Atlanta 3: Friends and Outings

Living far away as we do, Carlton had LOTS of people to meet and places to visit this first visit back to the east coast. For one, he had to meet all of his extended family! We threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my dad, so that was a fun time to hang out with all the aunts, uncles and cousins. Here he is with his three great-aunts, my dad's sisters.

And here with a crew of his second-cousins...

He also got to spend time with his Great-Uncle Dick in Atlanta. He and my mom posed with photos of their parents, so Carlton got a sweet photo opp with the Holt side of the family.

More family visits: Carlton went to visit everyone at work! First, Sherrill & Hutchins, where he had to pose in the family offices.... with his Poppy:

With his Uncle Ricky:

and with his Great-Uncle Tom:

Then we visited his Aunt Kristin at her school

and at the outdoor festival where she was selling her jewelry!

We all had a fun happy hour outing in downtown Roswell one day. Carlton loved sitting up at the table with my dad.

Friends: Among the many friends Carlton got to meet were my dear childhood friend Emily and her family. We had a playdate with her three girls a couple of times. Her twins are just a few weeks older than Carlton.

I love how Carlton seems to realize he's on a couch with three girls in this shot!

We were joined one day by another sweet friend from growing up, Keri...

And then we had a fun visit from our family friends, the Wades, one afternoon.

All in all, an incredibly full and fun few weeks. Carlton loves new people and places, so he was loving life on this vacation. We already can't wait for the next visits!

Atlanta 2: Play time in the South

There were a lot more "firsts" that happened during our three weeks in Atlanta. Thanks to the sunny weather, Carlton wore a sun hat while taking his first ride in an umbrella stroller up to....

...the neighborhood pool for his first swim! He loved it so much, I've decided to do swim lessons with him this summer, which start in a couple of weeks.

Carlton also played on a playground for the first time, loving the swing. We padded him in with a towel, and he was a happy baby for a good 40 minutes his first go at it.

Carlton hadn't had many opportunities to play outside, as pre-May weather in Seattle can be pretty ugly, so even playing in the grass was a new experience for him. It was funny to pick Carlton up and have a sweaty, clammy boy in my arms....his first time in a warm climate!

Carlton's Uncle Ricky helped him along his road to musical genius during the visit :)

And playtime with Poppy was so fun that it wiped him out totally.

But naptime didn't stop my dad and his grandson from hanging out :)

While in Atlanta, we started Carlton back on solid foods. We'd taken a break of a few weeks because he didn't seem very interested when we first tried in April. But this time our hungry boy was ready.

And not just for cereal, but also for carrots!

With grandparents around to hang out with our boy, Mark and I got to go out on a really sweet third anniversary date. My thoughtful husband surprised me with a great night out in downtown Atlanta - dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant, and a superb musical at the Fox Theater, Mary Poppins. We took a quick family photo on the occasion before we headed out. I am one incredibly blessed woman to celebrate three years with this man, and many more to come with him and our sweet son!

Atlanta 1: Family Photo Shoots

We arrived to Atlanta the day before Mother's Day. On Sunday after church we took some family photos on my parents' back deck. The whole crew...

The two mothers.....and the first member of the third generation!

My first Mother's Day with my sweet baby boy...

And the aftermath of cuddling my boy with my hair down. Mark to the rescue :)

North Carolina

I'm posting now from the east coast, where Carlton and I have been for the past 3+ weeks visiting family and friends (hence the long hiatus in posting!). Mark was with us for the first 2+ weeks, but had to return to Seattle to go back to work, while Carlton and I stay awhile longer with family. We therefore have many updates due from all of our travels and adventures....so this first post will cover the first 9 days of the trip, which we spent in the great state of North Carolina.

We started our journey in Durham on the first of May for the wedding weekend of my dear college friend Anna, which was such a memorable and sweet time. Carlton did fabulously at all of the wedding events and managed to charm quite a few women. Thank you, Linds and Nick, for your wonderful hospitality once again! This is already twice in Carlton's short life :) Here I am with the glowing bride at the bridesmaids luncheon on Friday.

After the wedding, we headed over to Wilmington with Mark's sister, Jill, to spend the week with his parents. It was a great week of hanging out with Grandma Ann and Papa. Carlton was all smiles (as he almost always is!).

While we were there, Jim celebrated his birthday and a soon-to-be retirement, so we had a bunch of festivities.....gourmet breakfast, steaks and birthday creme brulee, and a trip to visit the USS North Carolina WWII battleship.

Carlton's Aunt Jill gave him a sweet little summer outfit - plaid shorts and a green polo. I love that this photo of his new threads prominently features his ample and adorable baby belly.

It's such a treat to get some beach time at Wrightsville Beach whenever we're in Wilmington, and this time Carlton really enjoyed it. (We took him to the beach when we were there at Christmas, but he slept through the whole visit.) We realized we didn't have a beach hat for Carlton, so Mark offered up his cap to protect our sweet boy from the son.

We played in the sand, stuck our toes in the ocean (still too cold for swimming, as Carlton quickly let us know!), took walks and played paddleball. Carlton enjoyed the scene with the whole family, though I'm not sure he knew what to do with all that sunshine, our little Seattle boy.

After a great week, we finished our time in NC with a night in Charlotte at Jill and Matt's place. On Saturday morning we started the day at a delicious French bakery, and Carlton got some good aunt and uncle time.

We then explored a great nearby park, and discovered that the street where we parked was the perfect one - in honor of our son :)

It was such a blessing to have so much good time with Mark's family. I think this picture sums up how Carlton felt about his time in North Carolina!