A Week of Birthdays (Part 2)

(For Part 1, go here.)

I can't believe our Little Man has gone from this... 

1-year-old

... to this, in just a year.  This year's stats: Weight - 26 lbs, 2 oz (25%); Length - 35 in (75%).  Click on the previous picture for last year's stats.

2-year-old

He barely batted an eye as the squeezed his finger and took his blood, but he still screamed bloody murder when we put him on the table with the crinkly paper.  The horrible crinkly paper.

The next day we had to get loaded up to head to Savannah.  Matthan had been begging me "go to beach!" since we had taken him for the first time a month ago.  He would wake up in the morning or after a nap and the first words out of his mouth were "Go to beach?".  I made the mistake of telling him "yes, we are going to the beach" because explaining to him that we were going in a month, or two weeks, or two days was so. so. futile.  Every. day. for. a. month... "Go to beach?".  Repeat 100 times a day.

Since we would be celebrating The Hubs' birthday in Savannah as well, I decided to make him his favorite cake and take it with us.  Homemade red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.  It looked like a crime scene in my kitchen.

Housewife in the kitchen with the measuring cup and spatula

We usually travel at night, so I had decided that Little Man needed to get some air before being stuck in the car for several hours.  It seemed like a good idea, but I did not account for all the sand, or the needed bath afterwards.

A little girl sat down next to him and started pouring on his shoe to which Matthan replied "Thank you!". 

We loaded up the car with all the necessities including "Puppy", "blankey", books, and "new puppy" (the stuffed dog my dad gave him for his birthday).  

The Happy Traveler with Puppy on left and New Puppy on right

In addition to celebrating birthdays, we headed to Savannah for the baptisms of two adorable babies, one of which The Hubs had been asked to be the Godfather.  

Praying for the babies on their special day

We ended up being the first ones there

Little Man fell asleep on the way to the reception

The main part of the meal following the baptisms was delayed, but Little Man was taken care of by his three doting cousins who supplied him with crackers and juice and never let either go empty.  His oldest cousin informed me that "Baby Matthan's plate looks low" (he had about 5 crackers) before darting off to resupply.  :)

We celebrated with The Hubs' family at his parents house...where "Baby Matthan" was in no short supply of food there either thanks to his cousins (and grandparents ;)  ).

Cousins Joey, Sophia, Ava, and Matthan

We celebrated both birthdays.  The Hubs was kind to share his celebration with Little Man so that his family wouldn't miss out on doting on Matthan for his birthday.  

The finished red velvet cake

Both boys received lovely gifts from everyone including a sand box which we magically stuffed into our car (just barely).  We have not set this up at home yet, because we are potty training... and I just think that is a bad idea (we will soon Grandma and Grandpa!).

I got caught taken pics of him :)

It was FINALLY beach day, and after breakfast I excitedly told Matthan "Ok buddy, let's get dressed and go to the beach!!!", to which he replied "NOOOOO!!!!" and ran away from me.  Two-year-olds.  He was very happy once we got to the beach.  We managed to take no pictures.  Sorry.

A sleepy boy after a long weekend

It was a wonderful week of birthdays! 

Finally home :)

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate!  

Bulldawgs and Seahawks

This weekend, on a whim, Tim suggested heading to A-town, our old, college stomping grounds of Athens, GA.  Go Bulldawgs!  Saying no was not really an option since Athens is pretty much one of my favorite places to eat.  We headed to some stores that we don't have near us like the tool store that Tim likes and of course Trader Joe's (why oh why is there not one near us?  I miss you TJ's!), and Earthfare.  

Tim and "Tiny Tim"

Then, for lunch, we headed to Cali'n'titos, the Latin American restaurant with the best fish tacos ever, hands down.  The maduros were incredible as always too.  The picture below does not do the place justice.  The decor is eclectic to say the least and they're always playing great music that makes you want to salsa like you're not a white-kid.  

from Google Images

This came out a little creepy, but he had a great time.

After lunch, we headed to the UGA Catholic Center to visit one of our favorite priests.  Fr. Tom has kept up with us over the years.  I'm kicking myself now for not getting a picture of him and Little Man.

Fr. Tom's mother passed away a few years ago and there now stands a memorial garden to her on the property.  I thought the memorial was beautiful and thoughtful.

Then we headed to Memorial Park.  This park is special to us and we went there a lot in college.  It is where we took the picture that was the inspiration for the painting that I made for Tim as a gift.  Besides being free and having a cool lake and playground, it also has a free "zoo".  The zoo is a small collection of rehabilitated animals that cannot go back into the wild for various reasons.

The animals there include beavers, bobcats, deer, alligators, turtles, vultures, owls, and...

turkeys

bald eagles

and bears.  Oh My!

For dinner we went to my very most favoritist restaurant of all time, Utage.  And I did not remember to take a picture because I was scarfing down my sushi.  Little Man slept through the entire dinner so we kind of had a date.  It was a really nice finish to a really fun day.


We finished off the weekend with homemade burgers and coleslaw and watched the Seahawks win the Superbowl!  Go Seahawks!

I'll end this with an unrelated (except for I recorded it this weekend) video of the cuteness we get to see and hear every day.

Chattanooga Day 6 - Rock City

Our final day in Chattanooga, we headed back to the Terminal Brewhouse because I had to have one more awesome root beer float.  Then we hit up some antique stores and the habitat for humanity re-store where we found some random house stuff and a very cool frame that I'm sure will show up in a future post.  After that we headed on to Rock City.  Rock City is one of Tim's clients and they comped us some tickets - THANK YOU ROCK CITY!  We had so much fun.

Rocky the Gnome - their mascot

This was one of the neatest places I've been.  Even though it was outside, I was so comfortable because it was shady and cool.  It was so serene.  It felt like a different world.

Gnome Valley

There are gnomes everywhere at Rock City.  It is quite entertaining.  While in Chattanooga, we found a coupon for 75% off of the gnome of the month.  So OF COURSE we had to get one.

Us in front of Mushroom Rock

Flowers growing in the rocks

They had signs with quotes all throughout the park

View from the top

You can see seven different states from the top of Rock City

You can't read the sign above my head, but it reads "Fat Man Squeeze".  Yes, the pregnant lady made it through.

More gnomes :)

After lunch at Tony's, we headed home.  The trip was awesome!  I highly recommend Chattanooga for a vacation spot.  And the 2 or so hour ride home was a perk as well.

Chattanooga Day 5 - Cloudland Canyon

We headed back into Georgia for part of the trip because we have always wanted to go to Cloudland Canyon and since we were so close, we just had to go.  I had planned a full day of hiking, fishing, disc golf, etc.  I woke up that morning feeling pretty icky.  And after the drive through the mountains (a drive that would make anyone nauseous but especially a pregnant lady), I was feeling extra icky.  So we found the only Asian restaurant around for miles (Asian food is my comfort food when I'm sick), and nursed my queasy tummy back to almost normal, and headed on.  We finally made it to Cloudland Canyon and ventured out to the disc golf course.  We had anticipated the course to go through the woods and therefore be very shady... but unfortunately it went beside the woods and was very much in the blazing sun.

Several holes in, we had a little bit of a set-back...that I managed to capture on my phone :D  That is Tim, staring at his frisbee...stuck way up in the tree.

"Oh frisbee, please come down"

Bright green frisbee, top right of the picture, stuck really well

Solution: throw another frisbee at frisbee stuck in the tree

It felt like a good 30 mins (but probably wasn't) and took several exhausting attempts at throwing sticks, rocks, and a frisbee at the frisbee stuck in the tree, but he did finally get it down.  However, one strong throw on the very next hole... sent the same green (a.k.a. same color as everything around us) frisbee into the very, very dense woods... and despite our searching...was gone forever.  

At this point, about half way through the course, the blazing sun got the better of me, and we just had to quit.  We got cooled off in the little park store where we replaced our frisbee - with a brightly colored on that was NOT green.  We found a very short hike on the map that lead to an overlook, and headed out there... only to find that the scenic overlook that was advertised to be simply fabulous...

...was not that much different from the bog behind our apartments in college.  I laughed because of the ridiculousness of it all.  On the hike back UP the hill from the "scenic overlook", I came up with several names for it including "the most disappointing overlook ever" and "beautiful overlook - psych!" just to amuse myself.

Even though we were completely worn out, we did manage to get to this...

...now isn't this more like it?...

The pictures really don't do it justice.  We have plans to go back one day and do some serious hiking and camping... when I'm not pregnant.  

We headed back to Chattanooga for dinner at 212 Market Restaurant and finished the day at Rembrandt's (the coffee/dessert place we frequented several times and would be the cause of me gaining some major poundage if we had one near us at home).

212 Market Restaurant - courtesy of google images

Rembrandt's - courtesy of google images

Chattanooga Day 4 - Aquarium

We started Day 4 off with mass at the Minor Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.  This picture, courtesy of google images, does not do it justice.  It was beautiful.  Although, in my humble opinion, not as beautiful as the cathedral in Savannah where we got married, but I might be biased.  Both churches remind you of God's glory and that's the point.  

The Minor Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Chattanooga

For lunch, we ventured over to Tony's in the Art District (the art district quickly became one of my favorite parts of Chattanooga.  Highly recommend for the food and the view).

Tony's Pasta Shop & Trattoria - picture courtesy of google images

We spent most of the rest of the day exploring the Tennessee Aquarium and attended an IMAX movie.  Here a just a few of the awesome pictures Tim took.

Me and the crab were down - yo

Jelly fish

Sea horse

Nemo

And penguins of course!