Memorial Weekend Recap

I am back in good Old Jacksonville and couldn't be happier to be in my own bed. I had a fantastic weekend, but the drive to and from Asheville was no joke. We ended up leaving Friday morning at 5 am and getting there around 2. I rode with Erica, Mike, Bobbie, and baby Weston. He did really well considering he's only a month old. We only stopped 2 times the entire ride.

We arrived at our cute little cabin and settled in and rested for a little bit before the festivities began.

This place was such a good deal and had all the amenities we needed. 

Friday night, we headed to the Residences at Biltmore pool for happy hour with all the people in town for Matt's wedding. Here is a picture of all the Bishop Kenny crew with the soon to be bride & groom.

After happy hour, we had dinner downtown at a place called Marketplace and then went to a brewery/bar called Wicked Weed. We didn't stay out too late since we were exhausted from the long drive earlier. Saturday, we just relaxed slept in, laid in the sun, read my book, and then headed downtown for an afternoon stroll and shopping. We made tacos at the house for dinner and hit the hay early. 

Sunday, the girls woke early and went for a little hike near our cabin. 

We headed home, showered up and then jumped on a bus for a 45 minute ride out to the wedding venue. It was a lovely view, but of course the weather didn't cooperate and we got rained on during the ceremony. They made the best of it, said their vows simultaneously, exchanged rings, kissed and ran out. It was about a 5 minute ceremony. As soon as the ceremony ended, the weather cleared up and it was a lovely night. They had a really good band and we had a great time catching up with old friends and dancing the night away. Here are some pictures from the wedding. 

 Standing ceremony since it was raining on and off.

 The girls, picture doesn't do the view justice

 Bride & groom's 1st dance

Mother/Son Dance

High school friends & a gorgeous view of the sunset

 Monday we trekked another 8 hours home and I ran in the house and hoped in bed with Delainey since she was asleep taking her nap. She was so happy to see me! We have a semi busy week since we start swim lessons for D and Kelli & I are starting to workout at a gym called timed exercise. I'll be back with a swim lesson update. I hope everyone had a great memorial day weekend!

Asheville bound for Matt's Wedding

Tomorrow morning (4:30 am to be exact) I will be heading north to Asheville, NC for one of my oldest friend's wedding. I have know Matt since 5th grade and gone to school with him since 6th grade. It is crazy to think we have been friends for almost 20 years. David and Delainey are staying home this weekend bc he is on call. I will be riding up there with Erica, Mike, & baby Weston. Prayers please for a smooth, easy ride with a 1 month old! :) We got an awesome 3 bedroom cabin we are staying at with another couple Amanda & Brett so it should be a good time. The wedding isn't until Sunday so we will have plenty of time to explore Asheville and enjoy the mountains. I'm gonna miss the queenie though! I'll be back on Monday and will do a weekend Recap with all my pictures from this weekend. I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!

 The St. Joesph's middle school crew 2 christmas' ago. Friends since 6th grade

 2007 - Obviously my wedding

2010 - Erica's wedding weekend

 Matt & Megan's couple's shower 2 months ago

2 Years Old Update

Height: 37 1/2 inches - greater than 97% (the average height of a 4 year old)
Weight: 28 pounds - 70%
Head Circumference: 20 inches -50%
Movement: We are currently working on your pointing. Sometimes you point with your pinky or whole hand so we are working on only using our pointer finger. And working on how to count 1-5 with your hands. Other than that we have mastered the movement department!
Eating Habits/New Foods: Your meals consists of: Breakfast: pancakes, sausage, scrambled cheese eggs, yogurt with granola, cereal, fruit, granola bars. Lunch: string cheese, smoothies, applesauce,fruit or veggies, salami, bologna, chicken nuggets, noodles, PB & J. Dinner: whatever we are eating for dinner. Snacks: you love pretzels, graham crackers, goldfish, raisins, fruit snacks, snack mix, crackers. You are getting about 10 oz of milk throughout the day.
Sleeping Patterns: You usually go to bed around 8:30/9 and you wake up at 8 am on the dot! Naps are usually 1-2 hours and you take them around 1 or 2. You have been choosing a princess to sleep with you each night. You are very regimented on your schedule. Bath, get dressed, 2 books, prayers and bed. You go to bed like a gem!
Sounds/Words: There is truly nothing you can't say. You are learning new words all the time, even big ones like electrocuted and righteous. You have an unbelievable memory. You can sing the words to  tons of songs, recite bible verses, say our dinner prayer, and tell me whole conversations that characters have in movies. You are a song lady…you love to sing anything and can here the first note of a song and tell me what the name of the song is!
New discoveries/accomplishments:
-You have a new friend Weston James Milam born on April 22nd.
-You went on your 1st girls trip. We went to Palm Coast for 2 nights at Alicia's beach condo. It was Grammy, Kelli, Georgia, Delainey, & Mommy.
-You participated in several Easter egg hunts this year. One at Joni's house, one at Gammoe's church and one at Gammoe's house
-You celebrated Easter and took part in all our Easter traditions: dyed easter eggs, made resurrection rolls, got a Easter basket from the Easter bunny, celebrated Jesus and read lots of stories about his resurrection
-You caught your first fish - a catfish in Gammoe's pond
-You went to Hollywood Studios for the 1st time with Grammy.
-YOU CELEBRATED YOUR 2ND BIRTHDAY AT DISNEY WORLD!
-You went to Animal Kingdom for the 1st time
New Friends I've made: You met baby Weston in the hospital and have also seen him once at the pool and once at the beach. He is so tiny! You also met some new friends at Joni's Easter egg hunt!
Places you went/Adventures: You celebrated Easter, went on your first girls trip to Palm Coast to stay at Alicia's beach condo, went to Hollywood Studios, went to Disney World for the weekend for your birthday and stayed at the Art of Animation hotel in the Finding Nemo room, you went to the zoo with Maria and Kristin, and have been spending a good bit of time at the pool and beach lately. You got some awesome gifts for your 2nd bday… an new backpack and lunchbox for school next year, Disney: shoes, dresses, cups, toys; clothes and salt water sandals, and the Jungle book.
Clothes: You are in 3T sleepers but can wear 4T. We are doing mostly 3T for dresses and shirts bc they are longer. Shorts we still do 2T. These are your current sizes: Gymboree-2T/3T, Target- 3T, Carter-3T , Old Navy/Gap- 3T. Size 8 shoe.
You are in a size 5 diaper. Hoping to start potty training this summer!

Happy Mother's Day!

 Happy Mother's Day to the best mom a girl could ask for. You are always there to give us advice, support, lend a hand, babysit, feed us, pray for us, and do pretty much anything we need. You have shown us what it looks like to be a Godly woman who loves the Lord and puts everyone else before herself. We are so lucky to have you in our lives and we cherish everyday we get to spend with you. You truly are my best friend! Thanks for being the best mom and Grammy in the world! 

Shout out to my mother-in-law as well! I could not have picked a better mother in law. You did such a fantastic job raising a selfless, supportive, caring young man, and you are always there to help with Delainey! Thanks for being a great Gammoe and mother to my wonderful husband! 

 And lastly thanks to my best friend at life, Delainey Marie, for making me a Mommy and letting me get to spend every single day with you! Being your Mom is the best job in the entire world and I love you very much!

One last shout out to my other best friend, (funny how my 3 best friends are my family:), my sister Kelli, Happy 1st Mothers day to you! You are an awesome mom to Georgia and she is perfect in every way!! We love you! 

Delainey's 2nd birthday to Disney World!

Saturday morning, Delainey's actual birthday, we headed down to Orlando for the weekend. It was David, Delainey, myself, Grammy & Gammoe. We stayed at the Art of Animation hotel on Disney property and it was awesome! Delainey is currently obsessed with Finding Nemo so when I saw this hotel I knew we had to stay here. We stayed in one of the finding Nemo family suites which worked great for us. It had a queen bed, a pull out queen coach, and a murphy bed where the kitchen table converted to a bed. My favorite part of the hotel was its awesome pool area. Delainey had a blast on Sunday morning playing in the splash park. I highly recommend this hotel for kids and I'm sure we will be back in the future.
This is outside of the Finding Nemo buildings. (Which are right by the pool so that's a plus!)

The pool had a beach entrance and was heated. It had lifeguards too!

The splash park Delainey loved playing in on Sunday!

When we arrived on Saturday to the hotel, we checked in and then hoped on the bus to hit up the Magic Kingdom. It was overcast with occasional light showers and I was so worried it was going to ruin our day. It was a blessing in disguise! We never really got wet! We had a poncho on for the occasional sprinkle and bc of the possibility of rain, NOONE was at the park. We didn't wait more than 20 minutes for any ride. It was fantastic!

Us on the bus headed to Magic Kingdom. Our hotel gave her a button that said Happy Birthday Delainey. Every single person we passed that worked at Disney told her happy birthday. It was so cool!

We rode on the Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan, It's a small world, Carousel, The little mermaid, had lunch, met some princesses: Anna & Elsa from Frozen, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, & Rapunzel, did the Monsters Inc. laugh factory, and then we headed home for a nap.

 Delainey took a nice 2 hour nap, we ate dinner at the hotel and then headed back to Magic Kingdom for the night. We did the little Mermaid again, Dumbo, Buzz lightyear, and Mickey's Phillharmagic 3D show. Delainey loved the 3D show; she was giggling and trying to grab the stuff coming at us. I highly recommend this show and in the past we have skipped it every single time. It started raining a little harder around 9:30 so we watched the fireworks and then headed home because the parade was canceled. 

Sunday was a gorgeous day and I think everyone and their mother had the idea of going to Animal Kingdom. It was insane how crowded it was! Luckily we had fast passes. We went on the safari ride, did the petting zoo, did the 3D It's a bugs life show, played in Dinoland where she dug up some fossils and went on slides, and watched the Finding Nemo show. It was a little long (40 minutes) but it was like watching Nemo on Broadway! That was my favorite of the day. We watched the parade at 3:45 and then called it a day and headed home. 

Waiting on Nemo to start

It's a bugs life show

 

Watching the parade and clearly exhausted

We had such a fantastic trip and I am so glad Delainey's grandmas got to celebrate her 2nd birthday with us! Happy 2nd birthday sweet Delainey Marie!