beach bums.

We're back.  We have wireless, which is awesome.  Although I do have to admit that it was kind of nice to not "have to" be plugged in all the time.  I had excuses for not checking my email, facebook, twitter, blogs.  It was kind of a vacation before my vacation.  Last week we went to the beach!  Tommy had a work conference for a couple of days, so we just made a trip out of it.  I don't know if it's because it was our first vacation as a family of 3, or if we really needed it after having our first child/leaving jobs/starting new ones/moving/buying a new house, or if the beach was just that awesome, but it was incredible!

I'm a home-body.  I love my home.  I love being cozy in my home with my family.  I just like to be home, so normally at the end of a vacation I am ready to be home.  This was the first time I could remember not wanting to leave somewhere to go home.  We flew down to Tampa and then drove to Sand Key Beach in Clearwater, FL.  When we flew with Jack in November I was so nervous how he would do, but this time I was so relaxed.  This boy loves to fly!  He loves the people, loves the windows, loves the sounds and loves climbing back and forth between Tommy and me.

 Apparently I don't know how to flip my pictures before I upload them.  Sorry about that.  He just looked like such a little boy sitting in his own seat on the plane that I had to share!

 "Mom, shh, I'm working hard over here."  My little business man.

 He loved the waves!

 And playing in the sand.

 Our hotel at sunset.

 The Supermoon didn't look so super next the the expanse of the beach.  Loved a reminder of God's creation.

 Kisses for daddy.  [side note: I just noted it looks like a kid's body is just floating.  kind of creepy]

 Work Work Work.  Even on vacation he's busy.

 We were enjoying an evening swim and both waving to Daddy.

 Breakfast poolside was the way to go for Jack Jack.

 When did my baby grow up??

Please tell me another mom has let her child meander his way through the airport pant-less.  Someone?  It was just one of those days, so pants were not a battle I was willing to take on.

we're back.

We took our trip to Maryland.  The one we've been waiting for to wrap up our house sale up there.  It was rough.  Selling a house is rough.  Traveling for 9 1/2 hours in the car with a very mobile baby is rough.  Driving all around the metro DC area with that baby is tough.  Cleaning out a dirty, dusty house with a crawling baby is rough.  I had to close my eyes and pretend my baby wasn't crawling around on those filthy floors.  Needless to say, bath time was extra important.  Anyway, I have pictures but not the energy to put them up tonight.  We had to cut our trip short due to some doggy issues back on the home front.  We didn't get to spend nearly the time with everyone that we wanted to.  So for everyone we didn't get to see, we miss you and hate that we didn't get to spend time with you!

the morgans go to colorado.

We did it- we survived our first trip as a family of three!  We had a great time in Colorado.  Beautiful sites.  When we go there I am obsessed the whole time thinking that I cannot believe Tommy grew up there!  It is gorgeous-- and he grew up with those huge mountains in his backyard.  Seriously awesome.

We enjoyed beautiful sites and had some sweet times.  There were several challenging parts to the trip that we had not anticipated.  First off, Jack got sick 2 days before we were leaving.  The day before our trip, which just happened to be the day before Thanksgiving, I took him to the pediatrician who said he had an ear infection.  This is #2 for our sweet boy, and this one was much more nasty than #1.  It made #1 look like a beautiful spring day.  He also had a wicked cold-- like the kind where you can't breathe.  So he got started on antibiotics, and on Thursday morning we hopped on the plane for his first ever flight!  He did awesome-- especially considering his poor ear.  His ear hurt him a lot and he kept pulling on it.  But we made it.  Then he had some rough days and nights with high fevers, lots of crying, nasal suctioning, antibiotics, ibuprofen, ear drops, Vick's baby rub, and temp taking.  My diaper bag was a pharmacy.  Then he stopped peeing, which seriously scared me.  2 1/2 days of almost completely dry diapers, and we were up in the mountains!  Thankfully, his little body started healing and he is much better.  Still struggling to breathe, but much better.

Glad we went.  Love being with friends on their special day.  Happy to be home.  Ready to start celebrating Christmas!

visiting with sister 

the oldest of friends 

man, i love this boy! 

could he look any cuter all bundled up? 

back in his element scraping snow. 

my handsome boys 

Jack's 2nd snow fall on his 6 month birthday 

first plane ride 

first swim 

home again.

I wrote the title thinking of our trip to Tennessee as being "home again", but then it occurred to me that we are now home. We have arrived back to our home in Maryland after a wonderful vacation in Tennessee. We are filled with mixed emotions. Tennessee is what feels like home to us, but our life right now is in Maryland. Anyway, enough about that.


Our trip was awesome! We had a wonderful time with family, friends, fellowship, food, fun, football, & Boomsday {I can't leave out Boomsday}. It was the break from routine that we needed. It was filled with love from family and friends, and this time it was even richer watching our loved ones love on our sweet Jack. There is nothing better than that! I will have pictures to share from our trip but tonight am just unwinding from the 10 hour car ride in the pouring rain the whole way with a 3 month old. Although in fairness to Jack, he was amazing!

To everyone who visited with us and has loved on us-- thank you! We loved seeing everybody!