Baseball and our Mini Vacation

Some visitors that stopped by to see Jaxon last week

Our dear friend Eric 

Love this family (Susan and Molly)-1st time meeting Jaxon

Before we left for our mini vacation we celebrated our friend Bentley's birthday.  He turned 2 last week.  He loves baseball and talks about baseball and homeruns all the time. He is so funny. So we went to a baseball game with our small group.

dinner at Chick Fil A 

Lisa getting her baby fix before Joseph arrives 

love our small group (we were missing a few couples) 

 Jaxon enjoying his feet while sitting in his daddy's lap during the game

family picture at the game

This past week we decided to get away for a couple of days before Brian had to go back to work. We went to Boone- we did some shopping, hiking, and some relaxing.  We stayed in a really nice hotel- Comfort Inn Suites at $79/night- What a deal!! It had a nice kitchenette and good size area of the room where we could put his pack and play.  They also had an indoor pool which Jaxon enjoyed.  He got to use his life jacket for the first time (thanks to Uncle Eric) and his new floaty (yard sale find for like $3) We had beautiful weather.  So glad we decided to go to the mountains where we had 60-70 degree weather.  It was much better than being at home in the 80-90 degree heat.  We started off in Shatley Springs and had a huge all you can eat country breakfast.  Then we did some driving and went to Jefferson and West Jefferson to look around.  We explored downtown Boone and ate meals at some local places.
We tried to make the trip a little cheaper-we took advantage of the free continental breakfast one morning, then at least one meal was peanut butter/honey sandwiches, carrots/wheat thins and hummus, oranges, grapes, cherries, granola bars eaten in our room or on the road.  Then we ate out once a day.

big country breakfast at Shatley Springs 

happy and content sitting in daddy's lap 

drinking water from the spring 

family pic in front of shatley springs 

posing for too many pictures- not a happy camper on the rooster 

snoozing on daddy's shoulder 

ready to go hiking and Jaxon is not so sure. He is holding on for dear life 

posing in front of a waterfall along the Blue Ridge Parkway 

all ready to go to the pool 

1st time in the pool and loving it 

In his floaty (yard sale find)

Ate lunch Propers.  They had southern food- I got a chicken sandwich.  Brian got catfish po boy sandwich and then we both got potato cakes with pimento cheese on top.  It was delicious.  We also decided to go to Melanie's for breakfast on our last day there. We had stuffed french toast.

content in daddy's lap during lunch 

worn out and pooped 

in front of Propers for lunch 

down a dirt road somewhere in the mountains- my hubby loves to explore dirt roads 

me and my handsome hubby

french toast at Melanie's 

had to visit the Mast General Store 

We hiked 6 miles up the the fire tower where we saw a gorgeous view of the mountains at Moses Cone Park.  Jaxon hiked with us in the ergo. Brian got some good exercise on the trail with the load he was carrying (his water pack on his pack and Jaxon in the ergo in the front)

the beginning of our 6 mile hike  

what a gorgeous view 

just chillin and cooling off after hiking 3 miles to the fire tower 

me and my little man

Jaxon did pretty good.  He was a little fussy certain times of the day because he was off schedule and didn't get a good afternoon nap.  When we were in the Boone area on our first day there, he was fussy and wasn't acting like himself,  we figured out maybe his ears were hurting because of the difference in elevation, so we made a pit stop to CVS for some Tylenol.  But he was a trooper for the most part. Traveling with an infant sure does make things interesting.

My hubby enjoyed exploring the dirt roads where the mountain people live.  I could never live on the mountain out in the middle of nowhere.

Thankful for our few days in the mountains.

The day after our fun vacation.....
Jaxon usually starts to get fussy 7:30-8 and we know he's ready for bed.  But Friday night was a little different.  He was really fussy and his cry was different.  He was screaming like I had never heard before.  This made me really sad.  I didn't know how to make him happy.  He had been fed and changed.  We checked his temperature, held him, and laid him down.  Nothing worked.  Recently he has been drooling and chewing on things, so we thought maybe he is starting to teethe.  My little man is growing up so fast.  Thankfully we had teething rings that we got from a friend that we hadn't used yet.  We stuck them in the refrigerator for a little bit and he enjoyed chewing on those.  It seemed to soothe him and then before too long we put him in his bed and he went to sleep.

Praying for patience that I can get through this stage of teething.