A month late and a dollar short...story of my life.  Anywho...we celebrated Juliette's birthday last month.  The Big 4!  We skipped the big party this year for a trip to The Happiest Place on Earth.  And it did not disappoint.  It really was a magical few days...especially her actual birthday which we spent at Magic Kingdom.  She LOVED it.  She loved the rides (She rode her first roller coaster, The Barnstormer!).  She loved meeting all the princesses and characters.  She loved the people watching.  She loved the dancing (oh, and how cute is she when she dances!).  She loved everything.

On Sunday, we (Juliette, Josh, myself and Grams & Pappaw) spent the day at the Animal Kingdom.  Afterwards, we met Emily at Disney Springs for Juliette's birthday dinner at Rainforest Cafe.  Juliette was more excited about her Little Mermaid cake than anything else!

On Monday (her birthday), we headed to the Magic Kingdom...and got there right as they opened.  We were able to ride lots of rides and meet a ton of the characters!  We stayed all the way until the park closed!  It was the best day ever...for all of us!  Happy belated birthday my sweet baby!  Oh waut, you keep reminding me that you are not a baby...so happy belated birthday to my big/little girl!

Today Juliette turned three!  It has been such a joy to watch her grow these past three years!  You really do not know how much you can love something, until you have a child.  She really is the biggest blessing!

So we celebrated today with a party at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm!  Juliette loves to go to the Alligator Farm so we couldn't think of a better place!  It was a beautiful 60 degree day.  All of Juliette's bestest buds were there.  We decided on a breakfast this year with Dunkin Donuts Munchkins, coffee & juice, fruit kabobs and a yogurt bar with all the toppings.  All the kids got to pet a hedgehog, a ball python and a baby alligator.  After the party, everyone roamed the park.  We had so much fun and Juliette couldn't have had a better birthday...with all her favorite people!  Thank you to all that could come!  We are so lucky to have you in our lives!

We made it back from our Kentucky trip last night.  Unfortunately, these trips go way to fast.  The drive is definitely harder with a toddler.  Juliette overall did great in the car.  After 12+ hours, she was restless...but then again, so was I!  We first went to Grams house for a few days.  We got to watch the US vs. Ghana game with Uncle Chris at Longneck's, went to Mt. Adams and had lunch at Teak, visited the new Jungle Jim's, saw Cousin McKenzie, and visited Uncle Matt & Aunt Anne in Indianapolis.  The second leg of the trip was also jam packed.  Juliette saw all of her Louisville family, went boating on Lake Patoka for Pappaw's birthday, had a cookout at Granny's house, went to Trader Joes, toured Bardstown Road (while Mommy and Aunt Mandy spent hours shoe shopping at Zappos/6 p.m. Outlet!), and got to hang out with Cousin Olive (and Cousin Dillon & Collin!).  We can't wait to come back!

The past week has been crazy!  We were so excited to have Aunt Mandy in town for the Derby and Josh's birthday!  Juliette is starting to be a little hesitant around new folks, so it took an hour or so to warm up to Aunt Mandy.  Once she warmed up, she was all about her!   While Aunt Mandy was here we went swimming, went to the beach, saw a drag queen show, visited De Leon Springs & made pancakes at the Old Sugar Mill and took lots of bike rides.

Unfortunately, Aunt Mandy also got to visit the peditricians office twice and joined us on a midnight trip to the ER.  We noticed Juliette had a high fever Friday night.  The fever was still there days later.  After having every possible test done, nothing was found.  Then on Sunday, her temperature dropped to 95.1 degrees.  So the doctor sent us immediately to the ER.  They couldn't find anything either...just a viral virus of some sort.  Poor kid.  Thankfully, she has been fever-free and happy the past few days!  We are sad Aunt Mandy had to leave :(

Happy 30th part 2 birthday to Granny!  Juliette misses her Granny.  

To celebrate, Juliette is playing with her two favorite toys: Mr Fox and Mr Sock.

Last week Cousin Olive came to visit Juliette!  Along with Olive came Jenny, Granny, Jake, Collin and a few days later Pappaw.  We played tourists in St. Augustine!  Olive got to visit the beach for the first time too!

Juliette got to visit all of her relatives in Kentucky this past week. We had a blast! Our first stop was in Louisville to hang out with her Daddy's side. We visited Cave Hill Cemetery where Colonel Sanders (a.k.a. the king of fried chicken or as his epitaph says "Founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken Empire") and James Beauregard Beam (otherwise known as "Jim") are buried.  We love a good cemetery! (And obviously Juliette does too!)

Later that day, we took Pappaw out for his birthday dinner at a cool place on the Ohio River in Louisville called Mike Lennig's. 

After dinner, we took Pappaw to the Waverly Hills Sanatorium (no, we didn't check him into a mental hospital).  I have to say this was my favorite part of our vacation.  Waverly Hills Sanatorium is a HUGE, old, dilapidated, haunted building that was used as a hospital for treating people with tuberculosis.  I had seen the episode of Ghost Hunters (check it out here... www.syfy.com) where they investigated the paranormal activity at Waverly Hills and I couldn't wait to see for myself!  Unfortunately, we did not experience anything out of the ordinary. 

The next day was Juliette's cousin Olive's baby shower (which you can see here...Baby Olive's Shower).  Juliette had a great time meeting all her Louisville relatives!  Aunt Jenny & I made a side trip to get some of the world's best ice cream (black raspberry chocolate chip!!!) after everyone left.  We were just going to get cones for ourselves, but we ended up buying an entire ice cream pie.  It's a good thing we don't have Graeter's in Florida!

The next day we headed up I-71 to Northern Kentucky to spend some time with Juliette's Mom's side.  We had dinner at Longneck's Sports Grill (which is owned by my Aunt Joyce & Uncle Gary) where we met up with the Schroeder's.

On Monday, we headed to Indianapolis to spend the day with my brother and his wife (after a quick run into the gift shop at the Creation Museum to buy some souvenirs!).

On our last day in Cincinnati, we went with Aunt Jenny, Uncle Ryan and Baby Jake to the Cincinnati Zoo.  After that we stopped at one of THE coolest places on earth, Jungle Jim's.  If you are ever in Cincinnati, you HAVE to go to Jungle Jim's.  Plan on being there at least 2+ hours.

We had a great time and are sad vacation has come to an end...man are we tired!  Josh is going to kill me when he sees this picture...my bad ;)  Till next time Kentucky!

Today, Juliette got to meet lots of her extended family in Louisville at her Cousin Olive's baby shower.  Aunt Jenny's (Olive's Mom) shower was a pink and green turtle fiesta (with a taco bar!).  It was a hot and steamy Kentucky afternoon but everyone had a great time!  We can't wait to meet Olive!  Check out Olive's parent's blog sometime! (www.ourbabyolive.com)  

Juliette had an exciting weekend!  She got to go to the beach for the first time and she got to hang out with Cousin Leah, Jeremy, Conner & Nicole!  She didn't get to experience the water yet since she still isn't supposed to be out in the sun (she stayed under the umbrella the entire time).  She did enjoy looking around and all the people watching.  I picked up on a common trend this season...bikinis with fringe.  Everywhere you looked there was fringe!  I'm not sure if I'm a fan of it or not.  This was my first outing in a bathing suit after childbirth...your body sure does change after you give birth!  Things are in different places than they used to be!  It's also a TON more work to now go to the beach.  Before baby, all it took was a towel, chair and a bottle of water.  Now, we have umbrellas, toys, cooler (for her milk of course! ...and beer for Daddy), stroller, sunblock, diaper bag, etc.  We did have a great time and can't wait to go back!

Here she is...ready for the beach!

Chillin' with Cuz Leah!

In other news (if you read my previous post this will come as no shock to you...), Juliette's first American Girl Doll arrived today!  I was watching the Today Show last week and there was a segment called "Jill's Steals & Deals" on there.  One of the "Steals & Deals" was a $175 Bitty Baby package for only $68!  Score!  So...I have officially started my Christmas shopping for Christmas 2014 :)  (I know I have a problem!)

And just so you know...if you are ever without a bib (or in my case, too lazy & tired to move), boobie pads work great for catching slobber!

He did it!  My little brother graduated from Mississippi College Law School!  We packed up the Rogue and headed out on a 10-hour car ride to Jackson.  It was Juliette's first trip out of Florida!  The way there she did great!  She slept almost the whole way.  When she wasn't sleeping she was glued to the tablet watching her Baby Einstein videos.  Once we got into Jackson, we checked into the Cabot Lodge, home of a great complimentary hot breakfast and FREE happy hour adult beverages in the evenings!  Chris and a group of his fellow classmates rented out a cool jazz bar in Downtown Jackson the night before graduation. Yes, we were "those" people that brought a baby to a bar!  The next morning was the actual graduation at First Baptist Church Jackson.  Talk about a HUGE church!  

This was Juliette's first time meeting her Uncle Chris and her Uncle Matt.  I think they both liked her (Who am I kidding?  She's the cutest thing ever...how could you not like her?).

After graduation, we went to the Mississippi Craft Center where artists from all over Mississippi come to sell their goods.  There even was an uber scary hand made baby doll for sale...for $325!   The beautiful baskets are handmade by the local Choctaw Tribe.  They are absolutely beautiful! (I would have loved to buy one, but they were a bit out of my price range! The small baskets (think 5 inches in diameter) started at $80!

We did buy a few things from one of their artists named Elaine Peterson.  Elaine paints intricate objects on gorgeous feathers such as peacock, turkey, duck and more that she collects (from cruelty-free sources!). Here she is starting on one of her designs along with some of the finished products!  Definitely one of the coolest crafts I've ever seen!  Check out her blog (http://feathermore.blogspot.com/) to see some more cool feathers that she has painted.

The next day we headed out to visit the Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Museum.  For a nominal entry fee of $5, you get to see all kinds of neat things! And we sure do love a good agricultural museum (especially since our first anniversary is coming up...we got married at the Florida Agricultural Museum...which is one of our favorite places!).

Then it was time to pack Chris' apartment up.  It's hard to believe his three years of law school are already over and done.  It seems like yesterday when we were dropping him off...

Here we are in 2010...

And 2013...

It's the start of a new adventure for Chris...he now gets to study for the Kentucky Bar Exam.  Good luck Chris!  We know you will do great things!