Arkansas, Final Post

This will be my last post of the trip! We flew from Rhode Island to Arkansas Sunday (a week ago) so that we could go to Josh's cousin, Jennifer's wedding in Searcy on Monday. We were so happy to get to meet up with Kim, Adam, and Adalie at the airport in Little Rock that day! It just so happened that Kim's plane got in about 5 minutes after ours did! We quickly caught up and then headed on to Searcy, Arkansas! Josh and I both went to college in Searcy, and it had been almost 2 years since we had been there, so if felt sooo good to be back. We really could not believe that it had been 6 years since we graduated. It seems like it should be more like 2-3 years. Even though it was a short trip, we really enjoyed getting to spend some time with the family there. We stayed in a hotel room with Jo Anna and Hannah, which gave us a little extra time together, even though I couldn't seem to stay awake past 9pm!

Jennifer and Ryan's wedding was so sweet and beautiful! Harding has redone The Heritage building/hotel on campus, and they got married in the wedding chapel in there that overlooks the beautiful campus. We were so happy to get to see these two get married. We think a lot of both of them, and they are such a sweet couple. We are also thrilled that they are going to be living in Dallas, so hopefully we'll get to see them more often!

Josh's 29th birthday was also on Sunday, the day we flew in to Arkansas. We had a celebration for him Friday night in Rhode Island at a nice restaurant called Turtle Soup and did presents afterwards. On his actual birthday, everyone sang Happy Birthday to him at the Rehearsal Dinner and he got to blow out his birthday candles.

Here are some pictures of our weekend there.

James and Bailey practicing walking down the aisle.

At HU, Rehearsal Dinner night

      Jess, Jenn (the beautiful bride), and Hannah 

(who looks so grown up!)

Our little ring bearer

We also got the pleasure of seeing a guy that Josh played football with at Harding, Tank Daniels. Tank played 1 year with Josh at HU and now plays for the New York Giants. He was back at the campus for a fund-raiser, and we got to see him after the wedding. He let James try on his Superbowl ring, which was really neat. Here are some pictures...

Rhode Island, Part 3

More pictures:

My cousin Deirdre met up with us Thursday to go to Block Island!

Deirdre is my mom's sister's youngest daughter, and Deirdre and I are kindred spirits. We may not talk for a year or get to see each other for two, but when we're together, it's like no time has passed. We have such a strong connection and I know we always will! I adore her and wish we lived closer, but it's always one of the highlights of my year when I get to see her.

on the ferry to Block Island

My mom's mother worked at the Spring House (pictured below) in Block Island during the summers in college. This was a very special place, because my grandfather followed her there one summer (without her permission) and they dated there one summer. Neither my mom nor her sisters had ever been there, so my aunts met us there and they all got to see it together for the first time! The neatest thing happened while they were there...
Their mother (my grammie), died of breast cancer when my mom was just 25 years old. She was an incredible mother and her presence is still very strong in all of our lives. I think about her often, even though she died before I was born, and my mom says that not a day goes by that she doesn't think about her. When I'm with my aunts, they always remind me of how much I look like her. Anyways, when we arrived at the Spring House where she worked, we all just took in the fact that she spent so much time there and had walked where we were walking many times. We all went inside and Elizabeth spotted a picture on the wall. This was a picture celebrating 140 years of this hotel and had a few old photos on it. The ONE picture of one of the staffs who worked there was from one of the years my grammie worked there! Elizabeth scanned the photo, and there she was! Everyone was so excited to get to see that! How crazy that the one staff photo on the wall included her in it!! Then, we walked outside, and my mom smelled Shalimar, her old perfume! I walked over and smelled it, too, and there was no one around us at the time. It was very strong, and we knew that she was there with us.





(She's in the center, second from the left in the black outfit)

My mom sent me this picture of her.


Our Rhode Island trip ended in our Gray Family Reunion! The Gray's are my mom's mom's side of the family, and I adore this side. They mean so much to me, and some of my best memories in life are with these people. Just as with my relationship with Deirdre, we are all strongly connected, and no matter the distance, they are a huge part of my life.

The entire Gray family (started with my Great Grandma Gray and Great Grandpa Harry-my grammie's parents) I actually have a memory of going to my Great Grandma Gray's 90th birthday party when I was 4 years old (24 years ago!), and I feel so blessed to have that memory, since I have no memory of 3 of my 4 grandparents!


The Sullivan contingent


All of the great-grandchildren

Rhode Island, Part 2

We had an amazing time in Rhode Island. Definitely one of the best trips with my family. I absolutely loved getting away for what seemed like a good long while, not checking computer, not watching tv, and being with some of my favorite people in the world. I feel so rejuvenated! Now, I did not say relaxed, but definitely rejuvenated! Traveling with a two-year-old is not exactly relaxing. :) It felt so great to go on a long vacation and not leave James behind this time! Not leaving half of our heart behind was a great feeling! My wonderful parents got a rental house in Narragansett, Rhode Island, which allowed the whole family to stay in the same house together for the week! We had so much fun together, many laughs, much great food, and so many great memories to take with us. I got so spoiled by waking up every morning and being excited to go drink coffee and eat homemade breakfast on the deck with whoever was up, that I am really missing that now! I also am having to wean myself off of eating two nice, delicious meals out a day! There is too much to blog about, but here are some pictures and explanations from the trip...

We LOVED Narragansett Beach!! The water was freezing, but I like it that way because once you're used to it, it feels great! Our first 24 hours of the trip, we didn't have our luggage, so we borrowed swimsuits (Josh wore Michael's and I wore my mom's). The last day at the beach, my adventurous side (which comes out around my brother) made me want to brave the huge, powerful waves and ride the surf with my body. It was exhilarating, and at one point the wave picked me up (all of us) and knocked me down to the bottom of the ocean, doing twists and turns under water from the wave. I talked myself into staying calm and holding my breath until I reached the top, because I had no idea which way was up. Needless to say, that was my last time, and I went in to rest after that!



We were so happy that James loved the beach this year, since he hated it last year. He usually hates to get dirty, but as you can see in this picture, he embraced it!


One of my favorite things about our location, was that we were about 20 minutes from Newport. Newport is the gorgeous city where my mom went to college, my parents met, and where they lived as newlyweds. Below are pictures of my mom's dorm.


My dad and mom have an ultra-romantic story of how they met, so it was fun for all of us to be there together. They actually met at my mom's dorm in the kitchen, so we thought we take a picture of the result of their love!

It was so great to get to go in and out of Newport during the week. The shopping is excellent and the food is even better. Our favorite place to eat there is The Black Pearl, which has the best clam "chowda" on the planet.

Some of the gorgeous scenery we saw...

Jamestown
                            Newport
Westerly (Watch Hill)
Block Island

More to come!

Rhode Island/Arkansas trip, Part 1

We just got back this afternoon from being gone for 1 1/2 weeks!   We spent a week in Rhode Island with my family, and then headed out to Arkansas to go to Josh's cousin's wedding!  I am going to blog more about these two events in the next couple of days, but I wanted to post some pictures of our little ring bearer.  He and the flower girl were an absolute hoot together.  I have never seen James act like he did with Bailey ("Baiwey").  They very quickly became attached to each other, talked back and forth in a hilarious way, and constantly gave hugs and kisses to each other.  They even had a lover's quarrel or two!  They had a big audience behind them here and really hammed it up for them.  

     I love their little button noses in this picture.

More to come!

Two-year-old laughs

Yesterday, I heard James go into our bathroom and turn on the sink water.  He likes to pull up my stool and put his hands under there, so I figured that's what he was doing!  A few minutes later, I went to check on him, and this is what I saw...  
He said, "Take baf, Mommy!"  He then stretched out and enjoyed the warm "baf".

Here's another story that makes me laugh every time I think about it...  

The other morning, Josh was sitting with James on the couch, while I was still in bed asleep. When it was time for him to get ready for work, Josh called to me, "Mommy, it's time to get up!  It's 7:30!". 

James then came running in to our room and said, "Mommy, wake up!  It sebens." 

I had never heard him try to say or repeat a time, so that cracked me up!

Our friends' visit!

***Thank you so much for all of your help with "Jack vs. John"!  You gave us some great things to think about and consider.  I will blog more about that later!***

I'm so sad because Amanda W., Chad, and Harry just left our house! They came to visit this weekend, and we had such a fun time! Amanda is one of my best friends that I met at HU, and our relationship has grown and grown every year. I'm so thankful for her friendship, and I enjoyed having her for 3 1/2 days! I'm pretty sure that James thinks she's more fun than his mommy, and he will miss her as much as I will! Amanda is such a cool, fun mom, and James picked up on that very quickly. He gave her snuggles that he reserves usually only for his mommy and daddy. We had a fun-filled weekend of doing family things, having girl-time and the guys having guy-time. Here are some pictures of our weekend...

                                             

The boys playing in the backyard.  They were funny to watch together!  Harry is one cool kid, a charmer, and is one of the best dressed little boys around!  He's so sweet, too, and I just melted every time he gave me kisses!



4th of July-  The boys had the best time swimming in the pool while we enjoyed our hamburgers and hotdogs!  We had a really fun night that ended with a couple of rounds of Compatibility.

Josh met Chad at their wedding.  They had a lot of fun together hanging out, going golfing, and talking pretty much non-stop all weekend.  


Harry the fireman.  James misses Harry and as we speak is in a bad mood because he's gone.  He woke up from his nap and asked, "Where Hurry (Harry)?"  We told him that he went Bye-Bye to Harry's house, but James is still holding out hope that he's still around.  I coughed a little while ago, and James said, "I hear someting...It Hurry (It's Harry)!!", really excitedly.  He's also said several times, "Chat sweep? (Is Chad asleep?)".   

Yesterday, Kimberly P. treated us to a wonderful lunch at her house, and we really enjoyed talking while our boys played.  She completely spoiled us by then offering to watch our boys that night while we went to dinner.  She and her husband were so sweet to do this, and we loved having our kid-free meal and adult conversation!    


When we came to pick them up, we were so tickled by how happy our boys were.  We could tell that they had just had the time of their lives, and James and Harry were letting us know that they were content to stay there all night!   Thanks again Kimberly and Benjie for being so sweet to our boys!!

Kimberly took this picture, and I love it!  You can see just how much fun they were having!

Thanks Chad, Amanda, and Harry for coming all the way to see us!  We love you guys and can't wait to see you again!