The second half of DaddyDay

After a little post-"Couch-Toss" nap, we headed east on I-20 for a couple of family visits. Our first stop was to visit my grandmother, Meme, in Eastaboga.

Imagine Birmingham.

Now take away three of the interstates, 687 of the red lights (just a guess), and every inch of Highway 280. Now add 12 lakes, 34 cows, and countless trees.

That's Eastaboga.

One of my favorite childhood memories was visiting there with my family and spending hours trekking through the woods, strolling around the lakes, and running in the fields. Time seems to slow down a little in Eastaboga, and that's a feeling I love. Josh put it best when we first sat down in Meme's living room. He said, "I always feel like I could take a long nap when I'm here. It's so relaxing."

Meme is special to us for many, many reasons, but one of those reasons is that she's Abigail's namesake. Abigail Eleanor Lewis is named in honor of Meme. (As a side note, my dad and Abby were talking about this fact over lunch last week, and Abby said "Oh, so Meme's real name is Meme Eleanor Lewis?" Too cute!!)

Here's one of my favorite shots from our visit to Meme's. This photo tells so much about the passage of time...

Goodbye Eastaboga! (I've kind of fallen in love with sunset shots)

Our next stop was in Oxford for dinner with Josh's sister (Rebekah), her husband (Kevin), and their sweet baby girl (Ayda). I did Ayda's newborn pictures in December:

And even though I've seen her since our session, I was still surprised at how much bigger she's gotten. Rebekah says the little girl loves to eat!

Rebekah lived with us for a while when I was pregnant with Abby, and she was over at our house a lot after she was born. The running joke is that Abby looks like she belongs to Rebekah much more than does me. Whenever we were out together, people would always compliment Rebekah on her beautiful daughter! Now Ayda obviously doesn't look a thing like Rebekah, so she could pass for my daughter just as easily as Rebekah's (if not more so). So we did a little switch-a-roo at the restaurant. Whose daughter is whose? :-)

This really does look more accurate, doesn't it?!?

Now for the ride home...remember how I mentioned in the "Izzy Facts" that Izzy is the most flexible child I've ever seen? This is how she rode home that night:

I don't know if the picture does this any justice, but her legs are literally in a straight line out to each side. And she's not even batting an eyelash! I told Josh that if she didn't have shoulders to get in the way, I'm pretty sure she could clap her feet behind her back!!