Week In Atlanta

A few weeks ago Brylee and I loaded up our car and hit I-20 at 2am Saturday morning headed to Atlanta! My brother was getting married the next weekend, so we decided to arrive a week early and help out a little. Brylee still can fly for free, but we decided to drive to save a little bit of money and mostly to have our car in Atlanta for the week for a little more flexibility. The road trip went great! Our first stop was 1/2 way through the trip at 8am for breakfast. We then stopped two more times for lunch and a break from the car, and arrived in Atlanta before dinner time.

We did a lot of cleaning and wedding prep during the days, and spent casual time with family in the evenings. Brylee was going to be the flower girl in the wedding, so we had to "practice" wearing the all tulle, hand-made dress a few nights before the wedding. Doesn't she look adorable! More on that to come...

My family was all working Monday-Wednesday, so Brylee was my little helper around the house. We turned my parents bedroom/bathroom into a bridal suite for the girls on Saturday, and deep cleaned the basement for guests to use as needed. As you can see, Brylee was a great helper...

Abby, our family dog, was such a good sport all week. She's getting pretty old, and was pretty tolerant of Brylee having her way with her!

I could tell Brylee remembered my parents a little more this trip, and was more familiar with their house after spending a week by herself there in March.

This is four generations of Stonieckis - Grandma, Dad, Me, & Brylee

And Brylee loved playing with my other grandmother all week who has been staying with my parents.

We had a such a great week getting ready for my brother's big day. Bryan flew in and joined us on Friday morning. Thank goodness he was there to drive home with us, because I was not nearly as excited about driving home as I was about leaving. I think we were all exhausted from such a fun week!

The Dallas Zoo

Nanny & Papa have been trying to take this girl to the zoo for several weeks now, and it finally happened today. We got there early, right when the zoo opened (which was a must!), and beat most of the crowds and a lot of school groups (apparently today was "bring your class to the zoo" day...ugh...who knew).

The penguins were a big hit!

This baboon was the most colorful I had ever seen!

As you can see by all the pictures with Brylee's fingers in her mouth, she's still teething pretty bad right now. Luckily, she was still a good sport and was distracted by all the animals!

Papa showed Brylee all the Safari animals, including elephants, zebras, giraffes, and gazelles.

Her favorite animal was probably this cheetah! It was so chill, laying right next to the glass.

The water fall was also a huge hit!

And the most fun of all...the slide!

Thanks, Nanny & Papa, for such a fun day! We left the zoo at noon, and Brylee crashed as soon as we got in the car to meet Bryan for lunch. After a quick lunch, we said bye to Nanny & Papa, who hit the road to go watch their oldest grandson's baseball game (what great grandparents they are!). Looking forward to all the fun times this summer has to offer!

Easter Weekend

Good Friday started off very good in our household! The Texas Rangers Opening Day of baseball was Friday afternoon, which is almost considered better than Christmas morning.

 Bryan met his dad, bro-in-law, and nephew for the Ranger's game while Brylee and I waited for the rest of the family to get to our house.

 When Brylee woke up from her nap Friday afternoon, she had a fever of 101, and was kind of pitiful for a while. We kind of had a roller coaster of a weekend for Brylee's body temperature. It reached 103 each night, and would return to normal after an hour or so of Advil. Other than having a fever, she didn't act sick, but acted like her teeth were bothering her like crazy. So we did our best at accommodating her moments of not feeling well.

 We grilled out Friday night with Bryan's parents and sister's family, and Brylee perked up for a little bit to play outside.

 But she was still not feeling great, because she let David Todd cuddle with her!

We had big plans of going to the zoo Saturday morning, but we all stayed up way too late Friday night, and I wasn't so sure Brylee was going to feel all that great. So instead, we went for a walk...

 ...and took pictures in the bluebonnets.

 Saturday afternoon we colored Easter eggs. 

 Our ten year old niece & nephew, Jillian & Luke

 I learned quickly it was not a smart idea to let Brylee play in the dyed water...

 ...so she colored a 'clear' egg, which was beautiful!

 Nanny & Papa's Grandkids

 Saturday night Bryan's sister's family headed home, so we relaxed and read some books.

 Brylee and I were up for about 2 hours Saturday night with a fever of 103, but when she woke up Sunday morning she was cool as a cucumber and was in a great mood. So we headed to church to celebrate the "Third Day," and came home for lunch and Easter fun.

I could tell Brylee was not feeling her greatest, and it was hit or miss regarding her attitude.

 She initially was very intrigued by her Easter basket from Nanny...

 ....then things started to go downhill for no apparent reason...

 ...and ended in disaster!

 We took a quick break and regrouped, and she opened her Easter basket from the Easter Bunny(aka Me). Then she did enjoy searching for Easter eggs, hidden every so carefully in plain site on the patio cement!

 Now here's the happy girl we know!

 Bryan hid some extra hard eggs for our nephew, Luke, to find.

 Most of the eggs were empty, but Nanny included a few marshmellow goodies in some of the eggs!

 Who knows...maybe it was the sugar that put her back in a good mood!

 Nanny, Papa, and Luke headed back to Abilene after lunch, just before the rain started. When Brylee woke up from her nap, we enjoyed some more fun with her Easter goodies, and had a relaxing afternoon as a family.

Happy Easter!