Fun Fourth with the Fam

For the 4th of July, we headed up to spend time with the entire gang of Halsteds.
It was so much fun!
The days were filled with great visiting, fantastic sightseeing, good food and all around merriment.
Not only was it fantastic seeing everyone but I wish we could have stayed longer. It’s amazing how fast that week flew by. And it’s always hard to say goodbye when we were enjoying everyone so much. The departure brought me many tears.
The only bad parts of the trip were our flights to and from. Even though we got upgraded to first class, the only perk to Dan’s endless traveling, little Grayson was not a happy camper.
He’s at the beginning stage of independence and wants to constantly be on the move. I can’t blame him for getting so upset. Maybe next time we’ll convince Scotty to beam us back and forth.
Don’t forget to check out all our pictures AND a few videos. And yes, the sweatshirts were needed. Don’t let the beautiful sunlight fool you. It was a bit chilly up there. We had a couple warmer days, but us southern folk had to bring a few winter wears.
Thanks for all the fun Halsteds.
We had a great time and need to do it again soon!

Excited For Christmas!

Christmas you say? It’s still only June!?

We are overjoyed and thrilled to announce that Halsted Version 2.0 will become our Christmas miracle.
We are eagerly anticipating the celebration, and as you can see, Grayson is quite happy too.
Plus he got a snazzy new shirt out of the deal! :-)
Coming soon!! Baby Halsted, Due December 25th. We can’t wait to meet you!

Grayson Airlines: Now Boarding!

Due to Dan’s travel schedule, we decided to celebrate a few days early and throw an amazing BBQ to celebrate little man’s birthday. And with a few weeks preparation, it REALLY was amazing.

Thanks to some awesome inspirations from my sister (who I lovingly refer to as “The woman Martha Stewart aspires to become”) we pulled off a pretty snazzy airplane themed party.

From start to finish, the party was a hit! From the airplane ticket invitations, the runway tables, pom pom clouds, airplane cakes, custom jet fuel & hydraulic fluid punch, one of a kind 1st birthday shirt & birthday banner, all the way to the baggage claim cookies. The house was decorated to the hilt.

And yes, I know Grayson won’t remember this, but it was so fun to do and he’ll never have a 1st birthday again. Besides, his little face was so elated and priceless. I secretly think he knew this day was for him, and all these people in his house were there to celebrate him…or maybe just stare at him and giggle as he dug into his little airplane cake. :-)

We have oodles of pictures out on picasa and we also had our professional photographer come out too, so we should have plenty of memories on film.
Thanks to all the folks who came out to join us! We had such a blast and are so grateful you were able to make it.

Next up, the official birthday date and we’ll have a one year old baby boy!

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We Love The Beach!

For Mother’s Day, Dan surprised us with a trip down to Myrtle Beach. It was so great!

Not only was it Grayson’s first time in the sand, but Dan booked us a room right on the beach. So beautiful and so much fun with yummy seafood, amazing views, great weather, terrific company, and nothing beats watching Grayson explore and delight in new things (although I might be biased and extremely happy he loves the warm weather and water as much as I do).

This resort Dan picked was awesome too. It was so soothing and relaxing to hear the sound of the water and to sit out on the deck taking it all in. So inspiring that Mr Go-get-‘em even decided to take a 6 am Saturday morning run on the beach.

There’s also a huge kids area, complete with a lazy river, 2 big water slides, a ginormous dump-on-ya bucket, 3 kiddy pools each at varying depths, not to mention 2 regular pools & hot tub. Grayson enjoyed all the kiddy pool adventures, but we’ll have to visit again in 2 years when he can truly take in all its wonderment.

Of course, 1 little snafu went down. Little miss prepared, who uses a packing checklist spreadsheet every time we travel, forgot 1 important thing….a camera.
So bear with me, all of these photos are from the iPhone. Oh well, everything else was present and accounted for.

Oh, but wait….upon our departure, the trusty travelers were loading everything into the truck, and to what would my wondering eyes should appear, falling out of the bag???? A CAMERA! Not the big SLR, but our trusty Canon we keep on hand for special “ah, we need a picture!” moments. Uh huh…Dan and I were giggling about it the whole 2 hours home. Well, giggling with a few “D’oh’s” and “Dang’s!” thrown in for good measure. All the more excuse to visit again soon. :-)

And in typical Halsted’s of Carolina fashion, even with only our iPhones, we took a bunch of pictures. So make sure to click here for them all.

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