Vacation Part I

Wow! What a great vacation we had. We enjoyed the beautiful mountains in Montreat, NC and had a blast jumping waves in Litchfield, SC. Liza's Auntie Em, her Jones grandparents and our great family friends Judi and Dick were with us and that made the trip so much better. Liza was an amazing traveler and pretty close to an angel the entire time. She started cutting a tooth near the end of our time in SC so she had a few periods of grumpiness but they didn't last long. We turned her seat around for the big trip and she loves facing forward and pointing to all the cars. The DVD player (thanks Mom and Dad) was very helpful and kept her entertained. We also transitioned to both parents riding in the front seat and she didn't seem to miss us too much.

Yesterday was Liza's first day back at Rita's and when Chris picked her up Rita told him she thought her vocabulary had tripled while we were gone. She is certainly a wonderful mimic so I've got to clean up my language a bit! There are so many great pictures from our trip that I'll likely have to post multiple entries to get them all in so stay tuned...

Liza recognizes frogs so when she spotted this one in Montreat she had to get closer and hold it all by herself.

When Liza wakes up in the morning she stands up in her crib and points to any book she sees and wants to hold it while she is being dressed. So it was no surprise to me that when she saw the little girl below lying on a rock reading a book that it would interest her. What I didn't expect was Liza trying to take the book away!

For me, Montreat is so special because of the many friendships forged during wonderful carefree summers. It's so special to see my Montreat friends even if it's just for a few minutes each year. This year I was lucky because my sweet friend Julie drove up from Charlotte so we could get together and she brought her precious children. Another good friend, Ann Dupre, was closing on her house the day Julie came up so we loaded up the car and headed over to see her. The children had fun playing in her house and Phelps tested out the locking mechanisms for AD. Sweet baby Mac was so very cute and he is never far from his Mommy. This picture of Julie, Mac and Ann DuPre is in AD's new house and we were so pleased to be there to help her celebrate.

I think this might be Phelps' guilty face but I'm not sure...this is right after Phelps and Liza were locked in one of the rooms together! No one can say with certainty which one locked the door but since Liza can't reach the handle too well I'm betting on my friend Phelps.

No time in Montreat is complete without a party so my kind Mother put together a great sandwich dinner and I was able to invite many of my Montreat friends. Thanks to all who came - it was great to see you all and I'm so sorry I didn't take pictures of the whole group. Seems I only managed to get a few of Liza playing with the driveway chalk. Watch for more vacation posts coming soon!