#SB2013

I am so glad my husband works for a school and we get Spring Break! It really helps in terms of visiting family as well, so instead of trying to fly somewhere for a quick Thanksgiving weekend, we split Christmas and Spring Break and get a whole week with our families. Last year we went to California to celebrate Aaron's dad's 60th Birthday and this year we went to the East Coast to see lots of my family and friends.

We flew into Atlanta on Monday and made our way up to Alexandria, VA (my mom's house) by Friday with lots of stops on the way. Here is the run-down in pictures!

Monday
We flew out of Denver in the afternoon and got to Atlanta around 7pm. We rented a car and made our way to spend the night with my sweet friend Heather and her husband Matt. We had such a great time with them! I haven't laughed that much in forever and it was SO refreshing to see them! 

Canon entertaining himself on the plane with a plastic cup.

sweet friends!

 Tuesday
We woke up nice and late (after a somewhat rough evening attempting to move the pack n' play in the middle of the night, lots of crying and trying not to wake up our hosts!) and headed up north to Clemson, about a 2 hour drive. I'm pretty sure Canon slept the whole way. We ate lunch with Em at Pot Belly Deli, a Clemson favorite, and got ice cream at Spill the Beans. The weather was not quite as nice as I had hoped, so we didn't walk around a ton, but it was really nice to be on campus! While at STB, my cousin Nick, a freshman at Clemson, came down to see us! Canon was super excited to meet him! Of course, we got pictures outside the stadium and then headed on to Greenville to meet up with my mom and the rest of the family.

cousin Nick - so glad he is keeping on the family tradition of attending Clemson!

That evening was spent with my mom's family. Y'all, my mom was so excited to see Canon she literally said to Aaron "I'm not here to see you" and moved him out of the way to get Canon out of his car seat when we pulled in! Ha, love her. We were able to have some downtime and let Canon take a crib nap before heading to dinner with Fran & Roger, my aunt and uncle, Johnny, my uncle and my Grandmama. There were tons of pictures taken at the restaurant and my Grandmama was so happy to have everyone together. I was so happy to be with my family! It was a great evening.

Canon loves his MoMo!

MoMo and Grandmama - as if you couldn't tell ;)

and Fran!

Wednesday
Again, we were blessed to wake up late (I don't even think Canon woke up that night!) and lazily get ready. We got in the car for another 2 1/2 hours further up 85N to Winston-Salem to see lots of friends! Y'all might remember my good friend Kevin who took maternity photos of me during my trip East this past summer. Well, he graciously offered to take some photos of us as a family this past trip, so after a good lunch at Roses Deli, we headed to Wake's campus. It was a little chilly and sweet Canon was really tired, so it ended up being a quick shoot, but Kev still got some great pics! (p.s. seriously, check out his website, he is SO good) Apparently more are to come, but here are a few. 

We spent the night with my former boss, Andy, his wife Theresa and their sweet sweet girls, Kathleen and Caroline. Kathleen was born at the end of my first year in NC, and she is almost 5 now, which makes me feel super old! I can't say more about this family and how great they are. Thanks for hosting us, giving us great advice, and letting us peek into your lives! We really enjoyed it!

Caroline - almost 2 and Kathleen - almost 5

what a great helper!

 

Thursday
I just have to say, Canon did a great job sleeping the whole week! He got some great car naps, and slept almost through the night each night. He didn't seem bothered by the pack n' play or a different spot at all! We tried to be good about not letting him cry too long at each house, so we responded by putting the paci in fairly quickly, but he didn't wake up too often and let us sleep until 8am each morning!
Thursday we were able to spend some time with Holly and her sweet kids, Tessa and Joshua, before a quick breakfast with Kevin and Brittany, then a quick stop at First Pres and we were on our way again! I'm so glad I've been able to keep up with these friends from Winston and that we are able to just drop in and have some great conversations! Such quality friendships there that I am so grateful for!
That afternoon was our longest drive, up to Waynesboro, VA, and Canon kind of fell apart towards the end, but thankfully we had some water in the car and were able to make him a bottle and give that to him as we were driving in. Oh, y'all. We spent the night with Katherine, Jay & their adorable 1-year old, Caroline. Katherine is one of my best friend's from Clemson and it was SO.FUN. getting to be moms together! I got to meet Caroline last summer when she was just 9-weeks old, but this was Katherine's introduction to Canon. They had a great time together, though I'm not sure either Caroline or Canon really knew what to think about each other, or Katherine and I with our phones and cameras! Again, it was so refreshing to be with friends that have known me for 7 years now and to sneak-peek into their lives!

love these kids!

Friday
Finally, after a wonderful week, we headed up to my mom's (she had flown back on Tuesday morning). My sister and her son, Cole, who just turned 2, came up later Friday night and her husband, Robert, came up Saturday. We had a great family weekend!

I'll be back later with pictures from Easter and the rest of the week in Alexandria with Amanda and Cole!

Thanks again to everyone who hosted us, rearranged their schedules to see us, and loved us while we were visiting! What a wonderful week!