Abby Lee

I am having some technical difficulties with Abby's Blog. I have a post from Mom & Dad's visit that I wrote and was waiting for picutres and now I can't get it to be first. So check it out down below...I'll give you a couple of shots to look at as a tease.





Hi.

Soon after visiting Michigan, Abigail was extremely lucky to have her other grandparents come for a visit. They flew in on a Monday morning. Abigail and I were at the airport right on time to pick them up. Unfortunately they were an hour late, someone on their plane had puked and Grandpa had chocolate milk spilled on them. On top of all of that their luggage was soaking wet from a storm up at JFK. The storm had occurred when their baggage was being switched from plane to plane. Craziness...this led to soaking wet backs. As Abby and I sat at the baggage claim waiting and waiting because the computer screens didn't say that the flight was delayed, we watched a lot of people come down the escalator and none of them was Grammy or Grandpa. Abby finally got to the point that she needed to have her peg game just so that she would stay in the chair and wait for them. I finally found someone that could tell me that the flight was delayed, which was nice because I was concerned that we were in the wrong place. Approximately 1 hour later, Grammy and Grandpa came down the escalator. Abby shouted out "Grammy!" Mom was really pleased. The luggage wasn't too far behind which was good.

We gathered their bags and headed out to the car. Luckily I got a really good parking spot so we didn't have to walk to far. I figured since we were in town we could stop by a couple of places before we headed for home. Lunch was the first stop since it was now 1:00. We were all hungry. We drove across town and went to Champs. This is one of my favorite restuarants. I really like their California Chicken Wrap with waffle fries. Yummy!!! After lunch we went to Edward McCains, the awesome used book store ( we also lost Abby's sippy cup at this store), Total Wines, and World market. I love this store. We stocked up on some good wine for the week and headed for home. By the time that we got to the apartment it was hot and we were all tired. The rest of the afternoon was spent lazing around the place and I did some homework. Jason got home from work early and he made us chicken chimichangas for dinner. Sheridan came out to say hello to my folks and spend some time with us. She is just another member of the family. My parents 4th daughter. We laughed and talked about a bunch of stuff. I am really glad that she and my parents get along so well.

The next day Jason and I had to work. Abby got to spend the day with my parents. They went for a walk and hung out in the apartment for the most part. We had $5 pizza for dinner. Can't beat it. Good pizza, cheap price. We typically get this when ever someone comes into town to visit us. It is just easier that way. Abby had a good time with my parents. I know that my parents enjoyed her.



Wednesday wasn't all that much different from Tuesday except that our dinner on Wednesday was cooked by Ms. Hazel. It was the most amazing amount of food. Fried Chicken, Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, carrots, squash, green beans, lima beans, cantelope, rolls. I know that there was more, I just can't remember it. Dessert included hot fudge cake, blackberry dumplings, coconut pie, ice cream. It was really yummy. I was stuffed by the end of the night. We ate dinner and then just spent some time talking. By 7 PM we pleaded exhaustion and headed for home. We spent our evening talking as usual.

Thursday we actually spent some time together. Jason and I worked half the day and then came home. We gathered my parents and Jason kept his work stuff in the car so that he could work on the way into town. As I was driving the car into Durham so that we could go to the Life and Science Museum, I noticed that Jason didn't have any shoes on. "Did you bring shoes?" I asked. He said yes. The drive to the Museum was uneventful. I pulled into the parking lot and was looking for a spot when Jason said "You have got to be kidding me!" I looked over and he was looking at the shoes that he had brought. They were Chacos...black...sandals...and both for the right foot. He had grabbed one of mine and one of his. They are the same size. I looked at him and couldn't believe it. So we pulled back out onto the road to go to the mall. All the while it hasn't really dawned on me that I am going to have to go buy him shoes because he can't go into the mall to buy it himself because he doesn't have any shoes. So after I finally wrap my mind around that I find a parking spot and go into the payless shoes. Unfortunately for him all of his size shoes are really ugly. Fake leather loafers. Luckily for him I go one size up and find him some OK sandals that are semi presentable. I buy them and Dad and I speed walk back to the car. We finally get back to the museum. It is really hot but we are bound and determined that we are going to walk around and enjoy it. And we did. Our favorite part of the museum today was the butterfly house. It was a break from the heat and we got some really good pictures. After the musuem we decided to go to Tripps for dinner. We had never been before but Sue said that Julie & Kevin (Sue's roommate in college and her husband) loved this restuarant. This was a good enough recommendation for us so we decided to go. It was great food and our server was an older gentleman who hooked us up with some extra bread and sauce to take home with us. The drive home was short and we were soon back in the apartment laughing and talking. Ahh good times.


Friday morning Mom and Dad got up and ready to go. Their flight was at 11 so we were leaving the house at about 8:30. The drive was short and soon we were down in Raleigh at the Airport. Grammy and Grandpa were soon on their way back to Vermont. Apparently the flight was much better this time and they got home safely. I spent a little bit of time in town and then headed home to do some homework for my class. It was a great week. Thanks for coming to visit. We had a blast and so did Abby.

This is Abby's cool bed at Grandma & Grandpa. A small word of warning though. Don't try and lie down next to her when putting her to sleep because the bed will fall down on top of you...just thought you might like to know.



These are some pictures from Bob & Marion's house. Just for those folks who don't know the first picture is of Abby and Kendra (Jason's Brother's Wife). She sends us the really cool clothing from Chicago. Abby already has an invitation to go to Chicago and spend time with Auntie Kendra. That is so cool.



This is obviously post wedding clothing. we arrived at Bob & Marion's rather late but were kind of wired so we sat around and talked and drank some peach tea. yummy. Julie is raiding the fridge in the background. Actually she is putting YoBaby yogurt in the fridge. We had brought a cooler to the wedding. What we found out was that the cooler leaked...there was a puddle of water running from our table to one of the other tables. Oops. sorry.




This was Abby giving good night kisses and hugs. It was really late by this time. She was a little clingy but did well. She just gave or is about to give Bob a hug and kiss.



And this is ME!!!

We went to Michigan in the middle of July. Jason and I were excited because the weather in Michigan was definitely going to be better than the weather in North Carolina. We were a little concerned about the trip when the week before flying out, we got a phone call from Northwest Airline that our flight was cancelled and they were putting us on another flight the following day. This didn't really work for us seeing as we were flying out Thursday night and coming back on Sunday afternoon. It was already a short trip and the airline wanted to make it shorter. After complaining about it for a couple of days, Jason finally got on the phone and got us on a flight out to Michigan early, EARLY Thursday morning. We were leaving Raleigh at 6 AM. This meant missing a second day of work and also we would have to stay at my best friend, Sheridan's house. We changed the flight Tuesday morning, while I was at the dentist, and called all the involved parties as soon as we could. Sheridan was cool with us staying there and work didn't really have a choice, we had tickets, we were going. Luckily they were understanding about it.

Wednesday night we packed everything up, I finished all the things that I had to do for work and dropped them off at Kelly's, another aspect that typically happens when we travel and headed to Sheridan's. We got to her place in Raleigh at about 10:30 and Abby was still awake. An amazing and kind of scary feat. It was kind of nice that Sheridan got to see her awake though. We sat around talking for a little while until Jason and I realized that we had to get up at 4AM and we should probably go to bed. So we did. After a short period of sleep, I got up at 3:45 to shower and get ready. Jason was ready to go by 4:30 and Abby was up and ready to start a new day. Unfortunately for all, she stayed awake all the way to Michigan but she was also really good. Getting to the Airport was easy and uneventful. Going through the Northwest line was a little more crowded and hectic. The one good thing, we though was that we got to go up in the stroller elevator as opposed to standing in the super long line waiting for the escalator. Unfortunately when we got up to the 2nd floor, the place was packed. I couldn't believe how many people were at the airport at 5 in the morning. And then the power went out. Yeah...the power went out at the airport. But some how the scanners were still working. We slowly made our way through X-ray machines. I do have to say, when you are carrying a fussy baby and standing among a mass of bustling, irritated people, having to remove you belt is a big pain in the butt. When we finally made it through we had to speed walk down to our gate. They were at the point that they were calling our names and looking kind of annoyed. We hustled to get on the plane and not be too annoying. Luckily we weren't the last people. A lot of people got hung up in the security issue. We held our breath that the empty seat that was next to us wouldn't get filled so that way we could spread out a little more with Abby. Our wish was granted. She was able to sit in her own seat, except during take off and landing. We held her then. We had brought a couple of distractions--the computer to play DVDs on and her peg board game (it is one of those games from Cracker Barrell, a triange with holes to put golf tees into. Abby loves this thing and can and does play with it long enough for us to eat our entire dinner. It is a life saver!!). She did really well the entire flight. Although she didn't sleep. Our flight from Detroit to the Grand Rapids airport was uneventful. We arrived in Grand Rapids at around 11 in the morning. It is a small airport and we were quickly out of the gate area and meeting up with Grandpa Lee. I think he was suprised at how quick Abby is. We greeted him and got our bags and were on our way. After Jason installed the car seat in the car, we clipped Abby in and were driving to Portage. Abby was soon asleep. She slept the entire way to Portage and through lunch at Steak-n-shake.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Grandma & Grandpa's house discovering cool features of their house. They have these spice racks that are hidden between their cupboards. I don't really know how to explain it but image your cupboards and where they meet and have dividers, the builders left enough space about 3 inches that allows a sliding open drawer that has shelfs that hold spices. It is pretty cool. The kitchen is one of my favorite parts of their new house. Although Abby's favorite part was her bed that they got her. It is a car. I thought that I had a picture but I don't know where it went. Perhaps Grandma & Grandpa can send us a new copy of it so we can share. Anyway. Grandma was out and about with her sisters who were in town for the wedding. She doesn't get to spend a lot of time with them. She was really excited when she came home and saw Abby and got a kiss and hug and heard her say Grandma. It was really cute. That evening was pretty calm. We went out to dinner--Mexican and came home to hang around the house. The most eventful thing was that Abby fell and landed on her head off of the ledge by the fire place. She is fine, not even a bruise. We fell asleep pretty early because we had been up for a very long time.

Friday came and we went shopping for Wedding clothes. Jason bought a new suit and I was able to walk around and not worry about Abby because Grandma had her. Shopping is so much more enjoyable without having to worry about a baby. after shopping we went home and Abby played outside with her new sand and water toy. She loved it.



After her first outfit got soaked, we decided to just go with the diaper. Brian and Kendra arrived on Friday night and we ate a dinner of hamburgers and chips and beans and an awesome fruit salad, and I am sure there was other food. We watched the movie "Devil wears Prada" and went to bed. Admist all of these major activities we talked and laughed and Jason read his grandfather's diary. One of Grandma Lee's sisters had found her father's diary and made copies of it for all the siblings. Jason was able to read it over the weekend. It was very interesting because he mentioned some of the major world events that happened at that time. He also let us know what the weekly church attendence was as well. It is was very neat for Jason.

Saturday we awoke and started showering. We had 6 adults in the house to shower and had to the get in the car and drive for 2 or 3 hours to Detroit. The drive was fine after we stopped to get some diapers. We had a quick bite to eat at Burger King and were off to the wedding. After dressing Abby in the car in the parking lot, we went into the church and sat down. Then Abby started crying and fussing and so Abby and I left. We decided to go outside and play on the playground equipement. I figure she had just sat in a car for 3 hours...no way was she going to be able to sit quietly through a wedding. So we went outside and played. It was a really cool playground. 45 minutes later we went inside to say hello to everyone. Oddly enough there was no receiving line. I hadn't ever heard of that. It was fine though. The wedding started at 1 and was over by 2 and the reception didn't start until 5. So we had some time. We decided to go to the mall and hang out there. We arrived at the mall with Abby totally asleep. And she remained that way the entire time we were at the mall--2.5 hours. We found the food court and were lucky enough to find comfy chairs and a couch that Abby could spread out in. Jason spent the entire time sitting with her and talking to his Aunt Jerry. The rest of us would come and go as we liked. Finally we went to the reception. It was at a country club, type thing with a golf course and a large pond in the back. We lucked out and got a table by the door that led to the balcony, so we could sneak Abby out there when she wasn't doing what she was supposed to or was getting loud. The food was great. The music was good, not too loud, and it was an open bar. Can't complain. Abby went out at one time to hang out with the little girls who were in the wedding. It was cute.




Jason said that at one point Abby climbed up the wall that you can see behind her in this picture. She is definitely fearless. It kind of makes me concerned about her in the upcoming years. Jason frequented a lot of different ERs. Not I, I was the cautious one.

Anyway the wedding was great. We had a lot of fun. We stayed at Bob and Marion's house that night. They are an enjoyable couple that Grandma & Grandpa Lee have been friends with for a while. Unfortunately I have no pictures with them. I believe some were taken and if someone has some to send over this way I'll post them. We left early Sunday morning from their house and went up to Indian Lake. It is a camping area for the church that Jason grew up in and that Grandpa Lee was a pastor in ( I don't know if that is the right term but it conveys the message), The Nazerene Church. It was a pretty neat area. It was getting kind of war and people definitely hadn't drank enough water, so we didn't stay all that long. We drove home and were just getting in the drive way when Abby had a messy diaper that came leaking out the side. It was quite an event. We cleaned up and did laundry and spent the last remaining 2 hours relaxing and packing.

Jason's dad drove us to the airport where we took the pictures in the earlier post. Abby did Ok on the first flight but screamed bloody murder on the second flight for a good 30 minutes. It was horrible. When we finaly got to RDU our baggage took forever to arrive. In fact Jason had enough time to take the bus to the long term parking lot and drive back to the airport just as I was coming out the front door with two hiking backpacks and a sleeping baby in my arms. As we drove home we were exhausted but we had had a great time.

Thanks to everyone!