Whew!

It's been entirely too long since I last updated....I know. We've been busy! Because I don't even remember the last time I posted, we'll just start with last week. Brad and his dad went to Talladega for the big race and 3 fun days of golf. It's their yearly trip and Brad looks forward to it all year...he's already talking about next year! On Sunday, Peyton and I drove up and met them in Birmingham. Brad had to be in Atlanta on Monday and since Birmingham is on the way, we decided we'd meet up and go with him. We spent the night in Birmingham Sunday and then Monday morning set out for Atlanta. This is probably one of the only times that I will be able to say this, but we got to stay at The Ritz downtown!! It was everything I could have hoped for. You really do get treated like royalty there! Brad was there for work and since Georgia Pacific is right across the street, they put him up at the Ritz. That is THE only way would have been able to stay there. I think Peyton was probably the only child there because every employee knew his name....it couldn't have been because he told everyone "hi" and blew them kisses :-) Because they all loved him so much, he got a stuffed elephant and rubber ducky and another day he got a stuffed teddy bear...they were really good to him there. On Monday we took him to the Georgia Aquarium....it was so much fun. Peyton really enjoyed climbing everything that stood still and we enjoyed the fish. His favorite though were the Sea Lions. He absolutely loved them and absolutely cracked up at them. We bought him a Sea Lion ornament to remember the trip. On Tuesday, Peyton and I were on our own so we went to the park at Centennial Park. He had an awesome time and played for like 2 hours. We got a good nap that day. Wednesday Peyton and I went to the mall where we bought surprisingly nothing. He slept good though! Then Thursday we were off to Brunswick to visit our friends Melissa and Gary and their kids Logan and Reese. I thought Peyton would take awhile to warm up...no way! He immediately realized that Logan and Reese were little like him and attached himself to them for the rest of the weekend. They were so sweet to him!! Thanks guys for tolerating us! Friday we all went to the beach...this was a big test because the last time Peyton went to the beach was last summer and he hated it. Not so this go around...he LOVED it. He dug holes all over the beach, but was still very leery of the water....just the way I want it! Saturday was Reese's birthday party which Peyton slept through...party animal. Then Sunday we headed home. He was wonderful in the car...we could not have asked for better. It's so wonderful to be home....now we gear up to leave Thursday for Houston for cousin Abby's first birthday. Whew....I feel like I've just typed my life story and it's only been a week! It doesn't appear things will slow down anytime soon, but I hope somewhere in the midst of all this, Brad and I can find a weekend to get away alone....even though all we ever do is talk about Peyton!! Well, it's bath time so I should wrap this up. I apologize for the randomness of this email...I'm sure as I read it back nothing will make sense. Just know that we've had a great time this past week no matter how tired we may be and we look so forward to seeing Abby this weekend as well as all the family!! Enjoy the out of order pictures! ha!

Peyton at the playground

Peyton at the ocean

Crazy hair doing the chicken dance at the beach

I've got sand bombs and I'm not afraid to use them

Daddy and Peyton at the Aquarium

Mommy and Peyton with the fish

Peyton laughing at the Sea Lions

Getting ready to slide at the park

Chasing birds at the park....does he know his Mommy is afraid of birds?

The family at the Japanese Steakhouse in Brunswick