I have had so much anticipation for the visit of my sister Michelle and her 10 month old Owen! The last time I saw them both was about a month after he was born, so it has been way too long. They got to stay for almost 2 weeks. You'd think that would have been long enough of a time for me to get my fix, but it wasn't. The time seemed to go by so quickly and then normal life unfortunately had to return.
The first few days were freezing cold here in Georgia and it was actually warmer in Colorado where Michelle lives! So we spent the first few days preparing my flower beds and planting flowers! Michelle is such a natural outside, she always has been. She is definitely in her element and I am definitely not! She just enjoys it all so much, and I think I am slowly gaining an appreciation. My flower beds went from pitiful to beautiful in about 2 days time (while juggling 2 little ones and working during their naps). I have thoroughly enjoyed going outside to water my flowers and watch them grow. Hayden also loves to water the flowers and takes her little watering bucket outside each day to water the flowers.
We also went on some walks and even one run the first few days they were here. Sadly it took Hayden and Owen awhile to warm up to one another. Hayden was super jealous every time I held Own and has officially hit the "it's mine" phase of development. She didn't want to share anything with him and took anything he tried to touch! Owen was not used to Hayden's loud crazy noises and was pretty cautious around her. Slowly but surely they warmed up to one another :)
We got to go to the Zoo and Hayden was just in heaven. 2 1/2 is such a good age for going to the zoo, she really gets it and loves to watch the animals. We even got a season pass and went just yesterday and Hayden was asking if Michelle and Owen were coming too, it was so cute!
Sometimes I think Hayden liked these statues more than the real animals! Owen was much more interested in trying to chew on the wooden railings and Michelle pointed out all kinds of plants that I never would have given a second glance.
We also took a trip to Marietta Square to stroll around and look in the shops and try out Miss Mamie's Cupcakes (which recently won the Food Network's Cupcake Wars). There were lots of flavors to try but we finally narrowed it down to 6. Owen was pretty excited to look at them but sadly can't have one yet :( Hayden was a little overwhelmed this whole outing and was a bit of a stinker due to missing her nap!
Michelle's favorite part of the trip was probably the Botanical Gardens. I have heard good things, but probably would have never bothered to go without her. You know how you enjoy things so much more when you are doing something with someone who is enthusiastic about it? The gardens were amazing to me because of Michelle's glee :) Even Owen seemed much more animated and alive at the gardens than the zoo. He would excitedly kick his legs every time he saw a bird hopping by and was so excited to be there.
It was so fun to hold a baby, Owen and I did finally bond!
Hayden had such a fun time with the frogs! They made crazy sounds that Hayden loved.
They had a cute children's garden with sandboxes, a miniature spray park, animal statues and much more. Hayden loved sitting on all the animals of course, but did not want her picture taken as you can see!
We also took Owen and Michelle to our favorite open play gymnastics place. Hayden was so much more adventerous this time around. She held onto a rope and let go into a foam pit, jumped way higher on all the trampolines, and climbed up the big jumpy slides all by herself. But this little house was her favorite I think, she brought in all sorts of odd things and seemed to have a great time imagining.
Michelle really motivated us and we even burned a good chunk of the rest of our tree branches in our backyard. It was the last day to burn of the season so Paul was outside until about 11 pm burning. It was also the hottest night we've had in a long time too poor guy. So we've taken down about 40 trees and have most of the trees cleared out now. See those two big ones in the middle? We still want to take those down too, but they are pretty close to our house so we may just have to suck it up and pay for it!
Our last morning together right before leaving for the airport. We didn't do such a great job of getting pictures of the 4 of us together. It was truly an amazing 2 weeks and I am so grateful my sister sacrificed the time and money to come and visit. Aren't sisters the best?
