Tennessee

We just got home from our amazing vacation to visit Brad's family in Tennessee so here comes a big post! As always, the week went by way too fast, but we had such a great time! Eden usually takes a while to warm up to new people, but within just hours she was totally in love with her cousins and she became quite the social butterfly! Her cousins were all so sweet to her and she just loved all their attention.

Unfortunately, Greg and Steph's family couldn't make it out this year, but otherwise the whole group was together and it was so fun to spend that time hanging out. It's so nice that Brad's parents house and his sister's house are just down the street from each other, so between the two houses there was always lots going on.

There are no direct flights and we had to stop once on each trip so I was a little worried about being the lady with a crying baby that was driving everyone crazy, but that definitely was not the case. Both the kids did so good on the plane and I was so grateful for that!

Julie's family has five little kittens at their house and Eden was immediately in love. We had to go visit the kittens A LOT while we were there and she was so sweet and nurturing to them. Despite Julie and Jeff's best efforts, a kitten did not come home with us though. :)

There was lots of eating going on, especially when it came to sweets. And of course, it's not a big surprise that Brad was always the adult preparing things like cotton candy and ice cream floats! Just one more reason why all the kids love Brad.

The Fourth of July was so much fun! We had a delicious BBQ and as soon as it started to get dark Brad was in heaven with all the fireworks he could light. This is one of Brad's favorite holidays, and it's cute to see how much joy he gets out of creating a good fireworks show for everyone. There are no restrictions on the mortar fireworks out there so Brad and his dad went after the 4th and bought TONS of discounted huge fireworks for next year. It's going to be quite the show next year for sure!

Eden LOVED the fireworks. Her favorites were the "flowers" that spin on the ground and change colors. Every time one of those was lit she would laugh hysterically and say, "That's so funny" - it was really cute. She also experienced her first time holding a sparkler and she thought that was pretty cool, but she never dared take her eyes off it while it was burning.

Bentley slept peacefully in the swing inside throughout all the fireworks. He had no idea what kind of party he was missing out on!

After the fireworks were done, Brad and our brother-in-law Jeff were walking through the grass from a neighbor's house and Brad got bit by a snake! It was dark outside and he just started feeling a burning in his foot so he looked down and saw what he said was probably about a four foot long snake slithering away! As fast as he could get it out he said, "Jeff, just in case I start acting crazy, I just got bit by a snake!" :) Fortunately, it wasn't a poisonous snake so he didn't start acting crazy. ha ha I think I would have died... not from poison of course, but from the sheer thought of being that close to an angry snake!

We were also able to celebrate grandpa Justice's 71st birthday - complete with not one, but two of the favorite chocolate cakes.

Eden was really helpful with feeding her cousin Matthew. I love how she had to open her mouth nice and wide every time she was trying to give him a bite. I know she is going to be such a big helper once Bentley starts eating solids.

Brad's family lives in a small town about an hour from Nashville, so on one of our free days we went to Nashville to do a tour of the Grand Ole Opry. I definitely wish I had another big country fan with me to really enjoy how cool it was, but it was a fun experience with my non-country loving family members anyway. :)

After the Grand Ole Opry tour, we walked around the Opry Mills mall just across the parking lot for a bit.

After the mall, we drove back to McMinnville and met up with the rest of the adults for an all you can eat crab leg dinner. It was actually pretty disgusting how much crab was consumed by our table.

Even Eden got into the action and tried cracking open a few crab legs.

There's an awesome lake not too far from where they live so there were a few lake trips throughout the week. Unfortunately, because of the trach, we don't feel comfortable taking Eden out on a boat and near so much water so Brad and I had to take turns going out to the lake. Neither of us took our camera when we went either, so thanks to Heidi and her phone, we got a couple pictures!

I was successful in getting up on the wakeboard every time, but I had a major face plant wipe out on one of my runs which left my head ringing and my neck muscles sore for a few days too. I even lost an earring! It was rough, but I'm glad my out-of-shape post baby body was at least able to get up on that board for however long it lasted!


And in between all the planned events, there was just a lot of hanging out! Eden only has two girl cousins on this side of the family, and Maddie wasn't there so it was just Eden and Ella. The other two girls that are in some of these pictures are a couple neighbor girls who had the cutest southern accents and were so sweet to Eden.

Thank you Justice family for such a fun vacation! We can't wait until next year!