Wedding madness!

Whew! What a trip! After months of planning and getting excited, we headed to Columbia, SC last Wednesday night for Maggie & Stephen's wedding. We timed it so that we would leave at Tyler's bedtime, hoping that he would sleep most, if not all, of the way there. We left shortly before 7:00, and Tyler was out not far down the road. He slept until we made a stop for gas somewhere in NC, and went back to sleep until we pulled into the hotel around 12:30 am. Once we got checked in, it was a while before he went back to sleep again. He was pretty disoriented, and wasn't sure why Mommy & Daddy were sleeping in the same room as him. But we all got a pretty decent night's sleep and woke Thursday ready to go!

Thursday morning we met up with Maggie & Madison and went to the Riverbanks Zoo. Even though the forecast had an 80% chance of thunderstorms, it was a beautiful day and we had a great time. Tyler really loved seeing all the animals, and even got to feed a giraffe and pet some goats (though he poked one goat in the eye - oops). He & Madison ran around the penguin exhibit and into the aquarium, taking turns climbing up and down the stairs. We then had lunch at the mall, and I think that by the end of lunch the kids were really starting to take to each other. We went our separate ways for naps, then went to the Clarke's house to play. Tyler got to see Madison's big girl bed and had fun climbing on it with her. He also had fun playing with "Do", which is what Madison calls their dog, Joey. We also had a quickie practice run in the wedding wagon, and I mean "quickie" - as in, from the kitchen to the living room. But the kids were excited to be in the wagon regardless. (Tyler was the ring bearer and Mad was the flower girl. So with two 14 month olds, a wagon was a must for the wedding.) We had dinner with the Clarkes that night, and then it was off to bed for the little ones.

Travis & Tyler went back to the Clarke's house on Friday to play with Stephen & Mad, while Maggie & I met up with her bridesmaids to get nails done for the wedding. After lunch and naps, we were ready to head to rehearsal and the dinner. Rehearsal went well, and even Travis got to practice his role as "wagon puller" during the ceremony in hopes of keeping the little ones quiet and happy. We figured we should keep them moving at all times (it was an outdoor ceremony) and keep the wagon filled with snacks and sippy cups. It worked. Tyler also got to see the alpacas that were at Corley Mill directly behind the gazebo where the wedding was to take place. He is such an animal lover, and just squealed with delight when he saw them. At dinner, we met up with some other friends that had made the trip - Julia, Ray, & Claire from Northern VA; Jen, Ryan, & Thomas from Jacksonville, FL; and Lori, Brian, & Evan from Richmond. We had a great time just chatting and watching the kids run around and play with each other. Tyler also got to practice his new party tick - shaking hands. Travis is really proud of this, as he learned it so quickly. You tell him to shake hands with someone, and he'll extend his hand to them. Once he's shaken one hand, the game is on. He walks around the room with hand extended to anyone that will shake. It's absolutely the cutest trick ever.

The wedding wasn't until 6:30 in the evening, so we had all day Saturday to play. Trav, Tyler & I took a morning walk around a little lake next to our hotel and got to see many ducks (and ducklings!) and turtles. Tyler really got a kick out of watching the ducks waddle around. Then those of us at the hotel met up at the pool for a cookout and some swimming. The water was pretty frigid, but once you got in, it was OK. Tyler & I swam around a bit, but later opted for hanging out on the patio. We had some lunch, and then decided it was late enough to try and get the kids to take decent naps before heading to Corley Mill for the wedding. Tyler & I needed to leave the hotel by 4:30, so I figured we would get a good 2 hour (maybe more!) nap in beforehand. Nope. Tyler was asleep for one whopping hour. I really feared what the evening would hold for us with just one 1-hour nap.

Tyler & I get to Corley Mill, and I get him dressed in his absolutely adorable tux in the bridal room. As soon as he was dressed, Maggie and everyone else just ooh-ed and aah-ed over him which I think he really liked. He looked like such a little man in his tuxedo. He and Mad played, got fussy, played some more, snacked, fussed, and so on. Once it was show time though, they both happily got in the wagon and played their parts perfectly. We were sure to load the wagon up with snacks and Travis took them on a pretty good ride during the ceremony. The ceremony went very well. Maggie looked absolutely gorgeous and Stephen was a very handsome groom. And of course, Mad & Tyler were just precious - and very well-behaved. There were a few snack-stealing moments, and a few scuffles over sippy cups, but all in all they did a great job. I can't wait to see the pictures that the photographer took. I think she got a few really great shots of them.

We all hung out at the reception for a little while, then packed it up and got the kids back to the hotel. Tyler was out like a light around 9:00. Two nights in a row of being up well past his 7:00 bedtime had taken its toll. But to our surprise, he slept very well in the hotel and overall was such a good boy. We had breakfast with our friends & Tyler played a bit with Stephen & Maggie (he ADORES Stephen and several times went running to him with arms wide open) before we headed back home. It was about a 6 hour drive and was much different driving during the day as opposed to night. Tyler was awake for much more of the trip, and therefore was much more annoyed with the fact that he was in his carseat. We tried to keep him entertained, and made a pretty good stop for lunch and let him run around. But as we neared home with about 30 miles to go, he broke down. He had had enough of the car. We got him home, and he did a complete 180! He was running around from room to room just grinning and playing. He must've missed home too.

He's back on his schedule as far as sleeping is concerned, and while he has had a few fussy bouts in the middle of the night, we found the culprit to that this morning. A new tooth. Tooth #7 is coming through on the bottom. Fun stuff. But we'll be home for a few weekends, just taking it easy and working around the house. We have the beach coming up in about 7 weeks, and we consider the SC trip to be good practice for that trip. We'll be purchasing a portable DVD player for the car before then so that Tyler can watch Backyardigans.

But we had a great trip! It was so great to see everyone, and we were so honored to be a part of Maggie, Stephen, & Madison's special day. Congratulations, you guys! We love you!

The Great Outdoors

One of the greatest features of my Dad's house is the deck and backyard. He has the magnificent deck that takes up much of the back of the house, and wraps around to meet the screened-in porch on the side of the house. It's this really great composite decking that isn't wood, so there are no splinters to be had! Tyler can crawl all over it (when he actually feels like crawling over walking, which is extremely rare now), walk barefoot on it, fall down, whatever. No splinters! This is great considering at our house we'd need to pad the poor boy in bubble wrap before we could let him play on our deck. Splinter City, baby. Splinter City.

Anyway...Tyler got lots of great outdoor time this weekend in Lynchburg. He played (and played and played) on Grandpa's deck, and even took a couple of trips to Dad's massive backyard. He looked so small in this large yard, just running and playing. He had a blast. He practiced going up and down the stairs, and did really well with his footing on the grass (in his new sandals, no less). I really wish that we had a better deck, and a better yard, at home for him to play in. He doesn't complain about it, though. He's just happy to be outside. As often as possible, I try to take Tyler for walks when we get home in the afternoon. We have about an hour to ourselves before Travis comes home for the evening, so I pull out the stroller and walk up to the front of the neighborhood and back. Sometimes we stop to swing, sometimes we don't. I'm happy to get the exercise and Tyler is happy to people-watch and just sit back to enjoy the ride. It's nice right now, as there are few bugs, there's little humidity, and it's not so freakin' hot that you can't stand it. We'll have about another week or 2 of that, and that will be about it, I'm sure.

We had both of my grandmothers over at Grandpa's on Saturday for lunch. Nana Scoggin drove up from NC and bought us all lunch from Applebee's. We had a nice visit, and Tyler did what Tyler does best - entertains. He even handed out kisses, though not on demand as Nana Woody would have liked. That evening, Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw Radick came over to visit and have dinner. Maw-Maw brought a very special surprise with her, in addition to some of her own toys that Wagner & Waylon play with at her house. She had with her a tattered and torn plastic, yellow tote bag filled with blocks and such. Well, once I looked in the bag, I was overwhelmed with a sense of familiarity. The blocks in this bag used to belong to Eddie. Some of the blocks in there were taken from the old Homeplace in Union Mills, NC (where Mom and my Papa are buried), and I distinctly remember Eddie playing with them when we were younger. Angela said that Mom had given those toys to her when Wagner was smaller, and she thought that it was time for them to come back into our family. She has several of Eddie's old trucks and cars too, but will wait until Tyler is a bit older to bring those back. So Grandpa now has LOTS of great toys for Tyler to play with at his house! How special!!

This weekend is Mother's Day weekend, and we plan on spending Sunday together - just the 3 of us. Right now, it's supposed to rain, but hopefully it will hold off. Next Wednesday evening, we will pack up the car and head down to Columbia, SC for Maggie & Stephen's wedding. Tyler's tux should be here any day now, and I can't wait to get him in that thing (he'll probably disagree with me though). So we'll have a long week (and weekend!) next week, but should come back with some great stories and pictures!