day of vacation!

Aaaaaand Grandma was very thoughtful and shared pictures of the kids with us- this was my favorite from the day: