Mommy's Mountain Man

In the last few weeks, we've spent a lot of time visiting Grandpa Lee and Grandma Mary up in the mountains...and I think Colin loves it there as much as we do!  Colin and I stayed for another week in July while Marshall was traveling for business, and we went back up this past weekend to visit with Drew while he was in town.  Unfortunately, the weather was not the best, but we made the most of it and got outside every chance we could when the sun came out.  We had a picnic dinner at Banner Elk Park, and Colin even got to put his little feet in the stream and play on some of the "big kid" playground equipment.  We also did some shopping at the outlet mall on one of the rainy afternoons.  Colin loved being pushed around in his cozy stroller that Grandma and Grandpa got for him, and just smiled away at all the other shoppers.  He even got licked in the face by a service dog, and tried his first taste of an ice cream cone!  My favorite day was spent blueberry picking in the morning (just before getting caught in a downpour!), and splashing in Wild Cat Lake in the afternoon.  During Drew's visit, we also let Colin take a dip in the hot tub and fed the ducks on our walk around Bass Lake.  Grandma and Grandpa have gone all out to give Colin every comfort of home while he's visiting them in the mountains.  He's got a pack n' play, a swing, stroller, activity mat, bath seat, and car seat...but his favorite new toy is a walk-around activity table.  We were amazed how quickly he figured out how to get around to each area, and how each toy worked!  I think it'll even help him as he learns to walk...he just scoots all around with ease!  We've all had so much fun during our visits to the mountain house, and we can't wait for our beach trip to the Outer Banks in September.  But stay tuned...our next big adventure will be our trip to Florida to visit Nani and Pop Pop (and Adrienne, Evyn, Rachel, and Drew) next week!  Look out, St. Pete...HERE WE COME!!!

Here are some of my favorite photos from our latest trips to the mountains.

And here's a cute video of Colin in his activity center.  Dad and Mary's dog, Sebastian, loves to play...and Colin seemed to find this to be quite hilarious :)