North Carolina Part 1

The week after Nana and Pawpaw's visit, we hit the road for a trip to North Carolina. Jackson was up and at 'em early and very eager for his big adventure. Look at that travel baby.

He kept that smile on his face the whole trip. He took a little nap on the flight from Buffalo to JFK and giggled as we ran through the airport to make our connecting flight in the nick of time. Even though the mommies didn't get lunch and were completely exhausted, Jackie boy just kept on smiling on the second flight.

When we arrived in Raleigh, we thought for sure he'd be ready to run around and that we'd have to chase him through the terminal but, no, he hopped right in his car seat for a ride on mama's suitcase. By the way, that car seat is attached with the "Traveling Toddler Car Seat Accessory" which is the greatest invention ever! If you know anyone who travels a lot with a toddler, please tell them to check it out.

Toni picked us up at the airport, and Jackson quickly renamed her NeeNee. We also met up with Big Papi for dinner, and Jackson stared calling him Ba-Pa. We didn't really do anything other than eat that night before Jackson had to go to bed.

The next day, though, we were off to the park with Neenee and Aunt Tawh (or Tosha). They took us to Pullen Park, which is an excellent park in Raleigh by the campus of NC State.

Jackson played on the swings and rode the toy elephant. He left no piece of equipment unexplored. Once again he show us his happy face constantly.

He did, however, have a down moment when he quiet literally fell down. He got his very first skinned knee.

He was a brave little man and only cried for a minute until we explained to him that a skinned knee was a right of passage for little boys. He perked up and showed off his war wound.

After he exhausted the playground, we all rode the train that goes around the park. Despite his face in the picture he was very excited. As soon as he heard the train whistle blowing he said "Choo Choo" and did a happy dance.

After the train we rode a carousel, which he tolerated but wasn't thrilled about. He was more more interested in the Andy and Opie Griffith statue in the park, which is apparently there because when Andy had to go to "the big city" he went to Raleigh. Jackson, of course, has never seen the show, but he did enjoy squeezing Opie's nose and saying "honk honk."

After the park we headed home, and Jackson crashed. We'd worn him out, and he took a nice long nap for us, giving the moms and NeeNee a chance to play Rock Band, which we did every time he napped and every night after he went to sleep.

After the nap we headed out to the farmers market. We needed to get some strawberries, and NeeNee and Rach remembered their favorite vendor from last year and went right to her :) Jackson was more interested in the flowers.

He stopped to smell every flowering plant in the whole place. He smelled several of the non-flowering plants too, for that matter.

He was also very impressed (as were we all) with the chalk drawings one of the vendors had drawn on the wall.

The whole time we were at the farmers market he wore his puppy backpack, which he just loves. It's super cute and soft and it also allows us to keep him from making a break for it. He enjoys being in it so much he's started to ask for his "back back" whenever we go out.

We finished up the day by getting a pizza to take home. Jackson had to show off what a big boy he is by climbing into the grown up chairs for Neenee and Tawh to see him. He makes us nervous with all the climbing he likes to do, but he gets so proud of himself when he does it.

He slept well that night, which was a big plus because we had another full day ahead of us.