Spending time with Gram and Grumps

Oh, what fun! We loved our visit with Gram and Grumps and Mema! We arrived at their house around 1 a.m. (Saturday). As I mentioned last post, I was up with William for a few hours trying to get him settled. After we finally fell asleep, we woke up somewhat early that morning (around 8ish) and were greeted with beautiful sunshine! We visited and enjoyed a light breakfast before heading out to play in their beautiful front yard. I just love their grass! It's so beautiful and green and sooooo soft! I was so looking forward to watching William play in their open yard! He's a huge fan of being "side" anywhere we go, I knew he would have a blast in their yard! After playing awhile, we headed out for a walk down the road together. William was adorable leaning out of his stroller calling for Grumps (uump) to catch up and stay close. Gram brought her dog along for our walk and William loved that too! He kept saying "woof, woof" and pointing to Jackson. Gram brought us up to speed on the neighbors and the new development down the road. It was so nice hearing the stories of how they used to walk up and down the road together when Philip was younger :) (although she gave me a hard time b/c I didn't walk and touch the tree...I said since I had the stroller I didn't have to)

After our walk, Philip did my work-out with me. He's been such a great coach. I've been doing a work-out with a weighted medicine ball and several different strength training moves. He really is wonderful! Mema loved watching us work out. She came out and sat in the shade to join us. We played more with William before heading in for lunch. Gram made some hamburgers for lunch! (I had hamburger steak) I finally managed to get William down for his nap (still not sure about where he was sleeping) and had a chance to visit with Mema a bit. She is just the sweetest lady and absolutely precious! We love her so much! She kept making me laugh b/c she wanted William up and couldn't believe he was sleeping as long as he did. Once he got up and had his snack...it was time to go out and see/play/feed the chickens!

Oh, the chickens! This was so much fun! Gram has 3 chickens and I believe she truly sees them as pets :) They were the cutest chickens I'd ever seen! She and Philip would pick them up and carry them around and the chickens would just hang out! Can you believe that??? I thought for sure the chickens would freak out, but they acted like being picked up and petted was totally normal! William was not to sure at first, but once Daddy made it okay, he loved them! He wanted to pet them and chase them all around!! He did get tired of them (note video) but later wanted to go back and play with them some more. He even helped Gram feed them the next day! (note video again).

Saturday night, Gram and Grumps took us all out to dinner for some good BBQ (per Philip's request) and then sent us out for a date while they took William home for the night. Philip and I love it when we get to have some together time! We went down to CityPlace to walk around a bit and enjoy few drinks together. CityPlace is a larger version of Destin Commons to me. There was a music show, but we sat inside at one of the places up at the bar. I enjoyed a glass of Chianti while he had a glass of his favorite Scotch. We left there and went to meet one of his high school friends, Tara at a place called Roxy's. Such a cool place! Philip was impressed by how it had expanded and improved since his "younger years" I don't consider us old, but who cares! It was great getting to hear some high school stories of him from Tara. We finally called it a night and headed on home to get some rest and be ready for Easter.

Easter Sunday was so nice. We enjoyed going to Philip's home church and I must say...the ladies that kept William fell in love with him and kept telling me how smart and cute he was! This made me feel so wonderful b/c I had to drop my baby off at a church nursery that I knew nothing about nor knew anyone in there...VERY VERY HARD TO DO! He was so happy when I picked him up and so my heart was happy! William "found" his Easter basket after church. Oh, what memories! He was so excited about every little surprise! He would sit and look at each toy/book and then smile up and say "moma, love" or "dada, dada"! He found the peeps (my favorite) and wanted me to open them for him. I did, knowing his reaction...he DID.NOT.LIKE.IT. at all! He spit it out and gagged! He's not a sweets baby at all, but hey, what's an Easter basket without those adorable peeps!!

I got William down for a nap and we had a lovely family Easter lunch. (Gram, Grumps, Mema, Philip, Lauren, Bana and Mr. Wilford) Everything was delicious! We had ham, sweet potato casserole, potato salad, green bean casserole, cream corn, and brown rice. Absolutely delicious!!! Gram let me make the green bean casserole, cream corn and brown rice! Thanks Gram!! We watched a bit of the Masters together until William woke up. Once he was up and Philip finished his nap we went out to hide/find Easter eggs! William was totally amazing! He caught on so fast and was the cutest little boy ever running around finding the eggs! He would see one and gasp and run right to it, pick it up and drop it in his basket! Sweet Mema was the expert egg scouter! She was having such a great time! A HUGE THANKS to Gram and Grumps!! They took pictures and videos of us with my camera so that both Mommy and Daddy could be in pictures! That meant so much to me! We did take the cameras from them to let them help William and enjoy the fun too! What wonderful memories! This was William's 2nd Easter, but first one to enjoy...last year he was a tiny 6 month old baby~

We just lounged the rest of the afternoon and played with the chickens some more until dinner time. I had prepared Philip's birthday cake (dessert) the night before b/c it has to chill overnight. Philip turn 31 on Sunday (Easter Sunday). We celebrated his birthday that evening together with the tiramisu (his special request every year) I only make it on his birthday b/c I make it from scratch and give him a hard time about it, but...secretly I LOVE making it! It's really special to me b/c I know it's his absolute favorite! It's part of his gift each year from me! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHILIP! I LOVE YOU! HERE'S TO ANOTHER WONDERFUL YEAR!

Gram took Monday off to hang out with us for the day. We just relaxed around the house and had wonderful left-overs for lunch. More outside playing and hiding eggs too! That afternoon, their dear friends, Harold and Nancy Bruce, stopped by to meet William. We had a great visit with them for the afternoon. They got to enjoy William hunting eggs too! It was a great way to spend the early afternoon. Thanks for coming by to meet our little boy..and letting him put plastic eggs on your head! After they left, we all loaded up and drove down to the beach. I had never been to the Atlantic coast before and wanted to experience it together with William. As we approached, we noticed a News Helicopter, a few firetrucks, police cars, police boat, etc. We were skeptical, but decided to go out anyways. We noticed a "body" lying on the sand, covered up by a sheet...so sad. From the stories, all we could gather was someone had drowned and could not be identified. BUT...we just had to overlook all the drama b/c William was all smiles and loved the beach! He went right down to the water and laughed at the waves. He did take a head first face plant into the waves while playing with Daddy, but he got up laughing. Such a big boy! We again got great pictures thanks to Gram and Grumps taking over our cameras for me! It's a great feeling knowing they will take pictures for me! We had to strip William down to hose off all the gritty sand...and of course he loved that! I wrapped him up in a blanket from the car and let him ride home in just a diaper :) Oh, he ate a whole snack portion of cheerios on the way to the beach and laughed at us when we realized what he had done. What happened was we handed him the cheerios bottle to play with b/c he likes to shake it, but we didn't realize he knew how to open it...so by the time we made it to the beach, we had quit hearing the rattle of cheerios, turned around to see him with the bottle up to his mouth, chomping away...too funny!

Gram gave him a bath and let us relax for a while. She made Mema's traditional meatloaf meal for Philip. We had meatloaf, bake beans and baked potatoes for dinner that night. That's one of Mema's special meals she made for years and now Gram makes it for everyone. We wrapped up our visit by watching the interviews of Deke from the previous summer. For those who might not know, Deke (Philip's grandfather, Mema's husband and Mrs. Sharon's father) passed away in mid Jan. It's been hard without him, but we just cling to the memories. The interviews were so special. He talked on the videos for 1.5 hours...non stop telling old stories of his life and what all family meant to him. What a wonderful way to end our fantastic visit!

Thanks Gram, Grumps and Mema for all the wonderful memories made together!

Enjoy the pictures and the videos!