The Old Homestead

I'm one of the few who moved away (all of the the 5.3 miles between my folks' house and Wake Forest University) freshman year of college and never really came home again.  I think I can count on both hands the number of nights that I have spent there in the last ten years.  So, to find myself back at my old homestead, with my own child in tow, was sort of a strange experience. (Although, we were most grateful to have a place to stay while our house was under construction!) Clara settled right in and had a blast.  And I cannot tell you how deep my joy was to watch her playing in my house with my toys. It wasn't that long ago that we cleaned out my old room and I remember saying, "Should we save these things?  Just in case I have a baby girl some day?"  Boy oh boy am I glad we did.   I didn't remember to snap any pictures of it until the last day we were there, so these are all from one day.  But it's a fairly typical day of our three weeks there.

 She slept in my old crib (which was Big Daddy's old crib, really.  Safety guidelines?  Pshaw!)

And played with my old toys (some of which were Sweet Mama and Big Daddy's, too.)

 She pushed my baby doll stroller around (this is what I learned to walk behind back in the Spring of '82):

And rode on Uncle Trey's "Rawhide" (again, please - pay no mind to current safety regulations.  This thing is a death trap.  A very entertaining death trap.)

She cooked in my play kitchen...

And played in my cul-de-sac, with my sweet mama (her Sweet Mama, capitals).

She fed my baby dolls, while they sat in the old metal highchair that was first Sweet Mama's (circa 1950something) and then mine as well....

These Cabage Patch Kid Dolls were my childhood's most prized possession (any of you who had a playdate with me in Elementary school can attest to the hours upon hours spent playing with these, teaching school to these, etc.).  It was an absolutely SURREAL experience to watch her pick them up, carry them around, name them, dress them, hug them, and make them all her own.  My heart just isn't big enough for these moments...



 And put babies and Ernies to sleep in the cradle/crib that was Sweet Mama's, too.

She played with my old blocks...

 And worked my old puzzles....

 And stood her teeny little feetsies on my old wooden stool.

She sat in my rocking chair.  And read my books.

And it was good.  Very very good.

Thanks be to God.

P.S.  Another perk of living there for three weeks was that we had the chance for date night, no sitter required!  Win!

Mama Wore That: Noah's Ark

I've got lots of these that I need to find the time to put Clara in and take photos, but while we were staying at Sweet Mama's for three weeks, I did get her in this 1980s jewel.

 I love Noah's Ark.

But, these sleeves....

If anyone can pull it off though, Clara can.  Work it, girl.

And these blue eyes, and this big smile...... oh yes.

Sail Away

Our first getaway for the two of us since Clara was born could not have come at a better time.  We so desperately needed the time away to relax and re-connect with each other and for those purposes, this trip was perfect.  We sailed out of Charleston which was great because we could drive there.  We had one day at sea, a day in Nassau where we wandered around the city, and spent the afternoon on the beach, a day in Freeport, Grand Bahama where we kayaked through a national park with a creek of mangrove trees and visited a gorgeous beach, and then another day at sea before we got back to Charleston.  We slept and read and ate more food than we ever needed.  We I had fun dressing up for a "date night" five nights in a row and laying out on the deck by day just soaking up the sun.  It really was ideal.  I pulled photos to post and there were 96.  That's too many for any blog post, even by my ridiculous standards, so I'm just going to show a few highlights and call it done.  But let me assure you, fun was had by all.

Our view the first night from our stateroom as we sailed away

Here are some shots of the ship itself (I didn't get many good ones!)

Dinner, night one

Towel Creatures!

Dinner, night two

We spent the morning in Nassau just walking around and seeing this cute capital city.

In the Nassau straw market, we had this sweet lady add Clara's name to a straw ladybug bag she had made.  Clara loves it.

A crumpled map is a sign of a good day of travel.  This made me a little nostalgic for my days of traveling. ... showing up, grabbing a map and exploring a new city..... but it won't be long before we're doing that with Clara in tow, I imagine.  

The afternoon in Nassau was spent at Junkanoo beach:

Dinner, night three

The next day we were kayaking through Lucayan National Park

Gold Rock Beach

Dinner, night four

Sorry, the night five dinner photo didn't turn out... casualty of handing your camera to a stranger!

And so much food!

It was just what we needed to face all that January and February had in store for us.  I'm so thankful for my thoughtful husband and for these great memories.  Let's do it again soon!