Florida, July 2009 – Part Two

On Monday Great Grandpa came over for a visit.

He is 89 years old and lives two doors down from Grandma G and Grandpa D.

He had such a wonderful time with Amelia, and she was so interested in his watch!

He thinks Amelia is such a doll, and I must agree. Daisha came over mid morning and we took Amelia with us and went outlet shopping in the pouring rain! At the Tanger Outlets we visited Carters, Gymboree, and Oshkosh. We bought a lot of clothes for Amelia (which was wonderful because we had NOTHING for her in 6-12 month sizes) and only spent about $80. I love bargain shopping!

On Tuesday morning Grandma G’s friend Betsy came over to visit with Amelia.

She brought a lovely book filled with all sorts of Beatrix Potter stories – I am excited about reading it with Amelia when she gets a bit older! Tuesday afternoon my friend Ashley came over and visited with us for a while.

Amelia was wearing her cranky pants, but perked up a little once we let her sit in the pool – clothes and all! That evening we (me, Amelia, Grandma G, Grandpa D, Uncle Erik and Cheryl) went with Uncle Dan and Andrea to the Osaka Japanese Steakhouse.

Dinner was fantastic, and Amelia sat with her Uncle Dan most of the meal.

She only got scared once, when the chef first started cooking.

She ate some lemon and I finally got a “pucker-face” picture!

On Wednesday Amelia tried out her bright yellow pool floatie, courtesy of Uncle Dan.

It took her a while to get used to it, but she ended up loving it! After Amelia was in bed Daisha and I went with Erik and Cheryl to see the new Harry Potter movie while Grandma G and Grandpa D babysat. We had a great time!

On Thursday we visited the Hansens. They are the family my mom stayed with when she came to the US as a foreign exchange student from Norway. They became lifelong friends, and we grew up calling them Grandma and Grandad.

It was lovely to get to visit them and finally introduce Amelia to Grandad! Thursday afternoon Daisha came over for one last visit, Amelia took one last dip in the pool, and Grandma G’s friend Marty came over to meet Amelia.

On Friday morning we said goodbye to Uncle Dan (Uncle Erik was with Daisha on a plane to Mexico – we said goodbye to him the night before).

We drove through the everglades on our way to the airport, and stopped for a diaper change at a beautiful rest area.

There were huge pictures of the Everglades on the walls, and Grandma G couldn’t put her camera down! Amelia was great in the car and had such a fun time with Grandpa D in the airport.

Grandma G was able to come with me to the gate, and we had a quick lunch at Chili’s before Amelia and I boarded the plane.

My Sleepy Wrap was a life saver in the airport. I can’t stress enough how wonderful it is to have Amelia so close to me and still have both hands free! Once we landed I called Grandpa D and told him that Amelia used up all of her happiness with him, because she sure didn’t save any for the flight. My poor girl was just so tired, and couldn’t seem to fall asleep. After crying for half of the flight, she finally managed to fall asleep in my arms for about 20 minutes, and once she woke up she was her normal and cheerful self.

We had a lovely trip and hope to go back in November for Great Grandpa’s 90th birthday. While it was wonderful visiting with everyone, I was more than ready to get home to Mark. I know he missed us – especially his little girl!