Monday, August 18, 2008

Wild and Wonderful

We are back from our big West Virginian adventure...and we're both exhausted.

It was great to be in Wheeling and see pretty much the whole fam damily (my cousin Ian didn't make it, so Addie is slightly less corrupted than she could have been). We picked up Gramma in Columbus before noon and headed east. With about an hour left to go, Addison completely melted down in the back seat and was totally inconsolable. I ended up pulling over on the side of the highway, calming her down and giving her a shot of Tylenol.

Oh sweet Tylenol, thank you for being around during teething season.

Friday night was a blur of shower prepping and pizza. Addison entertained the crew with her love of one of Aunt Ruthie's snazzy blond wigs. By the time the three of us made it to the house we were staying at we were about to fall over. Addison passed out within seconds of going down and Mom and I weren't even able to finish our beers.

On Saturday Amanda's shower went off without a hitch. I managed to win two shower gifts (for some odd reason I love winning shower gifts), one of which is a potted African Violet that looks lovely on my kitchen window sill...hopefully I don't kill it. As a side note, the unwrapping of the gifts went by so quickly and painlessly ~ the bridesmaids opened the cards and unwrapped the gifts and then handed the swag off to the bride. For those of you who still have to endure your own wedding shower, this is the way to go. Anyway, I digress...

We all gathered at Aunt Ruthie and Uncle Glenn's "camp". GORGEOUS. Forty-two acres of woodland, and even though it was only six minutes off the interstate, it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. My cousins came up with their 10 month old, Jackson, and the babies played and entertained us all. Addison loved so much about her weekend...her Uncle Jeafen, cousin Jill, Uncle Glenn and pretty much everyone else who showered unending attention on her.

Addison went butterfly hunting, sat by her first camp fire, rode back into the woods on a 1940s jeep and saw deer and a groundhog. She picked flowers and called out to the cows in the neighboring pasture.

I sipped on wine (maybe I occasionally gulped), enjoyed one of the best caprese salads I've ever had, and allowed my family to soak up the silliness of my daughter. With so many eyes on her antics I was able to relax a bit.

However, by the time I got home last night, I felt every second of 31 years old (thanks for all the bday wishes!). I am pretty sure I padded up to bed last night before 9 p.m....

We had a fabulous time...and Addison may have picked up a new trick:



Sure does make a Mama proud.

2 comments:

Christie said...

There is so muc to comment on in this post, I do not even know where to begin....love the wig!!!

LaurenK said...

Happy Birthday!

Addison is cheers-ing already... When will she learn to snorkel?