Grandma's Visit!

Grandma Francie came to visit for two weeks and we had such a fun time with her! Wish she could have stayed longer! While she was here, we took a mini vacation out the Outer Banks islands and had tons of fun (even though we felt like melting popcicles! It's the hottest summer on record here! Of course we brought the az heat with us!) This is Braden in the car on our drive out there, wearing his head phones for his dvd player.

Grandma bought a hat for herself to wear on the beach and Braden wouldn't take it off! He insisted on wearing it! Funny kid!

Here's the beach at Kill Devil Hills. It was SOOOOO nice, not crowded, nice sand, nice water, nice breeze. It was PERFECT! I definitely want to go back to this beach, it was awesome!

Braden on the beach

Braden and Grandma and Daddy in the water

Braden splashing though the water with his plastic boat that he liked to throw out into the waves and wait for it to come back (or chase it down).

Grandma and Braden

We went out to Roanoke island and went to the Elizabethan Garden there and it was so beautiful! I was just amazed by all the flowers and different plants they had and the beautiful way it was set up! There were butterflies everywhere! Braden was afraid of them at first but quickly changed his mind and got excited everytime he saw one (which was often)

Braden and Daddy by the fountain in the sunken garden (probably my favorite part of the garden. It was a HUGE place)

Braden got to enjoy the garden while riding around in a wagon (lucky scum!) and he really enjoyed the ride! :)

One of those rare moments when Jeremy somehow captures a great picture of Braden's sweetness!

I tried to get pictures of the butterflies but they move around too much. I'm lucky I got this picture at all! But the butterflies were so pretty and there were several different kinds there.

Braden chillin while Daddy does all the work!

Daddy, Grandma and Braden at the gazeebo overlooking the ocean.

This is part of the sunken garden and where a lot of the butterflies hang out, if you looked at the garden from the sky, it looks like a butterfly. There were beautiful old statues and a lovely fountain in the center.

A statue of Elizabeth I

Jeremy and Braden

We visited the Wright Brothers memorial at Kitty Hawk and learned all about the first flight (which is what North Carolina is famous for) It was really facinating and Braden was absolutely obsessed with the airplane! (too much in fact). It really was a pretty amazing place and a great piece of history.

Braden, Jeremy and I at the top of the hill at the memorial

Braden playing at the statue replica of the Wrights' plane.

Braden laying on the wing

I'm sure Braden was trying to figure out exactly how to get the thing going. I'm sure he would have taken flight right then if he could have!

On our way home we took a ferry out to Okracoke island and Braden absolutely LOVED going on the "car boat". This was actually mine and Braden's first time on a boat, period! So I was pretty excited myself and I decided I love it! I would so love to go on a cruise in the future! The ride over to the island was about 40 minutes and the ride back to the mainland took about 2 1/2 hours. Braden got a bit mad about not being able to go up on the upper deck (with the crew), but other than that he did pretty good.

Braden, Daddy & Grandma on the ferry.

While we were on our way back to the mainland, we saw tons of shrimping and crabbing boats! This one was in the process of raising it's nets.

We went to the Sarah P. Duke gardens at Duke University which is an awesome place. I'm a sucker for gardens and I love walking though them and this one is one of the best! I love it because they have all the plants and trees labled so you know what they are. it was extremely hot and humid that day so we didn't really see the whole place, but we fed the ducks and had a nice picnic in the shade. Not too shabby.

Braden and I throwing some bread to the ducks. Braden got a real kick out it.

Feeding the ducks by the lake

Grandma brought Braden a new puzzle and he REALLY enjoyed putting it together and did so several times over the last few weeks. Here he is after finishing it. (If you're wondering why he's never wearing any pants in his pictures taken at home, it's because he's kind of had a lapse in his potty training since we moved, so we had to go a few steps back and he pretty much just stays in undies at home for now.)

We went out to the farmers market and Braden enjoyed the tractor. Grandma really loved the market (like we knew she would). It really is the coolest place, it's bigger than any farmer's market I've ever seen! We could just walk around testing the fruit and get full! It's the best, freshest produce you can get! We got peaches, sweet corn, tomatoes, blueberries and squash.

Braden and Daddy by the tractor

We went to the mall and Braden had fun on all the little kiddie coin rides and he very quickly learned how to ask for "more quarters".

He even learned to put them in and start the ride himself. He's such a clever kid! We've had so much fun while Grandma was here! Hopefully she'll be able to come out next summer too (or maybe spring, when it's not so hot!) Thanks for coming to visit Grandma and thanks for the memories! :) We love you so much! Braden has always had a connection to his Grandma, unlike anyone else. He just loves her soooo much! He cried the whole way home after we dropped her off at the airport (no doubt, he wanted to go on the plane with her). I have some more pictures to post of her visit, but I think this is enough for one day! :)