Road Trip

As Ford mentioned in his previous post the three of us headed to Tennessee last week for Daniel Crane’s wedding (one of Jeff’s cousins).  Ford did pretty great overall on the 6 hour drive there. 

Hour one was fun. . .

Hour five was a different story. . . 

The good news is, we made it and overall Ford did fantastic!  Jeff’s dad, Jason, and Kari, all made it to our cabin late on Thursday night so we didn’t get to see them until Friday morning.  Ford picked up right where he left off with all three of them and had a lot of fun playing with them!  On Friday we drove into Chattanooga (only about 15 minutes from our house) and walked along the river and downtown.   

Saturday afternoon was the wedding in Dalton, Georgia, about a 45 minute drive.  It was nap time right around the time we were arriving at the wedding, but of course being the social guy that he is, Ford had no intention of falling asleep.  We tried to get him to nap in the car on the way there and had his lullabies CD playing and his blanket, but all he was interested in was blowing very wet, and spitty, raspberries.  The entire drive over.  Needless to say he was soaked, however, I didn’t dress him in his nice clothes until we arrived at the church so it didn’t matter.  We stayed in the ceremony for a bit, but quietly removed ourselves about half-way through and went into the “cry room” so no one would hear him fuss.  He took a 20 minute cat nap in the car on the way to the reception, which wasn’t nearly long enough, so most of the reception he was completely out of it.  However, he was quiet and sweet while he was out of it, just not his normal happy, spunky, self. 

Sunday we had a nice time celebrating what a wonderful and amazing father Jeff is to Ford and also were able to celebrate Jeff’s dad too!  Jeff’s cousin Jay (on his mom’s side), his wife Lisa, and daughter Patsy, drove in from Atlanta to spend the afternoon with us.  In the evening Jeff’s Aunt Susan and Uncle Keith (parents of the groom), along with his cousin Jordan, stopped by.  It was great to be able to see so much family and to introduce them to Ford!  

While we were in Tennessee Ford started rolling himself on his belly to sleep during the night.  This is what I found when I went to wake him up one morning.   

 

Isn’t that sweet?!  Since then, when I look on the monitor or when we go to get him up in the morning or from his nap (which he has been taking in his crib since we got home!!!), this is how we find him.

While we were at the cabin we had a great time just spending time together and hanging out.  Ford loved looking at the wind chimes with his Grandad. 

Ford also loved hanging out with his Aunt Kari and Uncle Jason! 

As Ford also mentioned we all went to the Tennessee Aquarium on Monday.  It was awesome and we all really enjoyed it!  While we were in the butterfly exhibit a beautiful butterfly decided Jeff’s shirt looked like a great flower to land on. 

Jeff’s dad was able to get the butterfly to go on his finger so he took Ford in his other arm so he could get closer to it.  Can you see Ford’s observant/perplexed look on his face?  Can’t you just hear him saying in his mind “If I could just get a little closer I could grab that thing!”

Jeff and Jason made us all laugh (and those around us too) as they worked their way first on the floor and then tightly up into this “tube” inside one of the aquariums.  Who says you have to be a “kid” to take full advantage of these types of things?

All in all, we had a fabulous time on our trip!  It was nice for Jeff, Ford, and me to be able to spend so much time together with out work and house “chores” to occupy us and we are looking forward to our next trip, Colorado/Ft. Worth/Shreveport! 

The drive back to Columbia took us longer and was not quite as smooth as the trip there.  However, we made it!  When we were on our way to Tennessee I noticed that Ford’s first tooth is coming in!  It is his bottom right tooth and is still just a white blur under the skin.  However, I think it is making him not feel so hot at times, which contributed to a slightly harder ride back.  By the end of the 7 hours he was exhuasted and the picture below is how we ended our trip.