Visiting Georgia: Pre-Beach

When we thought Tim was going to be on patrol through September, my parents bought a plane ticket for Grayson and I to visit Georgia for three and a half weeks. Once we realized Tim was coming home, all the plans had been made - tickets purchases, a beach trip paid for, and lots of people eagerly awaiting a chance to meet Grayson. Tim and I decided that it was best if Grayson and I kept our plans, so on Grayson's half birthday he took his first plane ride - one that was almost 5 hours long!!

Grayson did so much better on the flight than I had imagined. I DREADED the flight. I mean I was almost sick with anxiety to fly for so very long holding a 6 month old in my lap. Tim was able to help me all the way to the gate, so that helped to ease my mind up until the last minute… and then… all the worry was for nothing. It was exhausting to hold a squirmy worm for that long, but he was very happy for the entire flight. Such a relief. 

When we arrived, my parents met us at the gate. It was 9pm and I was beat, but very glad to be there.  Dad was especially excited to see us because he hadn't seen Grayson since he was a little over two weeks old!!! It's funny, when we met mom at the airport for her Washington visit Grayson cried when she first held him. When Grayson and I arrived in Georgia, he went straight to his Papa, all smiles! It was SO sweet :)

Grayson fell asleep in the car and went straight to bed when we got to my parents house. The next day, he woke up to the equivalent of Christmas morning! My mom had bought all kinds of toys and play things for Grayson to enjoy! One of his very favorites was the exersaucer. Standing up & playing with toys is a HUGE hit!

Grayson and his exersaucer

Every day we were in Georgia was jam packed. My mom & dad and Tim's mom are the only family (or Georgia friends) who had met Grayson, so we had lots of people to see!
We had dinner with mom's friends, an entire Saturday with my extended family and a UGA football party all before the weekend was halfway over!

Celebrating Savannah's birthday at Mellow Mushroom

When we visited my extended family on Saturday, Grayson was all ready for his first pool experience. We were at Uncle Montie and Aunt Debbie's house for a pool party and I brought along all of Grayson's gear. First we got him all ready, swim diaper, bathing suit, sun shirt, hat + a full coat of Badger sunscreen…. then he got sleepy. So we took him out of the swim diaper & he went down for a nap. When he woke up we got him all ready again, took him out and he wouldn't even THINK of going in the water.

To his credit, it had rained the night before, it was an overcast day and the pool was just way colder than I normally like. He cried as soon as we tried to put him in, so we gave it a break and tried a few more time, but he never liked it. We gave up & I just hoped and hoped and hoped that he liked swimming more once we got to the warm beach.
Grayson's first swim = fail. But the day was amazing. It was so good to see family that I hadn't seen in a year and show off the little man. Everyone was so in love with him!

ready to go…. after a nap.

trying out the water… This was the furthest he got in.

After the pool party we went home for the UGA game. I was pumped since we aren't able to watch them in Washington (unless we get an invite to watch at the neighbors). Mom and Dad's friends came over and Grayson sported his Go Dawgs onsie (thanks Brittany). Doesn't he just look so ready to cheer on the Bulldogs??

Gooooooo Dawgs!!

Almost every day in Georgia we made sure to see Grayson's Grandmother. He loves her so much and they had the sweetest times together. She was so proud to show him off at the senior living center where she works, and everyone thought he was such a doll.
We don't have much grass space at our apartment where Grayson can really spend time on the ground. So several times I took him out into my parents front yard to enjoy the grass. Grayson loved exploring the grass with his Grandmother.

Grayson and Grandmother

 Before we went to the beach, Grayson met his Great Aunt Cindy and his PawPaw. They had both been waiting a long time to meet the little guy. It was such a sweet time and Grayson loved them both so much!

Grayson and Aunt Cindy

Grayson and PawPaw

 I need to get Tina to email me the pictures & I'll add them later, but in the first half of the trip we also went to see Tim's sister, Jamey and her sons. The little boys were napping, but we had a nice visit with Jamey, Bud and Stetson.

We had a super busy week and it lead right up to… BEACH TRIP!! Which I have lots of great pictures of in the next post.

~Katie