Really Long Post

This is a posting of epic proportions. Just giving that to you up front. Considering this blog is written with the grandparents and other family members in mind, we'll understand if the rest of you just skip the headings and get to the good stuff. Hooray for pictures AND video in this posting!

We'll start in Atlanta. Two weekends ago we headed north for a chance of scenery. Jordan and Trevor were coming to town so we couldn't pass up a chance to see them! The 4 of us, 2 of them and Gigi and Poppy Johnny all packed it into the condo (or "Congo" as Jack referred to it) for one rainy, fun weekend. We watched lots of basketball and had lots of laughs with the boys. And no, even though the ACC tournament was in town, we didn't make it to any of the games. Turns out we didn't miss much anyway.

On Friday John and I took the boys to ImagineIt, Atlanta's children's museum. Jack had the most fun with this thing. He could use a pulley system to pick up balls and then release them into a bin. Or dump them on passerby.

Poppy Johnny snuck in some snuggles with Finn. I think everyone had fun being with the boys from start to finish for a few days. (Right, crew?)

On Saturday we ventured to the Georgia Aquarium. If you've never been, you have to make a trip. This place is incredible. Jack and Finn both enjoyed it, and the adults all slept better that night knowing how to distinguish a male beluga whale from a female beluga whale. (The males have curved dorsal fins for all you geeks out there.)

Finn perfected his family identification over the weekend. He can clearly say both of their names now, which is precious.

Here's the Ussery/Smith gang sans Johnny in the congo.

One more aquarium pic. Little rubberneckers. At one point Jack asked if the sharks were going to eat him.

It was sad to leave, as it is everytime we're leaving fun and family behind. But it doesn't matter where we are or what we're doing, the boys never cease to crack us up. This is Finn's latest funny face. He reminds me of one of those Christmas caroler decorations with the painted faces you see during the holidays.

This past Saturday was perhaps the busiest I've ever had as a mama. It began with soccer at 8:45 on the island. If you're not from around here you have to understand that going to the island for anything is compared to driving to Canada. At least we talk about it like it's the same. But really it's only about a 5 minute drive to get to the bridge and then only 10 more minutes to get to the soccer fields. But our kids sleep til around 8, which poses some problems with getting dressed, fed and out the door in 30 minutes. But we did it! Jack had his first soccer "game" (which was more of a field full of children with some soccer balls lying around.) HILARIOUS! Here's a cute picture of Finn who, as usual, wanted part of the action.

And here is the future Beckham. Jack was really into dribbling and scoring. He was not into the idea of sharing his ball with anyone, which is good in theory, but not when you're unwilling to earn the ball and instead, you want everyone to have their own ball. He insisted on wearing his shin guards even though they did not need them.

It really doesn't get much better than this for us. Our son, playing a sport, wearing his UNC gear and getting excited about all of it. John and I kept saying "I can't believe we have a child old enough to take to his soccer practice." It was a fun day for us. A first sports day of thousands I hope.

After soccer we went to our first birthday party of the day. Our next door neighbor turned 4 and he had the cutest pirate party ever. My pictures did not turn out so well, but both boys had a blast. Then we attended a 2nd birthday party at 3pm. Finn only napped 45 minutes on the way to the 2nd party. No nap for Jack. You can understand why I felt like the bus driver from the movie Speed, the movie where there was a bomb under the city bus, remember? At any moment, our little happy Saturday full of soccer, sugar and ice cream could blow up into a nasty preschool ball of fury.

The 2nd party of the day was for Wyatt, one of Jack's buddies. He had a great party, too! It was super hero themed. Wyatt was kind enough to let Jack borrow his Batman costume. And boy, did he work it! Here he is peering at me from his bat cave...er, bounce house.

And here...is BATMAN!!!! Jack felt so awesome in this costume. His chest was literally puffed out and he kept patting his chest like this. He probably thought it was his own party.

Jack was stoked to see Mr. Incredible in attendance. They quickly kicked it into Make Believe high gear. There were several attempts to "rescue" the girls from the bounce house and Jack would only refer to this boy as Mr. Incredible despite knowing his real name. Later that night, Jack informed me that "all of my things are amazing." I asked him where he learned that word. Mr. Incredible of course!

The Bat Mobile!

After the birthday parties ended, we headed to church on Saturday night and then to dinner with friends. We crashed fast and hard when we got home, but thankfully everyone slept in until 9 on Sunday!!! Hallelujah!

John was off on Sunday, so we had the rare opportunity of a full family day. John decided we should go to Hunting Island, which was a great plan. It was beautiful! Finn had fun digging in the sand...

Jack had fun attempting to scoop up water into his bucket (although this picture would not lead you to believe that he was having fun).

We found another similarity between our sons. They are both into bird chasing. Just after this picture Finn took off like a mad man towards these birds. We asked Jack what he would do if he caught one. "I'd just pet him."

Someone is turning into a Daddy's boy I believe...

Jack found this driftwood, put it to his head and said, "Look, I'm Rudolph!"

And not to be outdone....

Last but not least, the videos! We went into Beaufort for lunch after leaving Hunting Island. There was a small grassy area where some children were playing. Jack decided he wanted to join them. He ran straight up to them and thought that introductions were not as needed as showing them how quickly you can run in circles. It must have won their attention (or sympathy) because he ended up taking these children to another area of the yard to look at boats together. We were laughing to see how hysterical our oldest boy is, and how he's not lacking in personality one bit. Enjoy!