We made it to Tampa

At the Indianapolis Airport!!

We all had our traveling clothes on, carry-ons shoved under the stroller, I had checked in on-line and payed for our bags... the only thing left was to see how she would do on the flight.  I had a whole carry-on devoted to Charlee with toys she had never seen before, brand new crayons, her princess', drinks, "nummies", paci, diapers.... ect.... ect...

We got on the plane last... after the final diaper change.  She sat with Gavin next to the window.  Im not sure she understood what was going on.  All she cared about was that I was letting her have gum.  And she loved it,  it took about 4 pieces until we were in the air.  I got too excited and let her start a little early... I kept thinking we were on the runway.. then we would turn again... so another piece.  I was working myself up over her ears.  I didn't want them to hurt her so she had gum, drink, paci shoved in her face for the first 10 min. of the flight.  She settled down and thankfully the seat next to me was empty and she got to sit in her own seat between mommy and daddy and play with her toys.  She did really good.  My baby is a fly-er! Oh yeah... she decided to fill her pants and when I got up to change her... the captain said we were making our decent and to remain seated with seat belts on... AWESOME timing Charlee.  I was fine, Gavin had to hold her so he kept gagging. 

We watched several episodes of Bubbly Guppies "Gup Gup and Away" to get her familiar to the airport/airplane... it must have worked because she was pretty comfortable.

These were the best purchases ever... T.J. Maxx too... double score for me!! She played with them the whole way there and the whole time at the condo.  It was a book that came with little figures... I got her the Mickey set and the Toy Story set.  Charlee loved them, she names them off now and we only lost 2 the whole trip. Poor Minney and Woody.  Two of her favorites of course.

My other child set playing with his toys on the plane.

This is with the smelly diaper!! Charlee stinky girl.

Once we got to Tampa International we boogied on over to Enterprise where Gaston hooked us up with a sweet mini-van!! Thanks uncle Gaston.  After we instantly started sweating... Gavin loaded the van and I put her car seat in and afterwards we both were sweating from the Florida heat!!

We were on our way to Bradenton to see Grandpa Walt and Grandma Pam. 

They had gifts for Miss Charlee... bubbles (perfect) and sand toys (perfect)... couldn't have gotten better gifts... Oh and she had a big bag of M&M's!!!! Pam reads the blog so she knows what Charlee likes... and had it waiting for her!!

Her sand rake doubled as a back scratcher...

Hugs for grandpa Walt

Hugs for grandma Pam...

We got in late so we went to bed and woke up to the best cheesy eggs and fried potatoes ever!!  And bacon, bananas, and toast!!

After breakfast we loaded up the mini and said goodbye for now... we will be back later in the week!

Back to the airport to pick up the rest of our crew!!

This picture of the bridge does not do it justice!  This thing is high high high!! A tad bit scary.

This is my personal driver:

Gavin def made fun of me for this one:

To Be Continued...

Charlee's Goin on a Plane

Charlee is sleeping... Gavin is getting his fill of video games... and I still have 565168 things left to finish on my lists of things to do before we leave, but it doesn't matter because tomorrow we will be leaving to take my baby on her first vacation ever.  Tomorrow we will be getting on a plane or "plate" per Charlee and going to Florida.  She knows we are going to get on that plate and go to the beach....  We are visiting Grandpa Walt and Grandma Pam tomorrow night and then its off to Madeira Beach to stay in one of our dear sweet friends condo for a week.  This was a gift we got for our wedding.  We are super excited about it.  Gavin is reaching a "red ring of death" level with his anxiety... and if I have to discuss plane to car outcomes in a crash one more time... I might stop being understanding.  He is way worse than Charlee ever dreamed of being.  I'm not sure why I was worried about her? She will be cake compared to the 6'4" baby I'm married to.  All the flights he was on in college... and we still have to go through this every time...seriously?
 Anyways... I bought a new camera card for the trip and I plan to fill the sucker up so when we get back I can blog like crazy about all the amazing stuff we did and how much she loved it... I hope!

Ill leave you with this funny picture...

Gaeton and Charlee at BW3's practicing for the Olympics.

The Graduate

My little sister graduated!! She is on to bigger and brighter things after high school.  She is pretty confident and excited about being a hair stylist...(score for me and the fam) :) But may discover something else fantastic along the way.  Aveda watch out... here she comes!

Cake was awesome... Gavins mom, Laura will agree!! She didn't save me any icing flowers like promised...
It was made by Cakes by Jen. Don't have her website but her phone number is: 317-289-5209

The Harper/Charlee show: or Charlee Harper!
Harper was so pleased with her hug she didn't want to let go... seriously it was like a minute total. Charlee was a little confused. haha... picture-worthy.

Daddy with our little fish.  Her mouth needs to be open so she can concentrate... and drink some water that we tell her constantly to spit out!!

Daddy's with babies is always so sweet...

These girls loved cake.

Pretty sure they couldn't get enough.
*yes those are stairs behind them... we noticed, and they were closely watched... and still manged to get matching boo-boos. Charlee's head (Always) and Harpers leg.

The best Hostess in the world: Mom, we are kidding... you put together a knock-out graduation party! it was very classy and most importantly pleased your little grad. We love you for all your hard work to pull all the dishes, napkins, and decorations together. Well done!

After bath babies smell so good. 

It was a family/friend gathering that lasted well into the night... we were swimming and then forced inside with the storms (Cousin Zack's house was hit... thankfully he is fine).

We brought out the second and third round of food for people to soak up some of the beer with.  I was forced into taking shots with the famous Miss Blanka because I love her so... and will miss her when she leaves for Croatia for A month. 

This was the third day we had to get all gussied up so we ended with a bang and slept all day the next day...not really, but It was a good thought.

Congrats Graduates.

Charlee's 18 Month Pictures

Kimberly Reid does amazing photos.  We are huge fans and have used her for my maternity pictures, Charlee's newborn, 3,6,9,12, and 18month pictures, our reception, and a family portrait!! We pretty much love her work.  These are Charlees 18 month pictures taken at Grandpa and Grandma Crowes farm.

I had really great ideas for this session.  Charlee wasn't having any part of it.  All the other sessions we have had Charlee just goes with the flow and plays and is just fine posing on her own... we have even had a few where she is cheesing it up laughing at Mackenzie and Madison while Kimberly clicks away.  This session she just decided she didn't want to smile and she didn't want me to walk away from her.  I wanted her to have an umbrella, rain boots, stand in tall grass... she was scared of the umbrella, hated the grass and didn't want to put on the boots until she saw the water.  It was not what I was envisioning... but as usual Kimberly pulled through and got us some good pictures.  I would have thought there wasn't a single picture that she wasn't crying and reaching for me in.

You can contact Kimberly HERE to get yourself some awesome photos.

All Pictures are taken by Kimberly Reid:

This was her Easter Dress.

One of my favs:

Man I just want to eat her up!!

Hello little Gavin:

The Boots: so cute!

Thank you Kimberly!!