First Family Vacation

There are vacations, then there are vacations. We wanted our first as a family to be memorable, and a week in Charleston and Florence fit the bill tighter than I could possibly have dreamed. More to say than there are people wanting to hear it, but here are a few highlights.

First, the accommodations. We probably stayed at two of the finer hotels/beds and breakfasts in all of South Carolina. In Charleston it was the Francis Marion Hotel, because we found an online deal and everyone needs a little fancy in their lives every now and then. In Florence it was the "Taylorsonian," our longtime term of endearment for Anna's parents' house, because Anna has wonderful parents.

But back to Charleston, forever hence known as the land of a thousand vacations. Someone there truly should hire me to promote their tourism department. The first day brought Market Street and fine dining at the Swamp Fox restaurant (not named after Buxton, coincidentally). The following day brought one of our highest recommended stops from the trip, a place one would need be made of cold stone not to enjoy at any age.


Our trip to Whirlin' Waters Water Park:





Up next, Anna's college friends Riley and EJ and Riley's sister Jessica invited us to partake in their annual family vacation to somewhat nearby Edisto Island (quite nearby on the way back to the hotel, not so much with the GPS the way there). All their family loved having Buxton for an afternoon, and the baby boy sure loved his first warm weather trip to the ocean. Our apologies to the Edisto locals. Hopefully there is some sand remaining that the little monkey did not eat.

A Day at Edisto:







So if you haven't noticed yet, Anna learned some new tricks with the pictures. Feel free to tell her how nice a job she did. Anyway, the final day before heading to Florence we found a wonderful little spot for parents within walking distance of the hotel. The Children's Museum of the Lowcountry, well you just need to look it up and go. It's pretty neat, even for the infant set. Buxton played with toys, water, rolling golf balls, paint brushes and more.

Playtime at the Children's Museum:







Check out Buxton's debut masterpiece in that last shot. All in all it truly was a special week I fully intend to remember for years to come. And this account stops short of our Florence stay, which as always proved just as meaningful and enjoyable as time with family deserves to be. Hopefully not so long until we post again, or until we find our way back to the low country.

See all our Charleston Pictures on our Picasa website: http://picasaweb.google.com/narnievic/Charleston2009#

A Brave New World

As promised, a bit about our adventures two Sundays ago in Infant II class at church. For those people who may not know, our church has an Infant I class and an Infant II class, followed by a great many other classes at varying age and developmental levels. Anyway, as one might expect, Infant I is the babiest of the babies, where each child has his own person pretty much holding him for two hours. Infant II is more the crawlers, pull uppers. Also, Anna and I stay with the Infant II class every Sunday.

There was some trepidation about moving Buxton up to our class, despite him being ready for it in pretty much every way. Just hard to admit the little fella's growing up. Anyway, two Sundays ago we bit the bullet and made the switch.

Buxton in our class for the first time



In my own little corner in my own little room...



Well the day just went swimingly, that is until we decided to try and get a picture of Buxton crawling through one of the two tunnels that he absolutely loved during class, but maybe not so much in front of the cameras.



La, la, la, la, la, la, la



Whittledee dee, dee dee, dee dee



Go ahead and help him a little bit mommy...



Not that much!!! Oh, son. We're sorry. No more crawling through tunnels...at least until next week.

Big Boy at the Park

Anna, Buxton and I went out to the park, where we found out just how big our little boy is now. Last time we came all he could handle were the swings, but this time he was ready to try the seesaw. A quick lesson from daddy and mommy:





As you can see, he was enthused. May take a little more time to get that one down.





So on to the main attraction, the swing set. Buxton loves the swings, being pushed, laughing at us laughing at him, etc.













Now here is a little boy who loves his mommy. And for good reason. She loves him quite a bit, too.



Check back soon for pictures from Buxton's first Sunday in Infant II class at church, including the infamous "face plant" photo.

Happy Birthday Grammy!

Friday was Carol's Birthday. We celebrated with a party at the Hilton. Here are a few pictures from the evening.

Best of Times, Worst of Times

As if they haven't been already, things are about to get interesting. Check out what Buxton showed us he could do tonight. And yes, baby-proofing begins in the morning.

A Journey Begins

So I once made reference to the cheapest wedding gift ever and, because I am somehow strangely attracted to the strangest of the sports world, the regift. Yet I may have outdone myself still.

In honor of an incredible wedding weekend and a party from which I may never fully recover, I promised the groom--my long-time friend Greg--that I would share with him something I wrote on my way to see him. For anyone who may not know, I keep a daily journal filled, generally, with random thoughts. The current journal is written more or less to Buxton, though not always about him.

This entry came from a layover stop just before noon on Saturday, only a few hours before the wedding. It may be the newly-crowned cheapest wedding gift ever (at least I framed the original), but I promised I would share anyway. Congratulations Greg, and expect a more appropriate gift soon.

May 16, 2009

Some day you'll do the same thing, and it'll make about as much sense then as it does now. The particulars may be a little different. You may have a window seat. But you'll do the same thing I'm doing today, and if you think long and hard enough about it beforehand you'll do it gladly.

Just like your daddy, half-squirming from that almost settled stomach and the taste of stillness on the back of your tongue, both from having dared the moon last night and beaten the sun to rise this morning. Walking slowly through darkened and fog-enclosed airport terminals in a seersucker jacket like you just won some Southern golf tournament. Listening closely with surprise as one of the better country songs playing softly fills a concourse in New Jersey.

Maybe you layover three hours in a place you only heard of before, spend less than a full day in a far-away city to save hotel money. Maybe you rent your first car. Exactly what your today looks like I have no idea, but I know you'll live it. Because a person only gets so many true, lifelong friends in this world and those friends only get so many days that completely and indescribably change their lives.

So you'll be there for them. If for nothing more than a pat on the shoulder amid the thousand other things and thoughts begging his time, you'll be there. Even if it means crying babies or middle-of-the-row seats, toll roads or foreign maps. Because it means so much more than these passing things, so long as you're there to notice it.

Evolution of a Mother's Day Gift

First, take a picture of baby and mommy at the beach. A good one.



Next, send Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Matt to the sitter's house during the day, when mommy least expects it, to snap a few photos.






Then spend more time than you care to admit adding the sitter photos and the beach photo with some text, proving that most any idiot can use Photoshop.



Spend an obscenely long time at a local craft shop gluing mosaic tiles and grouting like you have any business being artistic...



Be sure and give Mr. Man all the credit...



And hope like heck the end result was worth all the trouble. Oh, and try not to look too surprised when it is.