I need to apologize from my month-long hiatus! With the end of school, I left early on my last day to catch a plane to Las Vegas for a mini-vacation with my mother-in-law, Kay, Paul's cousin, Missy, and Missy's friend, Linelle. That was from June 10-14. I returned and my grandparents from Arizona came to visit from June 17-22. That was an AWESOME time and we went to Charleston, SC while they were here. Then Grandma and Grandpa left on Tuesday morning and I started my summer job as a "qualified professional" working the summer program at ACT as a therapist. So even though I've had a TON of fun and have done a TREMENDOUS amount of traveling, I've had minimal time to update the blog. My brother, Josh, emailed me this afternoon and asked why it's been so long between updates...you'll see below!
June 1--Lauren took a liking to her Jack-in-the-Box. She's now able to turn the tiny handle to make Jack pop out, even knowing when he's going to pop based upon the rhythm of the music! I got a double laugh as Lauren played with Jack while standing in the laundry basket. Not an unusual thing for our household, but it still cracks me up!
My poor Jinxy, hiding from all of the commotion of the house! Paul and I rearranged Lauren's room to the office, painted the walls and sanded and stained the floors, and moved in her furniture. The house was even more of a mess than usual because we're still working (okay, stalling) on the kitchen remodel. Jinx NEVER gets into boxes, and he rarely poses for a picture.
June 4--Here is Lauren's room, completed! Her walls are still purple (she picked the color!) but they are darker than her previous room. It's a little more loud, more like Lauren's personality. We've since placed the furniture and added wood blinds to the windows. I'm planning on repainting Lauren's wall letters and finding valances to put on top of her windows to complete the look. We still need to hang wall things.
June 6--Paul yells at me, "Babe, come quick and see this! Grab your camera!" As I turned the corner, I see Paul walking Lauren walking on her hands. Paul said that he picked Lauren up, she slid upside down out of his hands, and she started walking on hers!
June 11--As I said, I went to Las Vegas with the girls on June 10. We took a Hoover Dam/Grand Canyon tour via bus the next day. Here we are at the Hoover Dam. It's enormous! If you look behind us and to the left, you can see the bridge that is currently being constructed. I didn't know this, but the dam connects Nevada to Arizona! How about that! There are clocks on either side of the dam showing the time in each state! While here, I bought Paul a "dam golf ball" since he isn't collecting shot glasses and doesn't like T-shirts! Enjoy the "dam" picture!
We stopped for a snack break on the way to the Grand Canyon. I looked and saw this sign for Interstate 40 (which runs through my back yard!)!! I had to take a picture of the sign!
We made it to the Grand Canyon. Look how beautiful this is! I was trying to pretend that I was falling off into the canyon, but I was laughing too hard. We were thinking that Grandma Wade would be fussing at us from Heaven if she could have seen us!
June 12--We found this funky restaurant called Peppermill on the strip. It was so much fun! The food was good (don't get the eggs!), plentiful, and worth the money. The atmosphere alone was intriguing. Kay enjoyed her morning cup of coffee (no alcohol yet!) while I simply smiled.
One of the unusual stops we made were in the casino's restrooms. We enjoyed checking out the cleanliness, opulence, and decorations. Below Kay fixes her hair while stopping at the Wynn/Encore. (This was one of our favorite restrooms! They had tiny lamps fixed above the toilets!)
The Belliagio had an indoor conservatory, free of charge. There were some amazing arrangements, especially within the animals. I loved the roses in the snail.
I really liked this ladybug. Just thought it was cool. You can see the enormous watering cans that watered the flowers to my right.
We stopped at the M and M store. It was 4 stories of shopping with a 3-D M and M movie at the top! Kay and I investigated. Red bet his "M" on the roulette table and lost it, so he and Yellow had to try to get it back. (I won't tell you if he did or did not!) As we walked in, there were the giant M and M statues.
While waiting to watch the 3D movie, there was the M and M picture frame with Vegas behind it.
Later that night, Kay and I opted to take in a show. Terry Fador, who won America's Got Talent a few year's back, had his show at the Mirage. Below is one of his new characters, The Cougar, and she was a RIOT! The show was AWESOME, family-friendly yet a little more (subtly) adult, too. It was well worth the money to see the show!
June 13--My mother-in-law, the big spender. She gambled more than the rest of us, but it was fun to watch Kay play the slots. She actually won $12.50 at a restaurant! This picture was taken at Circus, Circus which was a blast. We enjoyed playing the midway games and watching the shows. Not a bad place to take kids as the midway and amusement park were smoke free!
Flights coming into and going from Vegas are strange. Our flights departed for home at 11:15 PM and 11:35 PM respectively. As we were leaving, we saw the Welcome to Las Vegas banner. A little backward, but we needed our picture!
I REALLY enjoyed the girl's weekend. We all plan to try to make it an annual event and while waiting for our plane discussed possible adventures for 2010. (I think it was Maine.) Thanks for the laughs and fun, girls!
June 16--I purchased a Ped Egg (I'd recommend this to ANYONE with callouses on their feet!) and had to try it out! I soaked my feet in the tub while Lauren was bathing and used the cuticle pusher on my cuticles. Lauren soaked up my actions. I didn't notice what she was doing at first, but she was mimicking my behavior! She's certainly her mama's girl!
I should also comment that futile attempts have been made to separate Lauren from her pacifier. She had been exceptionally whiny and we noticed that she's working on cutting her last two teeth before her 2 year molars. We've allowed it a bit more considering this.
June 17--Lauren looked adorable this morning before going to school. However, she was NOT impressed that I wanted to take her picture and cried. You can tell she was not happy with me.
June 18-I hesitated to allow Lauren to polish her own toes, but I didn't think it would hurt too much. She was actually VERY meticulous about her application. Regardless of the care she took, she still had toes, not just the nails, that were quite pink. She was pleased with her efforts and proud of her pink toes!
I allowed Lauren to attempt to polish my toes. She didn't do too badly, believe it or not! I was impressed.
We were making dinner the night before we headed to Charleston. Lauren and Great-Grandma helped make biscuits for dinner. Lauren did a great job using the biscuit cutter to make the biscuits. She got a little over-zealous, though, and we were afraid she'd marked up my new counter! (You can see that nothing has been done in the kitchen since April, I think.)
June 19--We headed out to Charleston, SC to investigate the city. None of us had ever been to Charleston, so we had thought this was a good way to go! Lauren had not been feeling well for a while, but we weren't sure what was going on. She fell asleep after our carriage tour of the city which was awesome! We checked out some art galleries and Lauren fell asleep. I took her picture by the print to prove to her that she had been in a gallery!
We went to the Waterfront Park after our gallery excursion. Lauren had a blast watching the birds and running around. She then ran into a wooden bench and scraped up her right cheek and her chin.
July 20-As part of our trip, we decided we needed some education. We loaded up early for the ferry which took us to Fort Sumter where the first shots of the Civil War took place. It was smaller than I had anticipated, but it was in excellent condition considering the amount of war it saw over an 80 year time span, plus decay.
Paul and Lauren at Fort Sumter. Paul kept Whiny Lauren busy so I could investigate and enjoy history. (I have a LOT more pictures of Fort Sumter, as does Paul, but Paul's camera's files are enormous and take forever to load. I will work on loading more of Paul's pictures later.)
The weather was quite warm for us while in Charleston. Temperatures were 99 or so each of the days were were there with heat indexes up to 110 degrees. The humidity was awful, too. After going to Fort Sumter, Lauren and Grandma played in a fountain to cool off. The fountain was between the aquarium and the Fort Sumter museum.
We drove around the rest of the afternoon looking for the key items. Here we found Rainbow Row. We loved the colors!
We left the city for Sullivan's Island to take in the ocean. It was Lauren's first trip to the ocean and we weren't sure what to expect. I was hoping that she'd love the water and beach so that we could have the excuse to vacation there more often. (Paul would rather be in the mountains than at the beach.) Her first exposure to the sand was daunting. She cried and refused to walk.
We eventually got her to the beach (while I carried her). Great-Grandma showed Lauren how to look for shells in the sand. Below, Grandma was trying to tempt Lauren with playing in the water. It didn't take long before Lauren fell in love with the water and the waves!
Grandma and Grandpa enjoying the Atlantic. They are some of the happiest, sweetest, most considerate people I know. You can tell how much they love one another! I'm so blessed to have them in my life.
Lauren, Great-Grandma Bobbie, and I collected sea shells. When I got too many that they fell out of my pocket, I put them in Lauren's shoe! Lauren was checking them out, wondering why her foot wasn't in the shoe!
June 21--My daughter enjoys drinking water from sources other than her own cups. She's a riot because she drinks from a glass like a cat or dog! Paul was embarrassed, but I had to laugh! She'll do the same as she drinks from a water bottle (sticks her tongue in and drinks around her tongue). When she sees water running or watches me drink from a glass, she'll put her hand up to her mouth and smack her lips, pretending to drink herself as she tips her head back!
Daddy and Lauren testing out hammocks. This particular model costs somewhere around $600 for all pieces. We'll pass for now...
Checking out some shops at Pawley's Island, SC, Lauren needed to lounge in this teal chair! She thoroughly enjoyed the rest and was ready to return home!
We had an AWESOME time with our grandparents Ryan. The visit was too short as often is the case, but we had a LOT of fun and special times. We had a lot of firsts as well.
Upon our return home, I scheduled a doctor's appointment for Lauren. She had some swelling in her ears and nose and some crud in her lungs, so the doctor put her on an antibiotic. That would explain her moodiness, needing to cling to me, and her lack of appetite. Since being on her medicine, she's perked back up, trying our patience and seeing how far she can get before a spank is in order! It's been so much fun having Lauren back to her usual self. She has certainly taken on the behavior of a 2 year old rather than 1...such is life!
I will post Paul's pictures of Charleston another evening.
We went to Waterfront Park when the breeze picked up. Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed the rare moments they had to snuggle Lauren.
Of course, our trip wouldn't have been complete without a fit-pitching session.
Seconds later, look at her ability to compose herself! Turkey!
Paul got some cute shots of Lauren. I hope you enjoy these as much as us!
Paul was able to snuggle the little one as well!
And you know Lauren loves my sunglasses (upside down, of course!).
And I love snuggles and kisses from my little girl!
June 20--We took a ferry to Fort Sumter. Grandma and Lauren had a nice talk on the ride out.
Grandpa and I also had a good talk about a ferry ride that Grandma slept through (thankfully) and their friends all got ill!
At the fort, I tried to shoot some cannons. Talk about tough work!
On Sullivan's Island, we took some more pictures. (Shocking, I know!)
Notice the road rash on her face. This was from the Waterfront Park when Lauren ran smack into a wooden bench. Between the Neosporin and her antibiotic, she's healing quickly.
Someone loves the ocean! 
She got brave and was taken under the water by a wave. It didn't phase her, even though she was soaked!
Paul twirled Little One around in the water. She loved the horse play.
We were collecting shells. Lauren wanted to put them in my hands when she found them.
Here was some coral that has washed up on the shore. I didn't know it was so squishy!
We loved our vacation and look forward to going again soon!
