Good to be home.

I was away from home for almost a month and I must say it's great to be back.  No matter how much fun I'm having on a trip I always miss my dwelling.  It's just nice to have a home base.

The first part of our trip was just with me and lil man since daddy had to work.  We first visited my grandparents and other relatives in Orlando, FL.  That was a lot of fun and they thoroughly enjoyed IEK because the last time they saw him was Christmas 2012.  Actually that's not true we flew down for my grandma's birthday party but we stayed less than 48 hours so that didn't count.  It's cool to think that December of last year he wasn't walking or talking really BUT now he's doing EVERYTHING!  IEK is very clingy to me so it took him some time to warm up to everyone.  I also don't think that it helped that my family is sooo loud and mainly "chat patois."  He's not used to the chaos because our home is so quiet.  He enjoyed it overall and it was nice to see him submerged in some aspects of my culture (food, language, music, etc).

After hanging with my family we flew to north Florida and visited my husband's parents.  We got to see my husband's sisters (and their families) and some other relatives too.  My husband's mom is soooo in love with IEK.  And he's pretty enamored with her too, but it's easy to see why because she's so awesome.  This week was the most relaxing part of the entire trip.  The house was quiet (although still noisier than ours).  I had a lot of down time because Nonna was all about doing everything for her grandson.  She had the coolest toys (some of which my husband used as a toddler).  Isn't that neat?  We got to hang out with IEK's twin boy cousins who are a year older than him.  It was so much fun seeing them play together.  IEK was always too young to truly enjoy the play.  He also seems to have developed a very close relationship with one of the twins (Dee).  They were so sweet to watch.  Dee would even protect IEK from his own twin brother. 

The next part of our trip was spent in a cabin in the Smoky Mountains in NC.  My husband joined us with his entire family (except his brother).  The log cabin accommodated 22 people for sleep and there was a huge table that seated 26 people.  The cabin was beautiful although older.  We only had about 15 people including the kiddos but it was tons of fun (and loudness, lol).  We enjoyed the hot tub, roasting marshmallows and eating smores.  The bigger kids (7 and 9 year olds) brought handheld video games but one night I convinced them to play board games.  They surprisingly had a blast.  By far, there favorite was Taboo.  They had so much fun that for the duration of the trip they mainly wanted to play board games at night instead doing other activities.  One of our nephew was so cute...he told his mom that my husband and I are so much fun, he wishes we could move back to FL and live close by them.  It was so sweet to hear that and it made us feel bad for living so far away.  I must brag a little and say that one of the the highlight of my cabin trip was racing my 2 nephews.  I WON!!! OK, I shouldn't gloat this much because they are only 9 but they are pretty athletic boys (they play just about every sport on the planet).  It's just so cute because they are pretty competitive and they really thought they were going to win.  I told them that I would give them each $15 if either of them won.  They were bragging and thought that it would be a piece of cake...lol.  

Anyway, it was so sad to leave each place and everyone but after being away from home for so long I was ready to get back to home base.  It was a great trip or trips.  IEK had a good time and my husband did too for the parts he spent with us.  He missed us dearly for the portions of the trip that he was home alone for.  I was very thankful that I had the opportunity to hang out with family.  But noticed I called it a trip and not a vacation. 

Anyway, since then I've lost one of my diaper bags with my wallet in it and had to go through all the trouble of getting that resolved.  I've been applying for jobs because I'm getting kind of bored and besides with my career and my only kiddo in daycare it makes sense to work.  I was going to wait until we move to find a job in our new city but the move will be in 4-6 months.  

Hope ya'll had a good weekend!

Mrs. K