Georgia and Another Farewell

The next stop on our trip was Georgia.  We drove in just in time for Andrew's farewell.  Andrew, my youngest brother, has chosen to serve a mission for our church.  He has been assigned to the Panama City, Panama mission for the next 2 years.  Before heading down to Panama, he flew out to Utah  for 6 weeks of training at the Missionary Training Center (MTC).  There he will learn how to speak Spanish and how to teach about the gospel.   

The weekend before he left, we had a farewell for him at our house.  I was impressed because friends from all walks of life came to say bye and wish him luck.  There were over 150 people that came!  Crazy!  He must be a cool kid!

It was also crazy for me to realize that he is grown up.  There is a 10 year gap between us so I always remember him being little.  When I left for college, he was 8 years old, so I still think of him as that age!  He has grown up into a kind-hearted young man and I know that he will bless many lives.

After Andrew left, Adelyn and I decided to stay and hang out in Georgia for the week before heading to the beach.  Travis had to come back to Ohio to work for the week so he didn't get to join us.

I can't find many pictures from our visit to Georgia on my camera (they are all on my phone), but Adelyn loved it!  My parents also loved having a grandbaby in the house.  She was definitely spoiled! We went swimming, played at the park next door, climbed step stools, dug in mom's plants, played with my childhood toys and ate delicious food. 

She had all the love and attention imaginable!  I thought it was interesting to see how fast she picked up on things.  She quickly learned that if she wanted a toy or someone to hold her, she just needed to go to my mom.  If she wanted food or something we had, she would go to my dad.  She hardly came to me for anything because she knew that I would make her do it herself!

I was looking forward to taking her swimming in my parents' pool.  When we went to Gatlinburg a few months ago, she did not love the water.  This time she did!  She was so funny!  She loved throwing the pool toys in the water and floating around with me.  I was impressed with how brave she was!

She had this goofy smile with her tongue hanging out pretty much all week!  That's what she does when she is super excited about something.

Everyday it seemed like she learned something new! Travis kept saying how she was a different baby when he saw her again.  She is soaking things up like a sponge right now and it was more apparent to me when we were in a different place.  We had a blast in Georgia even though it was a crazy week with sending Andrew off and getting things ready for the beach!