Beach Trip: Days 7 & 8

We had really awesome weather all week. It only rained in the evening a few times after it was already dark. We got to see some spectacular lightning shows!

On Friday we didn't do anything special - just tried to make the most of our last day with family.

Here's Carter hanging out with me and Grandma:


Cinda got Carter laughing by giving him raspberries on his neck:


Carter found a girlfriend at the beach ... Brian's cousin, Dana. Whenever she was in the room with him, he'd just stare at her.


We took one last walk on the beach with Carter:



Linda got Carter giggling:


On Saturday we drove back to Knoxville. We got up early and got on the road by 6:45 am. We first drove 2 hours down to Wilmington to pick up Charlotte. Carter did awesome on this short part of the trip and slept for at least an hour. The rest of the drive was a bit more stressful as Carter was pretty fussy. I think his front teeth that are coming in may have been bothering him some and being strapped into a carseat instead of playing didn't allow him to forget about the pain.

This is when we all enjoyed the drive:


And this is when we didn't:


Unfortunately, Carter didn't nap much.

We broke the 7.5 hour drive from Wilmington to Knoxville into three segments and took 30-45 minute breaks between each segment which made the drive about 8.75 hours. We made really good time.

On one of the few occasions when Carter was happy, he started to figure out how to clap. He finally started opening up his hands when he brings them together. He's not really making much noise yet but he's getting better. He also seemed to like to copy me when I clapped.