Family Reunion

Watching Uncle Kevin play his racing game

We went down to my grandmother's house in Tennessee for our annual family reunion.  I think Robbie is getting better about his car rides.  We decided to do day time diving only this time, and Robbie did very good.  We didn't have to make any special stops for him on the way down or on the way back up, which was great.  He even slept through a thunderstorm we drove through while we drove through Kentucky.  Even the lightning strike that struck a telephone pole about 200 or so feet in front of the car while we were driving didn't make him stir.

Being a ham

Sleep was another matter once we got there.  The first night he simply would not sleep in his pack and play.  He would only sleep in the bed with mommy and daddy, and this bed was only a twin so barely enough room for us let alone Robbie.  The other two nights we spent there were better but sleep was not something we got a lot of while we were there.

Posing

During the day Robbie did much better and had a great time.  He enjoyed watching Uncle Kevin play his racing game.  We also took a trip to a park called Fall Creek Falls with Tante Kortney and Papi.  It was hot out 90 some degrees but Robbie got to play in the water for a bit to cool off.

Eating corn right off the cob

Robbie also decided he was going to be a big boy while he was there.  He started eating corn right off the cob, so now he loves corn even more.  He also wanted to wear his big boy underwear (i.e. regular underwear not trainers).  He ended up "sticking out" of his underwear and pointing at it with pride, which made everyone crack up laughing.  He later was watching his uncles though the sliding glass door with this big grin on his face. A few minutes later Granny asked why is the floor wet?  Ummm . . . . . . oops! And more laughs ensued.

Sleeping right through the thunderstorm 

Looking out at the lake at Fall Creek Falls

Robbie has a fascination with rocks

Nashville

After Granny's house we drove over to Nashville for Kelly's 10 year class reunion.  It was nice to see some of her friends from high school that I had never met.  Kelly had a good time reminiscing with them, and we got to walk around the halls of the school as well.  Unlike my class reunion where we reserved the upstairs of a bar, at hers we walked around her school cleaning up trash, and then we had a picnic.  There was a formal dinner the next night but we didn't go to that.  

After the reunion we got to hang out with her family for a couple days.  Robbie enjoyed playing with their dog who is older and pretty much just laid there and let Robbie pet her.  The two days we were there the temperature was near the mid 90's so on Sunday we all went to the hotel pool to cool off.  On our way to the pool we made a quick pit stop at the mansion we were married in and took a few pictures.  Robbie was asleep for them, but he needed his nap.

High five with Kelly's sister Kortney 

Tickle Tickle

Picture on the steps of Two Rivers Mansion, where we
were married

Swimming at the pool

Visiting Granny

After Myrtle Beach we headed to Kelly's grandmother's house for a visit.  Robbie had a good time and so did Granny.  We visited Kelly's grandfather's grave and Robbie just wanted to hang out around his head stone and foot stone, and did not have much interest in moving.  Whether it meant something or not it did make for some memorable pictures for us.

Robbie wanted to help clean the dishes, but only got to
clean his feet

Cleaning up his the water he splashed while playing
in the sink

Kelly and Granny re-potting some plants (dirty hands)

The Beach at Myrtle Beach

There was a neat place right by the timeshare we were staying at called Broadway at the Beach.  There was a car marry go round of sorts and Robbie got to ride in a car where he got to "drive".  For dinner we went to the Margaritaville Restaurant, where a guy on stilts made Robbie a balloon animal.  There is also a Build A Bear store there, where Robbie of course picked out the only red thing there, a red dinosaur.  


When we went to the beach Robbie liked the water and the waves, I'm not sure how many kids his age would like the waves, but he enjoyed them for a while.  He did eventually get tired of the waves after a couple bigger ones splashed a little higher then he liked.  He spent most of the time playing and digging in the sand.  

Build A Bear

Robbie's Balloon Animal At Margaritaville

Our Favorite photo from the beach

Snack Time

Family Photo

Driving

Myrtle Beach

After visiting Kelly's family in Greensboro we headed to our next destination Myrtle Beach.  It was a great time and Robbie seemed to enjoy himself, except for when he was in his car seat (he had gotten a little tired of it by now).  He slept pretty well at night, but him only taking one short nap a day may have had something to do with that.

Once there, we took a couple of days to rest and relax at the timeshare.  Robbie got to see the birds around the lakes between the buildings.  They were so used to people that we could come right up to them and almost pet them.  In fact, Robbie got pecked by a little gosling and didn't quite know what to do.  They both just looked at each other.

He got to have some fun at the playground there at the timeshare as well sliding down the slides.  There was a cool children's pool that was only 9 inches deep.  It had all sorts of neat water toys including a ship that had four water slides on it, he found those to be pretty fun.  The day before we went to the beach we took Robbie the the volleyball court where we were staying and he played in the sand.  We were happy that he liked it because the last time he was in sand he wanted nothing to do with it. 

We also got to go see Le Grand Cirque, Robbie was glued most of the time even though he was getting tired.

Playing On The Volleyball Court Sand

Kelly's Creation

More Slides

Playing On The Slide At The Resort

The Duck Was Pretty Brave

Can't Get Away From The Geese

Water Slide With Mommy

The Children's Pool

First Real Swim

While Robbie had his first experience with a pool about a year ago, he didn't really go in other than up to his knees.  At the hotel in Greensboro we went to the pool and he got a little deeper.  He took to it real well, he especially liked splashing mommy in the face and getting splashed himself.  While he didn't like being on his back in the water, he had a great time and was upset when we got him out.

Splash splash

I'm coming back in

Watch me swim daddy

Meet The Family

Rather than drive the whole way to Myrtle Beach in one trip, which would have been a lot for Robbie, we stayed a night in Greensboro, NC where some of my family lives.  We drove overnight so after breakfast we met my cousin Shelly at a playground where she got to play with Robbie.  He's usually pretty tentative when meeting new people but seemed to take right to her.  Later we met the rest of the family for lunch.  At this point Robbie had not had a nap yet (too much going on to sleep), and was pretty tired.  Unfortunately he didn't interact with them too much, he was more interested in his mommy milk at that point.  After that it was time to check into the hotel and crash.

Cousin Shelly at the park

Uncle Bob, cousins Amy and Shelly, and Aunt Priscilla 

Soothing The Cranky Robbie

We drove overnight to Greensboro, NC on our way to Myrtle Beach.  After about 45  minutes in Robbie just started to cry and cry and there seemed to be no way of getting him to stop.  That is until Kelly started showing videos to Robbie on her phone.  However only videos of his friend Leo would do, he would just start crying again if she showed him any other video, so it was all Leo for about 20 minutes.  It was about then when Kelly caught a whiff of what the real problem was.  Which led to a diaper change on the side of the road (it would have been a while until we hit the next exit), which soon led to a sleeping Robbie.

Skype with daddy

Daddy went to San Francisco for business and to keep in touch we used Skype so Robbie could see him.  It worked much better than just hearing daddy over the phone, being able to see him made a big difference.  When it was just a phone call before Robbie had a response to his daddy's voice, but he got really excited actually seeing him.  He kissed the computer screen several times too, it was really cute.

Robbie sitting with mommy

Robbie blowing kisses to daddy

The cable car daddy rode on in San Francisco