The first thing we did when we left DC was go to the mall in Arlington where I got my new awsome Iphone 4! So I've been enjoying taking pictures and video with that! Ivy got my old phone to watch a bit of Yo Gabba Gabba on sometimes and some music for her too! Poor tiny tot was teething a lot when we were in DC and Virginia. I have to say she wasn't very delightful 100% of the time. Also, she wouldn't eat much... which always stresses me out! I had to snap this picture of Ivy mowing through a snack at Starbucks though! Ivy and I really enjoyed hanging out with Iris on the drive to Short Pump-- I wish Ivy had been a bit easier to please, though!
Ivy and I had a fun shopping and luch date with Misty and Kumi! Thanks to Kumi, Ivy now is a big fan of the applesauce on the go containers!
Here's Ivy, sitting pretty at Cracker Barrel after lunch! I bought her the cutest tiny metal tea set with sock monkeys on it and it is the best $15.00 I ever spent. She plays with it all the time! She is constantly offering me, Brian, guests, her babies or the cats "tea" from the tea pot. Also, she might offer you a "pretend" snack. It cracks us up!!
While Brian was working with Gary, Ivy and I decided to have our dinner at the beach one evening in Myrtle Beach. She was very peaceful and sweet-- but still not a big fan of the whole beach concept.
Get me out of here!!
Just looking out the window and checking out her condo digs!
"Helping" daddy work!
Well, really, those are supposed to be in the hair do... but maybe it tasted good!
Chilling with a little bit of afternoon tv!
She really liked having the pillows to lounge on the floor with. Our house isn't really set up for that kind of thing- and no carpet either!
"Hmmm"
Ivy can say a handfull of words now, including (but not limited to): mama, dada, hi, bye, keys, cheese, yup, kitty, and of course, shoes. She says a lot of other stuff, and clearly some things that she says are labels for the same thing every time-- and she talks a blue streak!
Ivy can correctly identify her own eyes, ears, nose, head, hair, belly button, feet, toes, mouth, arms, hands, teeth and of course, tongue! She also likes to point out some of these things on other people... always mamas toes for some reason, and daddy's nose.
"I keep telling you people, I don't like the beach! Why do you keep bringing me here?" To be fair, we did come to the beach a few times, but never for more than an hour-- we thought she'd just eventually warm up to it. Maybe next time!
We found that our dining experiences improved when we lowered our expectations. We all enjoyed our meal at one of those questionable "Callabash" places in Myrtle Beach very much! Kid friendly restaurants are popular for a reason! Kids like them! I will say that the hushpuppies at that joint were the best ones I'd ever eaten! Yum! I could go for one of those right now, in fact!
I thought this was super cute! We left Myrtle Beach and stayed for a couple of nights in Charleston, my favorite city! Our hotel was housed in the original Citadel building and was super historically cool!
We headed out in the stroller for a walk around town (without an umbrella, because we are kind of stupid sometimes....) and scouted out a place for supper. This place had great home made southern cooking- which we all enjoyed!
This charming old fire station was right across the street from our dinner restaurant. For an hour, there was a constantly changing group of Charleston's firemen having a chat in the door way of their station. It was quaint and adorable-- and I just had to take a picture!
They were probably watching the giant storm clouds come in... and begin to rain cats and dogs! We tried to wait it out for a while, but eventually gave out and made a run for it. Ivy was nice and snug in the stroller with the cover on it- but Brian and I looked like drowned rats by the time we trotted the 10 blocks to our hotel!
Our last day of vacation, we took a harbor tour and finally got to see Charleston from the water! Ivy took a nice nap on the way to the boat, so we left her in her car seat stroller thingy. She looks pretty ill humored in this picture, but she actually enjoyed the boat ride quite a lot!
The boat went right under the bridge and turned around and came back to the dock- so I got some cool pictures of the beautiful bridge!
We walked around in the shopping area for a while and then headed out for an early dinner at Hominy Grill for our 17th wedding anniversary. The food is really good there, and thought it was kind of warm, we enjoyed sitting on their patio for dinner. My only dissapointment was the fact that they didn't have any Red Velvet Cake. I'd looked forward to some for WEEKS- and no one had any! I did however, enjoy a piece of chocolate peanut butter pie that rivaled any desert I've ever had! It was super delicious!
Our last vacation picture! The next morning we left Charleston and headed home! We were gone for like 15 days- and it felt like a lot longer than that! Ivy was a super good sport on the plane- took good naps, ate her food, was easily amused etc. We are so lucky that she is a great traveller!
A couple of weeks ago, Ivy and I went to the Auburn fair with my parents for the day-- Brian left to go on a business trip :(. I'm noticing from the above picture, this was the last time that her black converse shoes fit her.... must get a bigger size of those now! 
She doesn't appear to be enjoying her first pony ride- but she really was. I think she was just concentrating on what she was doing! 
She enjoyed the sheep and wanted to pet them!
I'm not overly fond of any type of ride... so my dad graciously stepped up and rode the merry go round with Ivy- it's pretty much one of her favorite things!
After a fun day at the fair, it was time to go to my parents house for a bite of dinner and a ride in the swing that my dad built for her in the woods! 
The elusive lap nap! 
We went to the annual ATWA reunion picnic in Pleasant Hill- and it was freezing cold! 
Unfortunately, Ivy came down with a bit of a cold that day which she had for about a week. No biggie- just a drippy nose! 
This was also at the fair... we got a chance to pet a Walleroo! It was super soft and cuddly!
