"It's a... blog!" on Vacation, Part Three

After the visit to the boys' great-grandparents, we ate some lunch, then headed off to the next lake house to spend a few days with our friends Scott and Courtney and their son, Sawyer. They had visited us around the same time last year, before Brogan was born and before Ayden could walk. Obviously, the dynamic was a bit different this time, what with two boys capable of running around (like crazy people, as demonstrated by the video below) and an extra little one to keep an eye on.

The weather forecast had been favorable leading up to the trip. Unfortunately, the forecast didn't quite get it right. It ended up cooler and wetter than had been expected, which kind of threw a monkey wrench into some of our plans. (Under normal circumstances, we might've been more inclined to ignore the weather, but both Ayden and Brogan were still recovering from weeks of being sick. So, we didn't risk very much.)

Our trip up into North Carolina to a hilltop apple orchard got derailed - it was raining by the time we got there. We were still able to sample some of the many kinds of apples the orchard grew, pick up some apple butter, and buy some freshly made apple cider donuts (I agree, it sounds weird, but they were awesome). What we didn't get to do was let Ayden run around the orchard.

Something else that got a little altered was spending time on the lake. Because the forecast looked so good, Scott and Courtney hauled their boat all the way up to the lake from the coast. While the lake water was amazingly warm, for the most part, it was cool and windy on the water. Again, not the best scenario for two kids recovering from being sick. Nevertheless, as Ayden had never been on a boat before, we bundled him and Sawyer up, busted out the blankets, and took a ride one morning.

I didn't know how Ayden would react. The boat had an outboard motor, so I didn't know if it's loudness would freak him out. Or if the different movement and feel would bother him. So, of course, he loved it. He was all over the place. He wanted to walk around. He wanted to climb up onto the front so he could see more. He just had a ball. For days afterward, we heard a lot about the boat ("Boat, fun.").

"Mr. Scott, I hope you have insurance, because I can't really see where I'm going."

When we were spending time in the house, Sawyer and Ayden played with Ayden's collection of Chuggington trains and track. We connected as much of the track pieces together as we could and just let them go to town. As you'd expect from two toddlers, there was some occasional hording of trains and the occasional disagreement about which trains belonged to whom at any given time. For the most part, however, they played quite well together.

In addition to the trains, there was fun to be had by jumping on pillows and by coloring a blank car and driver. And there was always the go-to joy of glow bracelets when really needed.

The night before we had to set out for home, we decided to head to downtown Clemson for dinner. It was a little weird to be sitting in a booth and having dinner with three children at a place that we used to only frequent for distinctly different purposes. It was a nice way to kind of bring the trip full circle.

After we parted ways on the next day, Ayden talked about Scott, Courtney, and Sawyer for days afterwards. (His favorite thing to say was "Tott, Tourtney, Sawyer, ride truck home" - i.e., "Scott, Courtney, and Sawyer rode home in their truck.") We were grateful for the opportunity to spend time with friends and that Ayden had so much fun with them.