Dearest Ella Kate,
You are seven and half months old and your mommy and daddy's angel. You will not necessarily remember our trip this weekend to Lake Weiss so I wanted to write down as much as possible for you to look back and read one day. It was a perfect weekend and one of our first real adventures as a new family of 3 or 5 (Sally and JoJo). It was a rather spontaneous trip - well as spontaneous as you can be with a 7.5 month old. :) It all started when Dave emailed me on Thursday and said what do you think about going to Collinsville Trade day this weekend. Dave had heard about Collinsville from his co-workers and it is truly an event that everyone should go to at least once. Trade day starts around 4:45am and ends early afternoon (11am). The restaurant (and I use the word restaurant very very loosely) has a sign that says opens 3:30am. We got up very early Saturday morning and left the house by 6am. Sally and JoJo knew something exciting was going to happen and they were pumped about getting to go on the family outing. We all loaded up in Big Brown (Dave's truck) and off we went. I hate to say it but it is kinda fun going places in Big Brown. Because there is not a back seat cab so we have to put your car seat up front in the middle. It makes it more fun b/c we can play with you as we drive around and discover new things. Because of the Alabama time difference we got to trade day around 7am. We pulled in payed our $1 to park and began our journey. People were buying and selling everything. And I mean everything. I think it is the chicken, rooster, and tube sock capital of the world :) I am serious. It was truly like a petting zoo. One man was trying to sell a pony for next to nothing (I think like $40) and even offered to deliver. People were selling goats, pigs, lambs, roosters, chickens, ducks, dogs, cows, just about any livestock you can imagine, antiques, junk, fake designer duds, handmade furniture, and what really got me is you could buy any medicine you wanted for $1. It was hilarious and quite an experience. We did not partake but the popular food items of the day were boiled peanuts and corndogs. Actually we did get some boiled peanuts. The other popular item of the day was your little dog JoJo. We could not walk 5 feet without someone asking about JoJo. Everybody wanted to know what kind of dog he was. Ella Kate while you looked precious and were sweet as could be flashing your two teeth smile I have to say that I think JoJo upstaged you. Dave and I started joking about putting a for sale sign on JoJo just to see how much we could get for him. I think we could have made big bucks. We left trade day around 11am and stopped for lunch at the finest restaurant in town. The Citgo Gas Station/Dinner. Believe it or not the food was actually great and the waitresses went crazy over how cute you were in your little polka dot bell bottom pants. They were getting all of the cashiers from the connecting Citgo station to come over and see how cute you were. You knew it to b/c you were flirting like crazy.
After lunch we headed over to Lake Weiss where we had rented a house for the night. This is when we got another great surprise. Chesnut Bay Resort... We rented a 4 bedroom/3 bath house in Chestnut Bay and while we did not need that many bedrooms it was only $100 a night. It was all they had available and it was perfect. Chestnut Bay Resort is just the greatest thing. It is a little community right on the lake that is very family friendly. They have a beach, an enormous water slide that goes into the lake, jet ski, paddle boat, any kind of boat rental you want, an outdoor amphitheatre for movies, tennis courts, fitness center, general store, walking trails, pool, and it is of course on the lake. The other plus is that it is pet friendly so Sally and JoJo had the time of their lives running around and swimming in the lake. The pictures I have attached do in no justice but it is wonderful and we will definitely be back. We spent the rest of Saturday enjoying the Lake and the resort area and decided to do some more driving and discovering around dinner time. We drove to Mentone and Fort Payne and looked around at some amazing views. You kept us very entertained the whole time and talked literally non stop. It was hilarious. Your dad of courses says that you get your talking abilities from me but when your dad is in his element he is quite a little talker himself. Most of the time you were holding your doll and talking to her. I am not sure what you said but you had a complete conversation with her. We stopped and had dinner in Fort Payne and then headed back. We were all exhausted and pretty much went right to bed. The next morning Dave took the dogs fishing, we went for a walk, looked at some of the houses for sale, and started heading back. We stopped at a chinese buffet in Centre, AL on the way back. It was literally the only thing open and while it was actually great - your dad and I had a funny discussion on the rules of a buffet. I say when at a buffet no matter what the labels for the food items say you only eat things that you can clearly distinguish. Your dad says that a buffet, especially chinese, is a time to be adventuresome. :) We made another stop on the way back in Rome, GA at the lock and dam. We hiked around a little bit and then headed home sweet home.
While I wish you could remember our fun weekend trip - hopefully when you read this one day you will remember how much your mom and dad love you and are so thankful to have you as part of our family. We are just enjoying every minute of you being our little girl. People always told me that you just can't imagine how much you could love something until you have a child. Well they were right.
I wanted to post several pics of the house and grounds of Chestnut Bay resort. It is just a great place for family reunions, or weekend get-a-ways. This is our kitchen.
There were actually two common areas/dens. One downstairs and one upstairs. This is the one upstairs that led out to a balcony with an amazing view.
Our amazing view.
Daddy and Miss Prissy Pants on the balcony.
Mommy and Miss Prissy pants on our deck. The weather was wonderful. I am not sure what exact degree it was. But I do know that it was February and I was hot in jeans and a short sleeve shirt.
Entertaining Mommy and Daddy.
Crawling around any and everywhere. Cords were of particular interest to you. I guess it is about time that I take baby proofing the house pretty seriously.
Talking as usual. :)
JoJo and Ella Kate are becoming quite the little play mates. The dogs do very good with Ella Kate. She is more interested in them than they are in her. Which is just how we like it.
The playground at Chestnut Bay.
The amphitheatre. They play movies and have a popcorn / coke refreshment stand.
A couple of pics of the Chestnut Bay resort community.
The water slide looks incredible. I am dying to come back this summer and try it out.
Ella Kate loves riding on Daddy's shoulders.
Favorite cell phone toy.
Dave playing fetch with Sally and
JoJo.
The dogs having the time of their lives.
While Sally and
JoJo were playing on the beach and in the water you decided to take a nap. I thought it was hilarious and definitely picture worthy how you propped your feet up and pulled your blanket over your head. :) You are definitely becoming your own little person.
The most popular dog of
Collinsville Trade Day Feb '09,
JoJo Elliott
Nana and Ella Kate
My little crawler
Lilly Grace is a walking machine.
Me, Mom, and Ella Kate at the B'ham zoo
Lilly Grace and Ella Kate checking out the sea lions.
Wanda, Lilly Grace, me, and Ella Kate at the B'ham zoo
Me and my little princess
Ella Kate and Lilly Grace. Ella Kate thought something was pretty funny.
Ella Kate's new funny face. She makes it all the times and thinks she is so funny when she does.
Ella Kate taking over Aunt Tina's office.
Ella Kate and Aunt Tina at the coffee shop in the Hoover Library.
Mom, Tina, and Ella Kate at Hoover Library's coffee shop.
