The Sunshine State

I tell you what, my son has been to more states in his first 3 months then many people visit in a lifetime.  On this trip he bumped his total up to 11 states (plus the District of Columbia).  Hopefully with all the traveling we did this summer he will enjoy traveling his entire life because his mommy and daddy love it!  We went to Orlando for a few days with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was a nice relaxing week.  We spent a lot of time at the pool and at the resort just relaxing.  We did a few other fun things too. 

The first day we went up to Winter Park to paint pottery at All Fired Up.  This studio is owned by Alea, a family friend.  She made us feel at home visiting with us and helping throughout the process.  We made some more foot print items but thankfully with Alea’s help we were even able to get a few hand print items which is almost impossible with babies because the first thing they do when you put anything in/on their and is make a first.  Alea would quickly paint his hand while Grandma held him and I held his fingers straight.  It was definitely a team effort but I got handprints and I am very happy about that!! 

 

  We also ate lunch/dinner at some of our local favorites.  We got breakfast at Keke’s. Breakfast is my favorite food so that was a big hit for me.  We ate lunch at Maggiano's,which is one of Grandpa’s all-time favorite restaurants.  One day we went to Copper River Canyon which has amazing salads with special homemade corn bread croutons.  

At Maggiano's for lunch. 

Elisha was not sure he wanted his bottle.

Elisha really wanted Daddy's food!

We enjoyed our time relaxing at the resort also.  We spent most of the time swimming in the lazy river or walking the two mile path by the lake.  Grandpa chose this resort because of the lazy river and he enjoyed it day and night.  He enjoyed it even more when Grandma bought a tube for him to float.  

There were so many wild birds but the most interesting was the large Sandhill Crane family that would greet us on our walks.  The parents stood as tall as the stroller!

At the end of the week we had to go back up to Winter Park to pick up our pottery.  We made it a half day trip and enjoyed a boat ride tour through a series of lakes.  A highlight was seeing Mr. Roger’s home.  It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.  Elisha slept through his first boat ride but Florida law required him to wear a life vest so we got him all suited up and then gave him a bottle which put him to sleep and he enjoyed his ride! And we went to BurgerFi, a local burger place that sells custard ice cream! Custard is my favorite!

All in all it was a great week and we had a blast spending some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Kassouf! 

Summer Re-cap "Myrtle Beach- Time with Grandma Kassouf's Family"

We went to Myrtle Beach for a week to spend time with Andrew’s extended family so they could meet Elisha.  Aunt Joanne and Uncle Michael drove in from Texas and his Aunt Susan now lives in Myrtle Beach.  Mark and Ashley also came up from Charleston for a day so we could see them too! There was a lot of excitement over the newest member of the family.  He was definitely the star of the week.  He also got to meet many new people from Grandpa’s church. 

Aunt Susan got some snuggle time! 

Uncle Mark! What are you holding over there?

While we were in Myrtle Beach we went down to the boardwalk one day with the Mossburgs and we rode the SkyWheel.  This was Elisha’s “First Flight”.  It was cool because although you did not have to pay for his ticket he still had to have a ticket and it was called an “Angel Ticket” and on the ticket it said the little angel’s first flight. 

He's my angel!

Elisha's First Sky Wheel ride! Thank you Aunt Joanne and Uncle Michael. 

Check Elisha's new outfit! This was such a fun afternoon!

We also went to the beach with Grandma one day so he could put his feet in the Atlantic Ocean.  Elisha was not quite sure what we were doing but he was fine with it all.  We also took some pictures with his feet in the sand.  This one took a little more convincing.  He was fine with it but his faces at first were very confused.  

Elisha put his feet in the Atlantic Ocean!

Oh what is this?

He liked the sand.  He liked it so much he blew bubbles at it!

Our first trip to the beach!

Summer Re-cap "Special Grandma Time"

Mom Kassouf watched Elisha for us while we went on our birthday/anniversary trip.  She had a great time getting extra snuggles.  They had fun taking walks, hosting visitors, and just hanging out at home.  By the end of the trip I was missing my snuggle bug.

Smiles, just for Grandma!

Aunt Erin and her mom came to visit! 

Summer Re-cap "NEW YORK NEW YORK"

New York! New York! As many of you know Andrew’s favorite place in the entire world is New York City (yes I said the entire world).  So Andrew and I decided that we would “postpone” birthdays this year and go to NYC for a few days to see a couple shows.  It ended up working out that we went two days after our anniversary so it was an anniversary/birthday celebration.  Grandma came to watch Elisha so we could enjoy our trip which included three shows in two days.  It was a crazy busy but a super fun time.  We started with If/Then; which we had seen on its world premiere weekend in Washington D.C. on its pre-Broadway run.  We wanted to see it again because when we saw it in D.C. Andrew spotted the writers at the end of the show and he stopped to talk to them and they told him when it goes to NYC it will be so much better.  So we went to see how it changed.  I liked it even more the second time around, I felt like it was much easier to understand this time.  I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to go see a Broadway show.  

We got the meet Idina Menzel!

Then Wednesday night we went to see Aladdin which is Andrew’s favorite Disney movie.  It was a very high energy show.  The genie absolutely made this show.  He was such an amazing actor and was so pumped up the entire time.  It was a great show that the entire family would enjoy. 

The Genie from Aladdin

This time on our trip we stayed at a hotel near the Meadowlands and rode NJtransit bus into the city.  It is a great deal you pay $8.50 for a round trip ticket which takes you straight into the Port Authority.  Thursday our plan was to go into the city to stand in line for Les Miserable rush tickets.  Rush tickets are available the same day as the performance when the box office opens at an extremely discounted rate. These tickets are extremely limited and so we thought we should get there between 6 and 7 am to wait in line till 10 am when they went on sale.  Andrew decided Wednesday night that he would just get up and go into the city to stand in line by himself since it was so early and he was allowed to buy up to 2 tickets.  He took the 6:21 bus into the city and got in line at 6:50.  He was the first person in line although a few other people joined him with in 20 minutes.  

Andrew's 6 A.M picture from the rush line.

The rush tickets were $37 a piece; which were SUPER cheap.  When we looked at buying tickets before the show every seat in the house was over $100.  Because Andrew was the first one in line he got the only full view seats available.  When he looked at the tickets they said row AA and from what the ticket clerk said we assumed this was the very last row of the orchestra.  Much to our surprise when we arrived that evening AA was actually the very first row! I had never sat in the first row before.  It was quite an experience!  You see so many small details that you may miss sitting in a different place.  The expression on their faces were amazing! Les Miserable is also our all-time favorite show so it was an amazing show/experience. 

Earlier in the day after Andrew had gotten our tickets we went to a free concert that was taking place in Bryant Park.  We had been to Bryant Park many other times but it just happened that the day we were just hanging out in the city there was a free concert from a mix of Broadway shows. 

These are 4 of the actors from If/Then.  They all sang in the concert at Bryant Park. 

It was a great, exhausting yet refreshing 2 day trip for Andrew and me.  Elisha also had a great time with Grandma!! Thanks Mom Kassouf! 

Family Reunion Hillbilly Style

June 28-July 5
Two weeks ago we went to Michigan for my family reunion.  Many people think that my family is crazy because we spend an entire week together every year; but I think it's awesome and completely normal! My family has done it since before I was born.  My grandfather is the oldest of six kids and all of his brothers and sisters get together for one week every summer and all of their families, families come.  We all cram into one or two houses and we spend the week doing all types of fun things while enjoying each others company.  This year we had 25 people come to the reunion and we stayed at my Great Uncle Paul's house in Michigan.  Saturday morning we piled all of the baby stuff into the car and we were off.  It was an 11 hour car ride and Elisha did a great job!  I was very worried because the longest car ride he has had before this was two and a half hours.  

Sunday we got up and vacation was in full swing.  We had a nice relaxing day! Around 8:00 that night my Uncle Paul came home with the Dumbuggie which had been at the mechanics.  In Michigan it does not get dark til 10:00 so all the cousins were taking turns driving or riding in the buggie.  Well around 10:15 I got a call from my brother, Kyle; he said "Erin, get Uncle Paul we rolled the Dumbuggie and we are behind the barn." I went running to find Uncle Paul and I called Andrew to see if Uncle Paul was near him.  When I found Uncle Paul he and Andrew went running out to find Kyle and my cousin Sarah.  About 15 minutes later they were both loaded into the car and they were on their way to the Hospital.  Thankfully the worst injury was 3 broken fingers; which was Kyle.  Sarah was had a sprained arm; but we were really worried about her at first.  Due to this accident I spent Monday taking Kyle to specialist doctors.  

The rolled dumbuggie and the partners in crime.

The dumbuggie is going back to the mechanic.

Monday night we had a huge thunderstorm and around 12:30 a.m. we lost power.  When we all woke up Tuesday we learned that the power line which was damaged was right on my Uncle's drive way so we knew this was going to be a long power outage.  We also found out from the radio that over 75,000 people were without power; which meant we would be out for a long time.  We ended up spending 48 hours without power; and let me tell you having 25 people in one house which is on well water without power is a very interesting experience.  Thankfully we had two grills and we learned how to cook a lot of things on the grill!-- including biscuits and gravy!

Some of the family also went horse back riding, even my Grandma! Andrew wanted Elisha "to ride" so Andrew rode and then after he finished we put Elisha in his lap for pictures. Elisha slept through the entire experience.  

Elisha did not sleep through the skeet shooting.  In fact he screamed through it because it was so loud.  The second time they shot, Elisha, Heather, and I went for a walk in a local park so he would not get upset. Andrew was a little disappointed that Elisha did not like the shooting because Andrew loves going to the range.  Hopefully as Elisha gets older he won't dislike it.  

Elisha also began learning how to play Rook and Settlers of Catan. The Barrett Family is very serious about playing games so he did a lot of lap sitting while watching a game.  You can't start them to young in the Barrett family.  

He started learning by holding the cards. 

The last day we were there we went to St. Joseph a local town that sits right on Lake Michigan.  We went there on 4th of July which was a crazy because it was wall to wall people but it was nice to see the lake and put our feet in.  Although if you ask me that is no lake it looks like an ocean!

 Pictures of Elisha with every member of the family (that was there) is coming next!   

The Barrett Family Reunion 2014

Mr. Personality

Elisha's personality is beginning to truly shine through! And let me tell you he is all boy!!! Yesterday, Andrew had him and I was in the kitchen taking care of some things and Elisha decided that it would be a great time to poop.  That was totally okay with me because the rule in our house is if you are holding him when it happens then you are responsible for the diaper.  So Andrew took Elisha over to the changing table to change him. A minute or two later I heard "Erin come here I need your help!" I was like "What do you need?" and Andrew just said "I need your help, hurry please!" When I got over to the changing table Andrew's said "He just peed everywhere as I was changing the dirty diaper." As Andrew said this Elisha got the biggest smile on his face and started laughing.  It was so funny! I literally almost fell on the floor laughing.

Later in the afternoon I had Elisha and he was up on my shoulder and decided that he should spit up everywhere.  When I took him down and was wiping him off I said "Really Buddy, I was going to wear this again tomorrow" and again he got a huge smile and started laughing.  Then not even 30 minutes later he was sitting next to me and he pooped again!! (Now I know most babies poop all day long but Elisha normally poops once a day so the fact that he had two in a short time frame was crazy.)  So I pick him up and was holding him and said "Are you done yet? Or do you have more?" and he got a huge smile and let loose again.   Andrew was taking pictures at this point because Elisha was being so funny and full of smiles.

Isn't that the cutest face! He was just as happy as could be.  I waited a few minutes to make sure he was done and then I took him over to the changing table and when I put him down I looked down at myself and saw ...

Seriously! So I look at Elisha and said "Really Bud. How did you get all that poop in you?" and he smiled and laughed again.  He is such a happy boy and is full of smiles and laughs; particularly when it comes to poop and spit up!

Andrew then found this card and he thought it summed up our day well:

I guess "Pooh" is the theme in our house :-)

We've been Flocked!

Thursday night Andrew got home from the restaurant and came inside and asked "Did you hear anything outside?" I was so confused, and responded with "Just you coming home?"  He said "No, come look." When I looked out of the door this is what I saw ...  

Apparently, this is a common youth group fundraiser; Andrew had completed it at multiple churches.  The youth come and put the flamingos in your yard and then leave a letter explaining the program.  This church was leaving them up for one day and then they come back and move the "flock".  If you wanted to help support the Youth Group's missions trip to Honduras you could pay $20 to send the "flock" to another family.  We send the flock on to friends of ours.  They got "flocked" Sunday night and the kids absolutely loved it!