Summer Vacation 2009

We spent last week in Indiana on vacation, so I have lots of blogging to catch up on! I took a ton of pictures, so I just put them all in a slideshow and captioned them up to update faster (I have to economize as I never know how long James will be napping for at any one time). He's actually napping on the sunroom in the Boppy swing right now (yeah, finally) and took about a 45 minute nap IN HIS CRIB (unheard of) earlier today (unfortunately, I only got to go through mail and eat lunch in that time, but at least it was productive). I was planning on blogging when I was at my parents house, but I got caught up reading a book, "Bitter is the New Black" by Jen Lancaster -- friggin' hilarious stuff here people! Jim would often make fun of me because I would just randomly just start laughing out loud when reading :-D I can't wait to read her other books -- her 3rd one came out just a couple weeks ago and has people rolling I guess, woo hoo for good, witty books! Thanks Laura for letting me borrow it!



Saturday :: we went down to Indy and Kasey and Toni came to meet James. Kasey took lots of pictures with her fancy dancy camera -- I'm so excited to see them! She has some real talent there and just clicked away -- even when we were down in the basement hiding because the tornado sirens went off -- such dedication!

Sunday :: I have no idea what we did, but I know Kristen and Larry came over to help get all the food in order for our trip (there's a reason we're not twigs people).

Monday: Jen and Kennedy came for a visit. James practiced sitting in Kay's bebe chair - he did well, just a little lean to the left -- looks like I will have to pull ours out of the box so he can practice sitting up! Kennedy shared her mommy better this time around, but I don't think she's ready to be a big sister just yet:-) Easton went to doggie day care to get evaluated prior to his stay (he did well, whew, and they were happy to let him be kennelled there for the week).

Tuesday :: we packed up and drove down to Eckerty, IN (20 minutes from French Lick, home of Larry Bird, yo). We were staying at a cabin on Patoka Lake, which is a HUGE lake patrolled by the US Army Corp for our first family vacation since Kris and I have been married and the first with James! We got there and after unpacking headed to the pool while GG and Pops got dinner ready and hung out w/ James (the water was a little chilly for him still and he's too little for the swim trunks I bought him). Jimmy and my mom put James on his belly on his activity mat and he was crawling! He really hates tummy time I tell ya! We made him do it again as he was screaming because I wanted to see it (so cool) -- he didn't use his arms (he's not strong enough to push himself up yet) but had his feet in the proper position and was pushing off and then switching legs -- he is gonna be a movin' here soon, I'm sure, I better get my running shoes out)! Then he was too pissed to eat...whoops, should have just waited but I spend so much time with him I get upset when I miss "new" things he does and wanted to see for myself...and he settled down in under 3 minutes, so it's not like he withered away while upset.

Wednesday :: Jim, GG, Pops, James and myself went to the French Lick Winery for some taste testing (James slept through the testing part). They didn't do "tours" but had an observation window (no one was working), so we just enjoyed the tasting and got ourselves 3 bottles to bring home (French Lick Red was sooo good)! Then we drove over to the West Baden Hotel so Mom and I could go in and see the renovations they've done. Back in the day it was a hot spot for travelers because they had mineral springs there -- it was sold to Jesuits after the Depression, then was closed for 70 years...I think they've spent something in excess of $330 million in renovations -- it looks great. The dome inside is one of, if not the, biggest in the world (that's what I heard one of the people reading an information sign inside say at least). I got the family to play Loaded Questions that night (thank you Eddie and Jamie for introducing us to the game) and then GG and Pops babysat as the rest of us hit the casino for a couple hours.

Thursday :: more rain during the day so we didn't get to golf (which was the only thing Jimmy really wanted to do during the week, sorry babe). Dad, Kristen, Larry and Maddie stayed back at the cabin w/ James as the rest of us went back to the casino to get out of the house for awhile. Mom was the big winner -- from $3.02 to $50.37 on one hand of video poker -- must be the "grandma" luck that runs on my side of the family (my grandmother used to call all the time cheering "BINGO BINGO BINGO" on the phone) -- I can't wait to be a grandma if that gene keeps on going! My dad also found that James really loves when he says "Hot Dawwwg" to him...so we only heard it about 4,573 more times that weekend, but the smile he got as a response was well worth it (I tried telling my dad he had to put a nickle in James' college fund each time the rest of us had to hear him say it, hehe, he's so cute w/ James, I love my Dad). It dried out and the boys got a nice campfire going - so I took James down there for another "first." He was down there less than 10 minutes before he got mad (I'm guessing because of the hat I kept pushing down on his head) but it was enough to get some pictures and let him check out the cool colors of the fire.

Friday :: packed up and headed back to my parents hizzouse. Us Montalbano's hung out with Pops for the night as GG had to go to work (Coldplay concert).

Saturday :: we hung out at the 'rents house while waiting patiently to leave for the Rascal Flatts concert. Pops and Aunt Cassie tag-teamed the babysitting gig while Jimmy and I went on a date to the concert :-) Darius Rucker (aka "Hootie") opened for the band and was fantastic...he did some of the stuff off his new CD (also has a #1 country song) and did some of his Hootie and the Blowfish songs (I was uber excited about that, I love Hootie; I was very concerned though that he needed to buy out the Blowfish to have the rights to the songs, but Jim assured me he probably wrote most of the songs and all would be well). We had tickets to the Green Room (A/C and free drinks) for the beginning of the show -- CONFIRMED: I am most likely allergic to alcohol (so sad) as I had 6 sips of a Coors Light and my face turned bright red and my lips got tingly...I'm guessing this is another pregnancy-related change to my body (although other family members are effected by this condition too). Rascal Flatts put on a great show, just like last year and we really enjoyed the night out -- Thanks for the tickets and the free bebe-sitting!

Sunday :: we packed up and headed back home to "relax" from vacation -- we were so tired when we got home, it was crazy! I guess I was up late after the concert because I had to stay up to pump, but I didn't think I would be that tired, geez! An awesome sight when we got home: our neighbor's 13-year old son was mowing our lawn as a surprise! SO AWESOME! I need to think of something to get him to say Thanks (am open to suggestions - please Comment to this post if you have any - I thought maybe a good letter to his Boy Scouts leader and something to go with it-- I'm sure they need that to get to be an Eagle Scout). James actually "grasped" his chime on his activity mat tonight and was playing with it -- may be able to bust out the blankies and toys now that involve him holding them -- I guess the "3 months +" deciding people for babies toys were right on (he'll be 3 months old on Wednesday).

Today :: back to the grind of feeding James, showering, playing, feeding James, nap, feeding James, playing, changing his diaper and oh yeah, did I mention feeding James? I think this lil' man has been going through his 3 month growth spurt for about the last week as he's wanted to nurse all the time and has been napping a lot (although usually only if someone is holding him --note: he's still asleep in the swing now, woo hoo, good nap Bug)!

We look forward this week to a visit from Gma Chele and going bridesmaid dress shopping for Jen K. and Dominic's wedding!