Road Trip IV: The Final Installment...Atlanta, Asheville and Beyond!

The last part of our road trip was one of the best parts, for I finally got to meet my cousins Ellie, Christopher and John. We had only a brief stop in Atlanta, but Mommy and Daddy were ever thankful for the rest-stop, awesome breakfast and even awesomer company! I also got to meet my first puppy, Cocoa. Mommy thinks my experience of Cocoa was much how Hans, my kitty, experiences me... being jumped on, licked, pulled on... an interesting role reversal it was. Apparently this was supposed to help me learn to be 'gentle' after getting a taste of my own medicine.
After driving all night from Florida to Atlanta, we then drove another 5 hours and finally made it to Asheville. Here is the view from our rental house when we arrived. It was scary-high up in the clouds.

While Daddy went to his conference, we did lots of fun stuff. Here I am at the NC Arboretum hanging out with Mommy. I am, of course, eating twigs.

If you look closely, you can see my green pants. This was in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. (Mommy says to apologize for the lateness of this blog, now over two weeks after the fact.)

Mom was wearing green too.

Here I am with Daddy closing up the hot tub... Don't worry, the depth of field and perspective of this photo are deceiving. Daddy was not about to let me crawl off the balcony.

Here we are at the Biltmore Estate. It was big.

The view from the Biltmore balcony.

Here I am with Nana playing in the grass and posing for Daddy's camera.

Don't you think Daddy should win a prize for this one? Nice shot Daddy. Very artsy.

I got hungry and fussy, so nursed a bit in the garden. I was a bit distracted though. This is me popping up for air.
Here I am checking out the gardens from up high.

And checking them out from down low.

We ended the day with my first ever ice cream cone. You can see that it was a pretty chill experience. (Mommy swears she didn't mean that pun.)

Our last day in Ashville with a little sword action.

Bye-bye mountains!

I feel asleep even before we got in the car for our journey home...

I almost made it through the 4 hour drive, but needed an exercise stop about 30 minutes from home. We went shopping for leaves, twigs and acorns... and then finally, we made it home.

Thanks for checking out our vacation pics. Mommy promises to have updated pictures soon!

P.S. Good night in the CCU, Daddy! I promise to sleep all night long tomorrow.

Road Trip III: Beach Baby

Ah, the final beach day of our vacation.
While I hung out with Mommy and Nana under the umbrella, Daddy went off to feed the birds. We liked to call him the "crazy bird-man" and thought his hat was a nice touch (though quite sun-protective!).What the crazy bird-man didn't realize was that the birds would follow him back to our beach site... ahhh! help! (that's lipstick on my nose after attacking Mommy's face with my standard greeting just minutes earlier)Luckily, the birds went away and I got to play in the sand. I managed to eat very little [sand] to everyone's surprise.

I also practiced my new skill of standing unassisted.

It was a little scary and I freaked out a little.

But then Daddy grabbed me and I gave him five, another new skill. Right on Daddy!


Finally we ended the day watching some of the sunset drumming circle. I was sad to leave, but ready to come back next year with a drum, some finger cymbals and a whole lot a rhythm.

Road Trip II: Nana and Grampa's House Rocks!

Here I am with my awesome Nana Peggy.She can really make me laugh.We did all sorts of things together, and I tried to get into lots of mischief... Here I'm trying to crush fingers by pulling down the key cover on the piano.And here I am trying to spray Mommy and Daddy with the hose... but Nana caught me.She even caught me playing in the laundry.But even with all that mischief, she still put on my sun protection hat to go outside. Thanks Nana! I love you.Grampa is pretty fun, too... you can tell by his cool shirt.Here I am making faces at him.And showing off my cart pushing skills...Yeah, I'm awesome... And so is Grampa's cooking!Of course it's always nice to hang out with my Daddy... but, shhh, don't tell him that I secretly control his every move... with a few tugs on his hair here and there.

In fact, I was so happy at Nana and Grampa's house, that I had to let everyone know with my signature sign of affection... the nose bite! First Mommy....

....then Nana!

Ahhh... and finally back in that luxurious bath...

I miss you Nana and Grampa!! Come see me soon!

Stay tuned for Road Trip III: Last Day at the Beach and Extremely Cute...

We're Back!!! Road Trip Part I: Beach, Babes and Crocodiles

Thanks to all of our loyal blog watchers for your concern about our whereabouts. We are alive, well-vacationed and ready to make up for our lack of blogging over the past 3 weeks. So sit back and enjoy the installments of Jack's First Road Trip....

Florida or Bust!

After a grueling all-night drive and dropping Daddy off at the Tampa airport to fly to Seattle (weird, huh??), we made it to Florida to visit Nana Peggy and Grampa Kent. We spent the first few days just chilling and recovering from the big drive, but then Daddy arrived back and we hit the beach!

Here I am with Mommy. You can see we are dressed for maximal sun protection!

Guess who got burned... (actually, they both did!! will they ever learn?)

Here I am with Daddy, post Seattle interview and sporting his new Huskies shirt. I think the shirt is pretty cool, but I told Dad I'd rather be in Cleveland.

So he let me practice my walking, 'cause he appreciates good advice from his boy.

Is the sand so refreshingly warm off of Lake Erie??

Here I am with Nana looking at the pelicans fly by.

Sitting (and sitting still!!??) enjoying the waves and a ritz cracker. I don't usually make it a habit of sitting still, so this was new territory for everyone. I like to keep them guessing.

Oohh! Warm sand.

Here I am about to chomp down on Mommy's chin.
Then we learned it's better not to keep your mouth wide open at the beach or risk inhaling sand.

Hanging with Nana.

She made sure I didn't whistle too loudly at the other beach goers.

Finally some beach bjorn time with Mommy.

Of course you can't have a trip to the beach without a trip to the bay. Here I am at my first bayside restaurant, and actually my first real restaurant experience ever! Mommy and Daddy were glad it was outside... and the birds were glad that I came! Pass the wings please.

Everyone is so happy that I haven't started screaming yet.


Turned out I was a good boy.

So Daddy took me out on the dock to see my first sunset.

The wind blew my freshly trimmed bangs.

And I clapped, 'cause it was so much fun.

Thanks Daddy!
Once the sun set, I got tired fast.

Here I am practically asleep on Grampa's shoulders and ready for the ride home.

After beach and bay, Mommy, Daddy and Nana took me to the Sarasota Jungle Gardens to see some cool animals. Here we are again, sporting the sun protection. Note that Daddy is now wearing a hat and long sleeves.

Hats are cool.

Here's Nana protecting me from the birds so I can eat another ritz cracker in peace. See, she's got a hat too!

Finally, the part of the day they had told me about... the baby crocodile.

Mommy was egging me on to reach out and touch it.

But she must have been crazy.

Stay tuned for Road Trip Part II... Hanging with Nana and Grampa

P.S. Goodnight Daddy! I love you! Have fun in the CCU!