Family Vacation

Sorry for the long break in posts......after the extended birthday celebration, we jumped right into preparing to head out of town for our first official family vacation. It was a bit crazy to get a family of 3 ready & I cannot imagine how much crazier it would be with a family of 5 or 6 : ) Although I am sure by then we would be professional packers & travelers with children. Our drive went well. It took about 8-9 hours including lots of stops. Char was amazing! She was so happy in the car. She barely slept at all & did lots of talking to her toys & smiling at us in the mirror : )

We weren't going to take a summer vacation until about a month ago when Robby said we needed a vacation and gave me the task of selecting a location. I am so thankful we went! I came across a resort called Big Canoe in northern Georgia at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is basically a resort within a 5,000 acre nature preserve. It was BEAUTIFUL! We stayed in a treetop villa that had been remodeled and updated in the past few years. It was at the highest part of the ridge in that area and had a pretty view with lots of trees...something we aren't used to in Orlando : ) The days were sunny & hot while we were in torrential down pour overnight a few nights. Who doesn't love lying in bed listening to a good rain storm?!

Our week consisted of hiking, reading, cooking, reading, playing with Charlotte, reading, playing Scrabble, reading, napping and more reading : ) Robby made it through about 800 pages....I read closer to 300 & spent my extra time working on a few digital scrapbook pages. We truly relaxed & loved every second of it!

Here we are in Wolf Scratch Village overlooking the golf course & lake















We LOVED the Ergo carrier on this trip! I have gotten more use out of that thing than I ever imagined. It was super comfortable to carry my chubby little girl around in while we hiked. I think she enjoyed it too : )


One very special moment on our trip was Charlotte saying her first word! We were in the gift shop called "Oh Bear" & we picked out a stuffed black bear for her to have from our vacation. We told her it was a bear & then all of the sudden she started saying "bear" over and over. It was precious & quite entertaining. We headed over to the lake that afternoon to snap some pictures of Charlotte with Bear. Bear has been spending most of his time with Charlotte since he joined the family : )

We spent Sunday to Thursday morning in Big Canoe then headed to Atlanta to go to the Georgia Aquarium. What a neat place! Charlotte was pretty interested in looking at the fish but probably more interested in the massive amount of children running around screaming. Remind me never to go again when every summer camp in Georiga takes a field trip to the Aquarium! We had a great time though. They had a special exhibition called Planet Shark that was awesome. We have always enjoyed Shark Week on the Discovery Channel & it was fun to be up close to so many cool shark things! One random bit of information....it said that 44,000 people every year are injured by a toilet versus less than 100 are injured by a shark. I am REALLY interested to know what happens to the 44,000 people : )


















We left Atlanta to head home after lunch ready for a 7-8 hour drive. After an hour or so, Robby was doing something on his phone and asked if I was up for an adventure. I love that question! My answer was YES!!! He said we could turn left in 10 miles & head to Savannah instead of going home. We made reservations to stay at Hotel Avia where we stayed for our anniversary last year. It was an incredibly relaxing last night of vacation spent in luxury : ) I love a great soaking tub, some delicious fish tacos & the softest bed I have ever slept in! We woke up early Friday morning and walked through many of the historic squares before heading home for real.

Here is sweet Charlotte Grace in Savannah

One of our favorite things about Savannah is how everyone from there says Charlotte's name.

Think about it with a southern drawl...sounds sweet doesn't it?

Just before leaving, we were standing by this lovely water fountain....I couldn't help myself : ) I may have enjoyed it more than Charlotte but not as much as Rob & the rest of the people walking by and laughing at the lady in the fountain!

We vowed to take a vacation every year knowing the benefits of resting and reconnecting with one another. Vacation 2010 is officially named: The Tour of Georgia.