Down South

This past week, we went down to visit Josh’s brother Jon, Sara, and their new baby girl Sophia Anne. Originally, the plan was for me and Emma to go down, but when we found out last week that Jon was deploying to Iraq for 6 months in February, we decided to all go for a quick visit since Katelyn had a day and a half off of school. We had a very BAD and LONG day at airports (notice multiple airports) getting down to Savannah, but once we arrived, I was able to lay on the couch with baby Sophie sleeping on my chest, and it made the whole no good, terrible, horrible, very bad day melt right away! Unfortunately we brought some cold weather with us, but it really wasn’t too bad. Anything south is warmer than Michigan in the winter time. The girls loved their new baby cousin. They both wanted to hold her and love on her a lot! She is such a sweet baby, and it was so good to finally meet her. Emma can now mimic being a baby exactly which is quite amusing and cute. She also would say, “Pooor Baaaby” in a deep voice whenever she would hear Sophie cry. Sara and I were in the car with Sophie and Emma in the back seat when she said it the first time when Sophie was crying a little. We just cracked up at her. It was so funny. I think she had heard Katelyn and I say it earlier in the day.

One afternoon Jon and Sara took us and the girls over to Ft. Stewart where there is a huge playplace called The Treehouse for the girls to run around. It was super cool with cannons to shoot styrofoam balls and lots of fun stuff. Emma was a little scared of the loud noise, and it took her awhile before she quit jumping every time the machine would go off. She liked the toddler area and the little train. Sophie slept through all the noise like a typical baby, but when she woke up, she let me feed her a bottle. We then went to the PX (Post Exchange) on base for dinner, and then to the bowling alley. It was a fun night. I think Josh bowled the best game, but the rest of us kind of stunk it up in the scoring area. Another night, a friend of Sara’s came over and watched the girls so that the adults could go out. We went over to Savannah and ate at a seafood restaurant on River Street. It was pouring rain, but we enjoyed the good food and the good company! Savannah is such a fascinating town. I could listen to stories about it all night. The oak trees, the bricks, the squares, the Spanish moss, the cobblestones, and the empty cemeteries (you’ll have to Google that one) make for some great history. Thank you Jon and Sara for letting us come with our crazy family and for making it a special visit! Thank you Sophie for letting Aunt Amy get her baby fix!

I also took a couple days to pop in on my good friend, Kim, from my high school/college days who lived only a 2 1/2 hour drive away. She had recently come to visit me sans kids, so it was great to meet her 3 boys and see her family again. She has been a huge encouragement to me lately, and it has been good to re-kindle our friendship. Our kids got along great, and Katelyn fell in love with her beagle puppy “Dottie”.

Click here for some pictures from the trip!