Princeton

The week before Easter we had a visit from Momsie and Bandaddy and then we went to Princeton for a few days to see Granny and Aunt Sal and Uncle Rich. Princeton is one of my favorite places in the world for reasons that are tough to articulate. My grandparents moved back to Western Kentucky from South Florida after raising their family, because, as Granny puts it, my Grandfather "was ready to be a big fish." Western Kentucky is a beautiful place... the pace is slower, the people gentile and kind, and the whole place is just charming. As a little girl we would beg Grandfather to wake us up early and take us to "ride the range" with him, which basically meant that we all piled into his dirty pick-up truck and drove out onto his farms to feed and take care of the cows. If you have never fed a pasture-full of cows from a truck bed before, it totally makes you feel like a rockstar - you should try it. =) Then he would come home and get cleaned up and switch into "city" mode, looking sharp and driving his big Lincoln instead of the truck. He would sit in his chair in the den and whistle at each girl as we all came out dressed for lunch at the club and Granny always got the biggest whistle, of course. These days the main activities are golf, tennis, swimming, going for walks, sitting on the patio, and visiting with friends. Mmmm... perfect. (I used to include "napping" in that list, too, but since the kiddos not so much.) At 201 Holly Lane (the Hayes house) cocktail hour is an occassion and friends will usually join in and stay for dinner. (Granny and our dear friend Sitter recently gave me an impromtu list of things a Southern Lady does while I was visiting... observing the cocktail hour was #1 on their list. Hmmm...) Being there forces me to slow down and enjoy... and every time I feel like I learn more and more about life, people and laughter by being around Granny. She has taught me great lessons about not taking myself (or life) too seriously, enjoying people, and living graciously. I still have a *lot* to learn! Bonus... the new Black Oak Winery finally opened up right down the road, giving us a new place to visit!

Kate, in her *fancy* satin gown from cousin Axel.... oooh la la.

Easter

Happy Easter!

Scout was on-call (a nasty little 30+ hour shift) for Easter, so the Easter Bunny came to our house on Saturday evening after he got home from work. The Bunny brought Kate some treats and a shiny new bike. (We said the bike was really a gift to Naomi, though, because now Kate won't be high-jacking hers all the time!)

She has been practicing lots, and is starting to get the hang of it. Hooray for helmets and knee pads! She wipes out and can just hop back up and get on again. (Which is key since one of us is usually running behind her with CC in the baby bjorn trying to keep up.)

Wait... come back here!

Carter has eaten her weight in Easter grass this year... it never goes away!

We miss Daddy! And thank you to the Sostoks for taking us in (yet again!) for Easter dinner and an oh-so-fun egg hunt!

Carter is ready for the Bunny to bring her a bike of her own. Soooooo curious.

Florida

Shew... we finally made it. Dirty, yes. Sleepy, for sure. Hopped up on sugar, yup. The travel was pretty horrible, but then the south Florida humidity hit me right when we deplaned and I thought it was probably worth it. Seeing Scout waiting for us in baggage made me think it was definitely worth it. ...And getting into Hayes' huge Ford truck and heading for their house made me think I would do it all over again in a heartbeat to see Hayes and Ashley! We spent the week enjoying the pool, fishing by the lake, sipping wine and talking on the patio, consuming our body weight in s'mores by the fire, playing Wii (well, some of us), touring the Everglades (girls get to go next time!) and visiting with Uncle Rusty and Aunt Pam and the Hayes crew. (Pictures to come...) Despite the rain, that thick Florida air still felt great to us. Scout and Kate played in the pool despite the rain and I got to do one of my favorite things ever: jog in a huge downpour. We spent a week at the Templetons' and it was so nice to just slow down and be together. Thank you, Ashley and Hayes, for a fabulous & relaxing time!

Kate, ready with bathing suit and princess goggles, waiting for the rain to stop.

Nevermind! We'll just swim in the rain...

Taking the "ripping off the band-aid" approach.


Rainy day trip to the Ft. Lauderdale museum
John Deere and Uncle Hayes... perfect!

Carter hung in there as long as she could at the beach...

In the back yard, training to be a champion fisherwoman like her Aunt Ashley...

Caught one!

We drove up to Orlando for a quick trip to Disney. The ol' Mike Ditka resort (yes, you read me right!) turned out to be a great surprise! Carter loved the space to crawl, crawl, crawl...

Happy to be out of the car and ready for the Magic Kingdom!

On the ferry, headed to the Park

Wonderful tip, Julie! We headed straight for "Castle Couture" and Scout and Hayes helped Kate pick out an Ariel princess outfit. It was a total hit, and so funny to watch the boys help Kate with her big decision about which princess to be that day. Since then, she has donned this complete ensemble at least once a day... every day. The first time I washed it I prayed. =)

Carter sooooo wanted to hop out of the stroller. She wants to run around and be part of the action so badly she can't stand it. Most of the day I could not just relax and push her along because I thought she was going to wrangle out of the straps and dive overboard to get to the activity.

By midday it was H-O-T. Kate was wearing her heavy princess dress with about 5 layers of tulle and long white gloves, but we could not convince her to take anything off. Her face was bright red and hair soaked with sweat, but she was 100% committed to the princess look. We shrugged and make her chug the water.

One of the big highlights for Kate: getting to meet Belle in person!

Carter would not give it up. We woke the girls around 5a.m. for the trip and did the park all day, and she finally sacked out in the afternoon for a quick catnap.

Hayes enjoyed the taffy.

So did I.

...And Kate enjoyed the rice krispie treat the size of her head that Hayes bought her in the candy shop.

The light parade at the end of the day was a fantastic cap to everything. I don't think that Kate blinked the entire time and watched most of it with her mouth wide open. Watching her face during the parade was entertainment enough for us! (And we all had the same reaction to the parade, I think.)

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After our week in Florida, we headed up to Memphis for a few days to search for a home and a preschool for Kate. We made some necessary steps in looking for a place to live, but did not tie it up with a bow so I'll be headed back at some point in the next couple months. Being there was great, but also bittersweet. It made us really excited to be back, but made us realize that we are actually leaving Cinci. No question, the best part of being back in Memphis was seeing dear friends... such fun. Kate and Griffin had a blast playing together. Carter and Austin were also at the same speed, and I was so bummed to realize when we left that I didn't get any pics of precious little Austin!

We are sad to think of what we are leaving in Cincinnati, but visiting Memphis was wonderful to get excited about the next chapter. What a blessing to have friends waiting for us... friends who have scouted out neighborhoods and schools on our behalf, who met our every need while we visited, who brought us right back into the fold, and who kept our (snotty and coughing) children while we combed the streets! Thank you, thank you!