Traveling to Oak Island was a little intense. The drive down wasn’t as bad – we broke it up into two days, driving only 6 hours the first day. My mom (Grandbirdy) had bought Charlotte a portable DVD player for her baptism gift and that was a bit of a lifesaver. Charlotte loved to watch her “Dora the Explorer” DVDs. She was less interested in “All Dogs Go To Heaven” and “The Little Mermaid.” She’s probably still too young to appreciate those ones just yet. Our house had a pool so that made it very easy to stay on our regular two nap a day schedule while still enjoying some sunshine.
At the beach, Charlotte was just a tiny little sea turtle! I’d put her down and lay out my beach towel and she’d be gone, crawling to the sea at the speed of lightning! She absolutely LOVES the water and even put her face in! She also loved all of the dogs that were on the beach, especially since we had to leave her furry brother Bruiser at home with Grandbirdy.
The vacation was very enjoyable – good food, good laughs, and quality family time. One of my favorite moments was the process of getting this photo. I told Sam that I wanted to get some beach photos of our family. So we went out to a restaurant and then decided we’d get photos closer to sunset. We weren’t anticipating high tide! By the time we got to the beach the water was so high and there was hardly any sand in sight. We got drenched getting this photo, but I will hopefully never ever forget this moment in time.
The drive home was pretty brutal, and at the 9.5 hour mark, Charlotte reached her limit. We were stuck in DC traffic at the time, and it just so happened that at the moment Sam turned to me and said, “Do you think your sister would let us stay with her tonight” I happened to look up and see the sign for her exit “River Road!” It was literally serendipity! S-cookie graciously let us stay the night with her with only a ten minute heads up and it ended being a great night there. Just goes to show that when life gives you lemons you can certainly make some lemonade! Charlotte loved seeing her Auntie S too!
A few weeks later Charlotte turned 10 months. She is getting so big and we are just enjoying every minute we get with her! She’s at the stage now where she gets into EVERYTHING! Bruiser’s water bowl. Check. Climbing up the entire flight of stairs. Check. Opening the kitchen cabinets. Check. Learning to open and close doors. Check. The days of letting the baby play on their own for 2 minutes while you throw in a load of laundry are long gone!
She is also eating much more now. She loves the mixed baby foods including apples and raspberries, brown rice and plums, and corn with squash. She has started picking up foods and loves goldfish. She also started eating Rice Chex recently (thanks for the tip, Dana!)
Moms – are there any other great finger foods you’ve had success with introducing to a 10 month old?
The 4th of July was spent in Washington, DC at Auntie S’s house and it was a great mini Hauger/Meriwether family vacation. Of course we had some Chevy Chase-like drama with Sam breaking the handle off of the shower (it ran nonstop the entire time we were there), and only a couple of overly dramatic moments. Not bad for my immediate family! My favorite part was probably Charlotte’s first parade- the national parade! After that we went down to the waterfront to see the water, boats and have lunch. We ate while she napped in her stroller. When she woke up we took her to see some ducks and Grandpap Haugs and I ran through a sprinkler for everyone’s entertainment. A great vacation and I can’t wait to go on a week-long one next year with my family. Destination next year will most likely be Sandbridge, Virginia.
Now that we are back I am busy organizing details for her upcoming birthday party – theme: shabby chic street fair! We are also getting family portraits taken at a Cleveland area beach. Stay tuned to hear more about our crazy adventures!
