Emerald Isle with Old Friends

My good friend Lara and her daughter Ella, who live in California, were here on the east coast to visit her family. They rented a cottage in Emerald Isle, and Jackson and I just happened to be in Wilmington while they were in NC! Jackson and I went up there, planning on spending the day with our friends on the beach. The kids had a great time playing together and Lara and I had fun catching up. We stayed on the beach for almost 5 hours and decided to stay for the night cause we were having so much fun. No Napson Jackson really rallied that night. After hard playing in the sun and surf and with just a short 20 minute power nap under his belt, he made it through dinner and a trip to the grocery store before crashing. We stayed for a homecooked breakfast before hitting the road back to Wilmington. It a great trip-one we'll never forget!

Halloween came to us in September this year. My little Hitler. :)

Chuck E Cheese!

Grandie Phi and Pa Paw took Jackson to Chuck E Cheese for lunch and fun. And did we have fun! Jackson loved every minute of it. He was so excited to be there and see the rides, the games, the kids and most importantly, the large stuffed Chuck E Cheese, himself! There were plenty of little cars and merry go rounds for the boy to ride on, what he loved the most was the big Chuck E Cheese character on stage. We had tons of tokens, but all he wanted was to dance with Chuck.



Since he clearly is not afraid of those stuffed humans as animals, Disney World, here we come!!!!!

Playing with Daddy!

Jackson is definitely loving being at home with his dad. They've been rough housing, reading, jamming out to Dad's music-it's a nice change from running errands and cleaning the house with me.

The boy loves to put Sean's headphones on and jam out. When we are driving, just Jackson and me, we listen to disco, oldies and the ladies station. And a little talk radio. With Sean, it's Disturbed and Iron Maiden. Yep, starting our kid out early with the heavy metal. As you can see, he likes it. And he's pretty good with a mouse, too!

Loving Augusta

Sean and I decided it was silly for me to be in Wilmington while he's here in Augusta, so on Sunday, Jackson and I packed up our stuff and moved to Sean's corporate housing. It's tight, but we are happy to be together. And we are having a lot of fun, Jackson and I. We spend the better part of each morning exploring our new town, which has lots of parks, walking paths and shopping! I think we've seen 3 new parks this week alone. We are loving this new city of ours and I get more and more excited each day when I discover something new and cool about it! (And to think those Atlantan's call it "Disgusta"... humph.)

Peek a boo, I see you!

Just driving. Jackson loves these steering wheels!

Hmmm, should I climb down these steps or stay put?

" I don't wanna go home!"

"But I'm sooo tired."

Winker!!

With the help of Nana and Grandpa, Jackson learned the fine art of winking. He mostly does it while he's eating, so I pulled out the camera during dinner last night and voila! He did it! It's so cute.

Back to Augusta... But only for a visit

We went to Augusta to see Sean last weekend and to get more aquainted with our new city. In addition to a couple of cool parks, we discovered the Augusta Canal, which has 7 miles worth of walking trails and beautiful views of the Savannah River. It's very calm and serene, a place where I can see us spending many afternoons.

After wandering around, we went out for lunch, which has been hit or miss with Jackson lately. This day was a hit, mostly because we kept the boy plied with lemons. He loves them!

We came home on Tuesday, just to get the mail, and will go home to Augusta for good in September. We are all ready to be under the same roof!

23rd Annual Family Reunion!!

We had our 23rd annual Pettapiece-Bechtel family reunion this year at Ocean Isle Beach. It was the best one ever! Our family rented two cottages and one of them had a pool. Jackson loves the beach, but we were farther than we thought and only made it to the ocean once! The pool was much better, especially because my cousin Ande just had a baby boy, Luke. Luke is 6 weeks old and loves the pool almost as much as Jackson. But nobody loved the pool as much as Tyler, who, by the end of the week, was a fish! He spent every possible second swimming, diving and getting thrown through the air by his grandpa.

Tyler and Jackson watching a movie.

Our cottage had a little treasure box that Jackson couldn't get enough of.

A little jealous? Jackson also couldn't get enough of baby Luke's bouncy seat.

Dad and Jackson floating.

Whew! After a hard day in the sun, the boys loved to relax and unwind to a little Noggin.

Tyler and Jackson loved to jam out with Sean.

Tyler with Uncle Sean's guitar. He looks like a natural!

Ande dipping Luke's toes in the ocean for the first time.

All right, it's time to go home and get back to reality.