Eli in the Southeast

Eli, with his puppy and pregnant mama, headed East. Get ready for photo overload!

Grandhops came to Alaska before helping us make our first flights to Nashville.. His visit included driving to Hatcher's Pass for a short hike at Independence Mine and spending the night in Seward for a whale-watching cruise.

We ate dinner one night at my friend, Katie's, and Stephanie made the best shrimp and grits I've ever had. Wyatt is four months older than Gentry, who is four months older than Eli. These three crazy boys sat so still for Grandhops to read to them. We're pretty sure they are missing their daddies!

Eli did great on his travels. We took the red-eye, and he slept the whole first leg…which made one of us. Jessie was also very good, but she wasn't a fan of the take-offs. It took us a few days to recover from the trip, but then we geared up to make the rounds to meet Eli's great-grandparents and see our other family and friends.

We are so proud of Mimi! The reason we visited Tennessee when we did was to attend her graduation from Belmont University. Eli got to meet his Hamrick family a couple of nights before at Nana's.

Eli loved kicking it with Aunt Kari! They played and danced and learned stairs and blew bubbles. Plus, she gave him some pretty sweet beach gear.

How did I celebrate Mother's Day, being Eli's mama for a whole year, being halfway through making another human with my body, finishing my last college classes before my internship, and doing it all missing my hubs? Destin, duh. We are not even close to halfway through this deployment, and this has been one of the most draining seasons. I needed to escape any expectation. I needed to rest, renew, and recharge. I'm pretty sure this vacation with a baby, a pregnant lady, and a dog wasn't the most relaxing for Aunt Keke. But we loved our time and our talks with her!

When we returned to Nashville, we got ready for Eli's first birthday party! It was bittersweet celebrating something so big without Eli's dad here with us. It was harder than I thought it would be to want to throw a party when family isn't together. (And when the birthday boy was sick and teething.) But we were so thankful for everyone who came to see us!

We spent the next few days with loved ones. We met some of Mimi's friends and neighbors. We had a playdate with Emelia, Rebecca, and Mary Coul. (The playdate was more for me than anyone else!) One of our days with Grandpa Mike was a trip to Maw Maw Woodard's house. Eli loves a smaller crowd and showed off all his tricks.

The last days found Eli on the beach again at the annual Thompson family vacation in St. Augustine, FL. We drove down with Grandhops, eating breakfast at Cracker Barrell and making it to our favorite seafood restaurant, O'Steen's, for dinner that same night. He loved his first shrimp and couldn't get enough of the green beans all week. While he was scared of the water in Destin, he was loving it in St. Augustine.

Our next round of flights with Milee were not great. Eli was great. I couldn't believe how easy he was on these flights. Let's just say I'll never fly United again. And maybe I'll just avoid flying pregnant with an infant and a dog all together.

Milee's visit was just what we needed to settle back into a new routine at home. I started the first week of my internship off with full-time hours because she was here to keep Eli. She cleaned and cooked and mowed the yard. She helped me rearrange rooms and organize a few things for baby. It was the perfect way to end our travels and I'm so grateful for her help.

Aunt Kari Comes to Town! (9/26-28)

Eli's Aunt Kari was here! Her visit was too short, but we crammed quite a bit of Alaskan Adventure into those three days. She arrived super early Friday morning, and we woke Eli up so he could finally meet her in person. He loved her so much from the start. Hubs had to work on Friday so we just relaxed around the house all day. We had blueberry muffin egg sandwiches and strolled down to Starbucks for a bit until Hubs got home. That night, Hubs took us all to dinner at Snow Goose downtown.

Saturday we woke up and drove down to the Wildlife Conservation Center. Our tour with Dwayne was a major highlight. He knew all about the animals' names, how they got to the conservation center, and where they will go next. He told us all about the bears, who happened to be out and at the fence by chance that day. We were super lucky to get such a great view of them! Dwayne also informed us of the one-winged celebrity eagle residing at the center- you might know him from "Into the Wild". Dwayne schooled us with his knowledge of bore tides before letting us out to explore some wildlife! We left for dinner at Moose's Tooth and ice cream at Marble Slab before snatching up a few trinkets at the PX.

For Sunday, we booked a 26-Glacier Cruise! We headed south again and travelled through the longest tunnel in North America into Whittier, AK. We boarded the Klondike Express, the largest, fastest catamaran in AK, and spent five hours at sea viewing glaciers and wildlife and people-watching on our tourist excursion. Fish and chips lunch was included, as well as a freshly-baked warm cookie for a mid-cruise snack. We even got to freshen our drinks with fresh glacier ice!

That night, we drove to Chepo's before heading home for Kari to pack. We played a few rounds of heads-up before we said good-bye for now. I put Eli to bed as Hubs drove Kari to the airport. We loved having her and can't wait to hang again!