Labor Day weekend was a really good weekend. We had such a great time visiting with family. There is so much to tell about, but I think I am going to just post some pictures and pretty much use them as the vehicle to tell about the weekend.

So let's start, shall we?

Friday night, we stayed at my parents' house. We've gone back & forth on what we'll try to get Iliya to call them - and we've sorta set on GrandMom & GrandDad. My brother has decided that my dad should be Pops...but I guess we'll see what Iliya picks up on first. But I digress. We stayed with them on Friday night, had a good time playing before bedtime, and then Saturday morning, we headed over to Nathan's grandmother (Mawmaw)'s house for breakfast. I'm not a big breakfast cooker, so Iliya got his first taste of a huge southern breakfast, and he LOVED it. He ate (and would've continued eating) and when he was finished, he went outside. My child is an outside sorta guy, and he loved looking at his new cousins' horses...he really got a little upset, though, that he couldn't go through the electric fence to pet them!

taste-testing the bacon to make sure it's okay

going out with Papa to look at the horses

hanging out with Nana & cousin Alex on the front porch

exhausted from the early morning & all the playing

Then, we headed back to my parents' house. My brother (Uncle Christopher) got in the little pool with Iliya and they had a blast. I have several great pics from this, so it was hard to pick out which one(s) to use.

swimming with Uncle Christopher

granddad had fun watching me

then he took me in to help me eat some lunch

After playing in the pool and lunch, I laid Iliya down for a nap. He had a little trouble going to sleep, mainly because of all the stuff around him he had never seen before. He wanted to look instead of sleep but his eyes finally got heavy and off to sleep he went. He woke up about an hour & fifteen minutes later, screaming. He must've forgotten where he was, and he was scared. But mom & dad (oh, and granddad) to the rescue, and all was fine again.

That evening, my grandmother (Mamaw) had everyone over for supper. We had BBQ & all the fixin's. One of my longest friends, Allison, and her husband, JT came over for a little while, too. It was really nice to see them! We ate, and then Iliya went outside (no surprise there!) to play with his Aunt Sarah, cousin Jake, & uncle Paul. While Nathan & I visited with Allison, JT, & the rest of my family inside, my aunt Cheryl snapped some pics for me.

playing frisbee with my cousin jake

ooooh! I found the rocks!

After a fun time, it was time to head back to gmom & gdad's house to go to bed. I am happy to say that Iliya slept through entire night, until about 6:00, so we all got some pretty good sleep that night. The next day, Sunday, we went out to Ft. Payne (sock capital of the world!) to go to church with & visit with some of my dad's family. We haven't seen them in almost 2 years so it was really great to go to church out there with them.

being silly with aunt sarah (lala)

the entire fam (easter may've been the last time we were all together - and even then, Iliya wasn't with us)

the new grandparents

eating sweet potatoes. granddad really loves to watch me eat!

After we ate lunch, we headed back to Nathan's parents house. Iliya tried to take a nap on the way out there - he did sleep about 45 minutes, but it was "carseat sleep," so it wasn't very good. He was a cranky monster when we got to his Nana & Papa's house. I went inside with him & rocked him, hoping he'd go back to sleep for a little bit. He dozed, but kept waking up & crying (well, sleep-crying). So I took him to the back bedroom, where he dozed - and then, sat up, looked at me, and with wide, happy eyes, signed "bath." So I guess nap/doze time was overwith. That evening, we went to church w/ N's parents & Iliya got to meet even more family and friends. We went to eat at McDonald's for dinner - and then we were back off to Nana & Papa's house. Iliya had a bath & then played for a little while longer before bedtime. It took him roughly 45 seconds to fall asleep, and he was out until about 2:00 a.m., when he got in bed with us. He was up by 7:30 & ready to go back to Mawmaw's for breakfast.

(I should stop here, and say Happy Birthday to my sister, Sarah (Lala)! And thank her for staying in town this weekend!! Love you, sis!)

Nathan's cousins were back in town, so after breakfast, we all went outside to look at the horses again. They turned the fence off, and we crawled over it to get closer to the horses (if you know me, you know that I am a horse fanatic. i've always wanted one, and take every opportunity afforded to me to pet and/or ride one). I just knew that once Iliya got closer, the horses would seem really large, and he would become afraid.

Not so. Not one little bit.

In fact, he couldn't wait to get up on one. It was the wildest thing. My camera wasn't cooperating, so Nathan didn't get the picture of Iliya reaching down to hug the horse as he sat ontop of it. But he wanted to stay out with the horses - he was pretty upset when we finally said it was time to leave the horses & go somewhere else. Hmmm...that's my boy!

oooh, petting the horsie!

click on this picture to see the expression on Iliya's face.

After the horse experience, we all did the Southern thing & retired to the front porch. Iliya had the best time, playing - going up & down the stairs, and playing in the dirt with his big cousin Katie.

swinging with Nana

Ooh! Here's a doll swing - but it's just big enough for me!

hangin' out with the guys

getting cousin tommy to help me up the stairs

back to mom & dad for a few minutes

playing in the dirt & rocks with big cousin Katie

After quite a bit of time playing, it was time to return to Nana & Papa's. We played for a little bit & ate a delicious lunch, and then Iliya laid down for a nap. After nap, he played for a little while longer, and then it was time to head toward home. On our way out of town, we stopped to see Papa's new boat.

playing with my new puppet!

Hey Nana!

really, reallllllly wanting to get down IN the water. being held is for sissies.

That was the short version...but I can honestly say that it was a fantastic weekend!! Iliya loves each of his grandparents - and each of his grandparents also seems very besotted with him - for all of that, I am very thankful!!

We were really glad that it was a long weekend, so we could get lots of visiting in. We have this cool feature on our car, where you can time a trip. During this weekend, Iliya spent a total of 11 hours in his carseat. He was a trooper through it all! I'm not sure what we'll do whenever we only have a regular weekend to play with - it's hard, knowing that we're often on the road more than we actually get to stay in one place, visiting with family. But we do what we can with what time we have, I suppose!

Now, it's time for you all to take the cue from my son and sign a big "Thaaaank Yooouu" because you are FINALLY updated on the happenings of our Labor Day weekend!