hayes goes to the big town.

well, hayes survived her first road trip and really enjoyed her first visit to folkston and "the house that built me."  my mom was really sweet to drive up to fetch her girls on wednesday, the 22nd.  she didn't want me traveling alone with a newbie and a 3 year old just yet so she came up, we loaded up and i drove us back to folkston.  our ride was long, but not bad at all.  we had to stop to potty and feed a few times.  it was great to have mimi with us - she took sk to potty while i fed hayes.  teamwork.  trey came down and spent the weekend with us.  he drove us back home on sunday and i couldn't have asked for a better trip.  not a fuss from either girl and we made great time.

it was in folkston that we started to see an improvement in hayes's reflux issues.  she started really smiling at us and focusing in on our faces (and mimi's cap - she was obsessed with that!)  she had several visitors come over to see her - her aunt fran, "aunt" barbara, "aunt" cathy, mrs. kim, aunt theresa, uncle gary, cousin brooke, billy, "big" cousin lilly rose, reagan and riley.  of course she also got to see jonathan, ashley and the twins, but that wasn't their first meeting=)  i should have taken pics of hayes with her visitors but i didn't.

sarah kate was so excited to get back down to folkston.  it had been a long time for her and she had been asking to go.  she spent time with her cousins riley and reagan.  and ava and bryce came over saturday and spent the night with us so she got to enjoy playing with them quite a bit.  all the girls rode diamond (the horse) which was something she had been asking to do.  she went on golf cart rides, picked grapes, went into town with me, and got to watch 2 movies that she had been wanting to watch again - snow white and peter pan.  she did not want to leave on sunday, but it made it easier that mimi and papa left at the same time to take ava and bryce back home.

mimi and i took the girls to the swamp on friday.  sk was hoping to see an alligator, but we didn't see one.  it's not always a given that you get to see one, but we usually do.  bummer!  anyway, we had a picnic lunch and then walked around looking for gators, played in the visiors center and then got a few souviners from the gift shop.

 

picnic time for hayes!

 

 

sk, mimi and i riding...

 

hayes riding...

ty riding...

sk washing grapes.

no visit with the cousins is complete without a tea party=) 

the 3 amigos.

talking!

 smiling=)

 hanging out one morning in her nap nanny on mimi's pool table...talking and smiling at mommy=)

ashley and precious cousin lilly rose who is 6 months older than hayes

ava and her trey.  time for bed! 

in  bed with my girls one morning.

 hayes was obsessed with mimi's cap!

 

 thanks mimi and papa for having us and for always making our stay so fun and relaxing!  hayes's first trip to folkston will always be remembered as wonderful....it brought out a happy hayes and was where we first saw those real deal smiles! =)